Baccarat is arguably the best Asian gambling game since it’s found at nearly every casino.
Mahjong is unique to the other popular Asian casino games because it’s played with dominoes.
Asian gambling games are not only enjoyed in Asia but all across the globe.
Casinos and gambling have become a huge hit in Asia over the years. Some estimated gambling revenue stats for Macau in 2015 approximated that $28 billion was generated in Chinese Las Vegas.
Of course, those numbers dropped with China’s strict laws and the COVID pandemic. But what has not is the appetite for players who flock to Asian gambling games in their droves.
Today, I’ll be going over seven of the most popular Asian casino games and the best online casinos you can find them at.
1. Baccarat
Although widely popular around the world, baccarat is also considered among the best Asian gambling game and the most desirable too.
While this game has a reputation for being a game exclusively for the elite, it’s simply huge among Asians of all backgrounds.
It regularly competes against other Indian, Japanese, or Chinese casino games and can be found at land-based and online casinos.
You might have noticed that this list features seven games. However, the number 8 is lucky in China and other parts of Asia. They associate it with good fortune, and this certainly has a tie to baccarat.
An 8 (or 9) in baccarat is known as a natural. In most cases, a natural 9 pays out at 8:1. A compelling argument for why Chinese people and other Asians live for baccarat? Perhaps. But there is more to this game’s popularity than that.
Baccarat is not a difficult game to get the hang of. One of the best ways to catch up to speed is to read this baccarat guide.
Baccarat is one Asian gambling game that has a regal feel to it, which is another factor any self-respecting gambler might find enticing.
It’s worth pointing out that there are multiple versions of baccarat, which include the following:
Punto Banco
Chemin de Fer
Mini Baccarat
Macao is another game that is in the baccarat family.
Incidentally, it is believed to be the antecedent to the game we know today, which was brought to Europe from the former Portuguese trading post, Macau, from which it derives its name.
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Looking to learn how to play baccarat? The good news is that the rules of the game are simple.
They involve eight (there’s that number again) decks of cards. Each card is given a value with Ace (1), cards 2-9 (pip value), and face cards (0).
At the beginning of each game, the dealer will turn over one card to determine how many cards to burn. The usual number of cards burned is 10. The cut card is then placed exactly 16 cards from the bottom of the shoe. When the cut card appears, this lets the dealer know to finish the hand and play one more before starting a new shoe.
The score of the hand is the right digit of the total of the cards. For example, if the two cards are seven and nine, then the total would be 16, and the score for the hand would be six. The score will always range between zero and nine without a chance to bust.
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2. Mahjong
When I first started frequenting casinos, some Chinese gambling games fascinated me. Mahjong is arguably the one that stunned me the most.
Even though it is a game you probably are familiar with, given it was popular on early editions of the 1990s/2000s PCs and online sites, it’s not particularly classed as among the most popular US gambling games.
It takes on a different version in Asia and can be found in most casinos as a popular table game.
Here’s how it works.
The game is played with dominoes instead of cards, which is different from most games on this list.
Before any tiles have been dealt, you must place your bet. As soon as everyone has placed their bet, the dice are rolled to determine who the dealer will be.
After each round, you can place another bet based on the tiles you received.
To start the game, the 136 tiles used in the game are placed face down on the table and shuffled thoroughly.
The dealer then deals 13 tiles to each player face down. You then turn your tiles face up, make a wall with them, and start pairing them into sets of three and four tiles.
The game moves on as each player picks up an additional tile from the wall.
If the tile picked up from the wall can be used to complete a winning hand, you keep the tile and announce “mahjong.” If the tile doesn’t give you a win, then you must discard one tile in the middle of the table, face up.
You can only have 13 tiles on your board at all times during the game.
When you discard a tile, any of the other three players have a chance to use the discarded tile to complete a winning set.
If more than one of the other three players can benefit from the tile, the one with the highest-rated win gets to claim it. To use a discarded tile, you must reveal the set it will complete before you’re allowed to pick up the tile.
