KEY TAKEAWAYS
The Tie bet in baccarat usually pays 8 to 1, and some tables pay 9 to 1. It wins when the Player hand and the Banker hand finish with exactly the same total. Ties are uncommon, arriving about 9.52% of the time, and that gap between the payout and the real chance of winning produces a house edge of 14.36% at 8 to 1 and 4.84% at 9 to 1.
For comparison, the Banker bet carries a house edge of 1.06% and the Player bet 1.24%. That makes the Tie the most expensive of the three main baccarat bets by a wide margin, even though a payout of 8 to 1 looks generous. On average, $100 wagered on the Tie at 8 to 1 costs about $14.36, while $100 on the Banker costs about $1.06.
This guide explains how a tie happens, where the payout and house edge numbers come from, what happens to the other bets when a tie is dealt, and what to check at the table before placing the bet. Payouts differ between casinos, so the table placard always has the final word.
What the Baccarat Tie Bet Is
Baccarat offers three main bets on each hand: Player, Banker and Tie. A Tie bet is a wager that both hands will end with the same total, whatever that total is. A Tie bet wins only when the two hand totals are equal, and it loses whenever either side wins. For a full walkthrough of the game itself, see how baccarat works.
Totals in baccarat are counted using the last digit of the sum. An ace counts as 1, cards from 2 to 9 count at face value, and 10, J, Q and K count as 0. A hand of 7 and 8 adds to 15, which counts as 5. Every total therefore falls between 0 and 9, and a tie can happen at any of those totals, including 0.
The Tie bet is separate from the Player and Banker bets. Each wager is settled on its own. A player may wager on it alone or alongside another bet. The bet is available in standard punto banco baccarat at most tables, but whether a table offers it, and what it pays, depends on the casino. Some no-commission versions and side bets change the picture, so the rules on the placard matter more than any general summary.
The Tie is the least likely of the three outcomes, which is why it pays so much more than the other two. Out of every 10,000 hands in an eight-deck game, roughly 4,586 go to the Banker, 4,462 to the Player and 952 are ties. Those are long-run averages, not a schedule, so ties can cluster or vanish for a long stretch.
How the Tie Payout and House Edge Work
A payout of 8 to 1 means a winning $10 Tie bet returns $80 in profit plus the original $10 stake. To judge whether a payout is fair, compare it with the real chance of winning. A bet paying X to 1 breaks even only if it wins at least 1 time in X + 1. At 8 to 1, that is 1 in 9, or 11.11%. At 9 to 1, it is 1 in 10, or 10%.
Where the 14.36% comes from
The Tie wins 9.52% of the time in an eight-deck game, which is about 1 hand in 10.5. That is less often than the 1 in 9 needed to break even at 8 to 1. Per $1 bet, the Tie wins 8 about 9.52% of the time and loses $1 the other 90.48%, so the average result is (8 × 0.0952) − (1 × 0.9048), which is roughly −$0.144. That is a house edge of about 14.36%, using the unrounded probability behind the 9.52% figure.
Why 9 to 1 is much better, but not good
One extra unit of payout changes the result a great deal, because the Tie wins so rarely. At 9 to 1, the same arithmetic gives (9 × 0.0952) − (1 × 0.9048), about −$0.048. The house edge drops to 4.84%, which is still higher than the 1.06% on the Banker bet and the 1.24% on the Player bet. The Tie is cheaper at 9 to 1, but it is never the cheapest bet on the table.
What happens to the other bets on a tie
When the hands tie, Player and Banker bets are not lost. Both are a push, meaning the stake is returned and the hand does not count as a win or loss. That is why a tie costs nothing for those bets, and why the Tie bet is the only wager that pays on it. The Banker bet’s 5% commission applies only when the Banker wins.
Worked Example: Two $10 Tie Bets
Suppose a table pays 8 to 1 on the Tie, and a player places $10 on Tie. In the first hand, the Player receives 3♣ and 5♥, for a total of 8, and the Banker receives 4♦ and 4♠, also a total of 8. Both are naturals, so no third card is drawn. The totals are equal, so the Tie bet wins: 8 × $10 = $80 profit, and the $10 stake is returned. Any Player or Banker bet on that hand would be a push.
On the next hand, the Player receives 9♣ and K♥, a natural 9, and the Banker receives 5♠ and 3♦, a natural 8. The Player wins, so the Tie bet loses its $10 stake, even though the hands were only one point apart. A tie bet pays nothing unless the totals match exactly.
Now stretch that over many hands. If the player makes 100 Tie bets of $10 at 8 to 1, the total wagered is $1,000. On average, the Tie wins about 9.5 times, for roughly $760 in profit, and loses about 90.5 times, for roughly $905 in losses. The expected result is a loss of about $144 on the $1,000, matching the 14.36% house edge. At 9 to 1, the expected loss is about $48. The same $1,000 on the Banker bet would cost about $10.60 on average. These are averages across many hands, not predictions for any one session.
Common Mistakes and Myths About the Tie Bet
The most common mistake is judging the bet by its payout instead of its probability. A payout of 8 to 1 looks large, but it must be compared with how rarely the bet wins. A bet that wins 9.52% of the time and pays 8 to 1 is not a good deal, however exciting a win feels.
A second mistake is the belief that a tie is “due” after a long stretch without one. Past results do not predict the next hand, and the scorecard is only a record, not a forecast. Casinos often display recent results, but those boards do not predict anything. The same reasoning is explained in why the Martingale betting strategy fails: raising bets after losses does not change the odds.
A third mistake is treating the Tie bet as a hedge. Because the Player and Banker bets push on a tie, some players think adding a Tie bet “covers” them. A Tie bet is just another wager with its own house edge, and adding it raises the average cost of every hand rather than lowering the risk. Finally, 9 to 1 and 8 to 1 are not interchangeable, so read the payout before playing.
What to Check Before Placing a Tie Bet
Start with the placard on the table. The Tie payout is posted at the table and can differ from one casino to the next, and sometimes from one table to the next. The table below shows how much the payout changes the cost, using the figures for standard eight-deck punto banco.
| Bet | Payout | House edge | Average cost per $100 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banker (5% commission) | 1 to 1 less commission | 1.06% | $1.06 |
| Player | 1 to 1 | 1.24% | $1.24 |
| Tie | 9 to 1 | 4.84% | $4.84 |
| Tie | 8 to 1 | 14.36% | $14.36 |
The table makes the ranking clear. Even the better Tie payout costs more than four times as much as the Banker bet, and the common 8 to 1 payout costs more than thirteen times as much. If the goal is to keep a session budget going as long as possible, the Banker and Player bets are the cheaper choices.
It is also worth checking the table minimum and the rules for any side bets, because some side bets are priced much worse than the Tie and their house edge depends on the paytable. Decide on a budget before sitting down, treat it as the price of entertainment, and stop when it is gone. No pattern in the scorecard changes these numbers, and the house edge works in the casino’s favor over the long run. For buying in and table etiquette, see how to buy in at a casino table.
Where to Go Next
To see why every casino bet has a built-in cost, read how the house edge works. The Tie bet is a clear example of a large payout hiding a large edge. After that, the natural next topics in baccarat are the third-card rules, which decide when each hand draws, and the 5% Banker commission, which explains why the Banker bet is not simply an even-money wager.
