Commission
A percentage fee charged by the casino on certain winning bets, most commonly the 5% taken from winning Banker bets in baccarat.
Detailed Explanation
Commission is a fee collected by the house on specific winning wagers. The most prevalent instance is in baccarat: the Banker bet wins more frequently than the Player bet (due to drawing rules that favour the Banker), so casinos charge a standard 5% commission on Banker wins to preserve their edge. On a $100 winning Banker bet, the player receives $95 net.
Some baccarat variants offer 'commission-free' Banker bets, typically achieved by paying 1:2 (instead of 1:1) when the Banker wins with a total of 6. This preserves the house edge through a different mechanism. Commission is also charged in some poker room variants — pai gow poker deducts 5% of net wins; casino hold'em and similar games may include a rake equivalent.
In live poker rooms, the commission equivalent is the 'rake' — a percentage extracted from each pot. Managing commission-heavy bets is critical for high-volume baccarat players: compounded over thousands of hands, a 5% commission erodes returns significantly. Some casinos offer 3% or even lower commissions in competitive markets, improving expected returns for serious players.
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