The first player to complete a winning hand of 14 tiles and announces “mahjong” wins the game.
As far as Chinese table games go, this is the G.O.A.T.
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3. Slot Machines
Slot machines are huge in Asia. So much so that they are competing with traditional Chinese casino games and pachinko in Japan.
Naturally, the best Asian casino games can be found littered across pretty much any casino in the world. But the best Chinese slot machines, in particular, are even more popular, especially with online players.
Asians love slots because they are quick, easy, and rely on fortune. That’s the most desirable trinity for many gamblers, whether they are in Macau or Missoula.
Slots helped Macau achieve its status as the “Gambling Capital of the World” until the COVID crisis when the CCP slowed things down.
You’ll find a myriad of Chinese slots on our recommended slots casino sites.
Many of them are based on good fortune, dragons, and other symbolism related to achievement and prosperity. But there are also some other popular themes regarding Asian slots. For example, pandas!
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4. Pachinko
There is no point talking about the most popular Asian gambling games without mentioning pachinko.
Unlike, say, your typical Asian card game casino players can win money from, pachinko is rather strange.
In Japan, where 10% of the population spends $200b a year on the game — more than 30 times the combined revenue of all casinos in Las Vegas — you can’t win money playing it. At least not directly.
Pachinko is a game that’s similar to a pinball machine. Or rather, a mix of both a pinball and a slot machine.
It originated in Japan and used small metal balls inside to play the game. The game has evolved quite a lot over the years, from the original being completely manual to the more recent digital versions that have popped up.
The game isn’t widely played around the world but can be found in some Asian casinos for the enjoyment of its true fan base.
The game dates back to the early 1900s and consisted of a horizontal board with holes cut out for the balls to go into. When the person would land a ball in one of the slots, they would receive a reward of sweets for the kids and soup, soap, or tobacco for the adults.
These days, that’s the same process. However, there are unlicensed stations where winning pachinko tickets can be exchanged for cash. It’s kind of an open secret. It is also strictly illegal.
In many Asian cultures, good fortune is attainable. And this is one of many reasons why this game is huge in Japan and other nations on the continent.
5. Sic Bo
Another recognizable name in the top Asian casino games, sic bo, deserves a mention on this list.
You will commonly see this game referred to by other names, such as tai sai, dai siu, big and small, or hi-lo. It has deeply entrenched itself in modern casinos, despite being played for thousands of years.
Like many other games popular in the Asian market, it is based on pure luck. Although the social aspect of live sic bo, in particular, makes it a highly sociable game.
Sic bo has great wagering options and gives the player up to 50 different options to choose from. The game also has a decent payout rate of about 180 to 1 for the top payout bets.
It is a fast-paced game that can seem confusing at first, but once you figure out the table, there isn’t an easier game to play.
As this sic bo guide will tell you, the The object of the game is to predict the faces of the dice before they’ve been rolled.
You can choose to wager on one, two, or all three of the dice by placing your chips on the correct sections of the table. To start the game, you select the amount you want to wager and place it on the table on the combination or total you want to bet on.
Once you’ve placed all of your wagers, the dealer rolls the dice. If any of the dice roll the numbers that you placed your bets on, you win.
Again, in sic bo, there’s no strategy to the game; it’s all based on the luck of the roll. And that’s what makes this Asian dice gambling game appealing to enthusiasts.
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6. Pai Gow Poker
Many Asian gambling games have the coolest names.
Asian card games, in particular, rival anything the French have ever come up with. Like it or lump it, pai gow poker just sounds like it rocks. And if you’ve ever played it, you’ll understand why the name lives up to the game.
Not to be confused with pai gow, the poker variant is a fairly recent addition to the gambling world. It was invented in 1985 by Sam Torosian, who based his game on the game of pusoy but simplified it.
The main difference between “PG Poker” and “PG” is that the former is a Chinese card game casinos tend to stock. The latter is played with Chinese dominos. It’s also commonly associated with other ancient Chinese practices.
The idea of the game is to create two poker hands out of the seven cards you’re dealt. These two hands should be a five-card poker and a two-card poker hand that beat the dealer’s hands. The five-card hand must also outrank the two-card hand to be eligible for a win.
The cards are shuffled and dealt into seven piles of seven face-down cards. Betting positions are then assigned, starting with the banker and continuing counter-clockwise around the table.
The four unused cards are placed in the middle of the table. As the betting positions move around the table, you place your bet, and if a person isn’t sitting at a spot, the cards are dealt to that place and moved to the center of the table with the four unused cards.
Once all the bets are placed, the dealer goes around the table again to see if anyone wants to wager anymore and play the dragon hand. The first player to claim the dragon hand gets it. The dealer then turns the cards in the middle of the table to reveal the dealer’s hand.
You win if both of your hands beat the banker’s hands. If only one of your hands beats her hands, then she pushes, which means that neither you nor the banker wins. If your two cards hand outranks your five-card hand, you’ll be penalized,d if there’s a tie, then the banker gets the win.
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7. Keno
From Asian card games to perhaps the closest thing the continent has to bingo.
Keno is said to have originated in China in ancient times from a need to raise funds. According to legend, the game is said to have saved a city and helped fund the building of the Great Wall of China. It is similar to the lottery, as well as bingo.
Playing this game at the casino gives you a card with numbers typically ranging from 1 to 80. You can choose any amount of numbers on the card from 1 to 20 and then take the card to a Keno writer to place your bet. In other words, you have multiple options for betting purposes.
The betting options for keno include a straight ticket, king ticket, and combination ticket. If you place a straight ticket bet, you’re betting on all the numbers you marked as a single wager.
This is the simplest way to place a bet and the best way to go if you’ve never played the game before.
The other two betting options are a little more complicated, but each of them has its benefits. This keno guide will be useful to you if you want to find out a little more.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of the game, you can switch the way you place your bet and find which one works best for your playing style.
In most casinos, you can place bets for keno drawings at any time. The drawings are done at different times throughout the day.
When the drawings take place, there are 20 numbers drawn, and if you have a winning ticket, you receive a payout based on the pay table the casino has chosen. Each casino has its own pay table, so check it out before placing your bet.
This is another game based on pure luck and can pay great rewards, making it very popular in the Asian casino world.
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Other Asian Gambling Games to Consider
That’s seven of the most popular Asian casino games you can play today at your favorite online gambling site.
Some of these games will be easier to get a paw on, depending on where you live. But the top online sites should be a top place to start.
With the explosion of gambling in the Asian countries, it’s difficult to see them reach the side of the world. Each one of these games is fun and has its own unique charm.
Most of these games have ancient ties to Asian culture and are deeply loved by the people of Asia. The Asian culture is very much traditional, so they find these games to be easy and feel comfortable playing the games they know.
From Asian table games to pachinko, the potential for fun is limitless. But here are a couple of others you can add to your repertoire.
Pai Gow – It’s not pai gow poker, but it’s so much fun once you learn the rules.
Indian Patty – Why not learn how to play Teen Patti, which is huge in India?
Not being able to use strategy to determine the outcome of a game is what makes these games so much fun to play.
They have also helped to thrust Asian gambling games to the status some enjoy at online casinos and beyond.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Asian gambling games offer a diverse and exciting array of experiences for players around the world. From the elegance of baccarat to the social intricacies of mahjong and the fast-paced excitement of sic bo, these games are deeply rooted in Asian culture and tradition. With their unique blend of luck, strategy, and cultural significance, they have captivated global audiences, making them staples at both land-based and online casinos. Whether you’re a seasoned player or just starting, these games provide endless opportunities for fun and fortune.
And if you need a break from the action, have some laughs from the funniest casino jokes out there.
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