To put it simply: Yes and No.  Yes, it can be fun and is a great way to learn how to play.  But no, it is not nearly as fun as playing at a real casino.

Baccarat is a simple game that has been around for a long time, but it wasn’t always a popular choice for average casino players. Even now, many of the high rollers play baccarat and a lot of people still associate the game with big bucks. However, the game is gaining popularity with your average players as they begin to see how exciting it is and understand they can fit it into their bankroll. If you aren’t yet familiar with the game of baccarat, you may find it becomes one of your new favorites if you decide to give it a try.

Finding the best place to play online baccarat

Baccarat has become an extremely easy game to play online. Most of the casinos make sure they offer it to their players. Another thing worth noting about baccarat is many of the online casinos even offer live dealer baccarat for their players to enjoy. Choose a casino with a good reputation, excellent software, secure banking, good support, and generous bonuses and promotions in order to get the full enjoyment from the games.

Playing online baccarat

Baccarat is a card table game which is considered to be a card comparing game, similar to blackjack in this way. However, when you play baccarat you do want to understand that it doesn’t have an element of skill to it the way blackjack and many other games do.

When you play baccarat, you will be competing against the dealer and trying to get a higher hand value. However, when you play baccarat you don’t necessarily need to wager on your own hand. You also have the option to wager on the dealers hand. The highest hand value you can get in this game is 9 and this is considered a natural hand if it is made with just 2 cards.

In baccarat, the cards between 2 and 9 will retain their face value, the two being worth 2 points, the 3 being worth 3 points, and so on. The face cards are all worth 0 and the aces are worth a single point. It may seem difficult to understand that the highest value a hand can have is 9 if that is also the highest value of a single card. However, the value of a hand is calculated by taking the right number of the total sum. For example, if you have two 7’s, then your hand value is 4. 7+7=14 and taking the number on the right leaves you with 4. You won’t need to worry about calculating the hand values. In a land based casino the dealer does this and the software takes care of it in the online games.

When it comes to learning the various rules of the game, you will see that the online casinos have made it quite simple. If you want to familiarize yourself with the game before risking your money, then consider playing in some of the free baccarat games for a while and transitioning to the real money games once you feel comfortable.

Recently, the state of New Jersey approved a law to legalize Internet gambling. The law will allow online betting in any game currently offered by the Atlantic City casinos. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed the bill, in February, after the legislature enacted the amendments that he had requested. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Raymond Lesniak.

More specifically, the law establishes a 10 year trial period for approved internet gambling sites. After the first ten years, the state will conduct a review. Additionally, Atlantic City casinos will be required to pay a 15 percent tax on any online winnings. This is an increase from the current 10 percent tax that the Atlantic City casinos Continue reading…

By Daniel Pimlott in New York

Updated: 12:12 a.m. ET Jan 27, 2007

The US has suffered a setback in a World Trade Organisation case that accuses the country of protectionism against international online gambling companies.

The US admitted on Friday that the WTO had ruled against it in the latest stage of a long-running dispute with the tiny Caribbean island of Antigua over whether US laws allow online gambling on horse racing, but unfairly forbid international companies from competing in the market.

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The ruling is the latest step on a path which could eventually see the European Union take on the US over its treatment of the European internet gambling industry. Several leading online gambling companies have been hit by prosecutions from the US in recent months.

The final ruling on the case is expected in a few weeks after which the Antigua will be able to introduce sanctions although the US still has the right to appeal.

Officially, the US government considers online gambling to be illegal, although there appear to be loopholes excluding horseracing, some state lotteries, and intrastate online gambling.

Antigua would be the smallest country ever to win a WTO case.

Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative at the WTO, said the interim report of the panel deciding on the case “did not agree with the United States that we had taken the necessary steps to comply” with a WTO ruling that the US was not granting full market access in gambling and betting services. But the US believes the ruling only applies to “a narrow issue of federal law” concerning horse racing.

Mark Mendel, Antigua’s lead counsel in the case, would not comment on the panel’s findings, but said that “America’s prohibition in the provision of gambling services from other countries violates the US commitments to the WTO”. The existing US online gambling industry, which lawmakers tolerated, was worth billions of dollars, he said.

A victory for Antigua at the WTO, which will deliver its final report in a few weeks’ time, would mean the country would be allowed to take retaliatory trade measures against the US, such as tariffs on imports.

Such a route is thought unlikely to sway US lawmakers, however, given the small size of the Antiguan economy, which is substantially dependent on the US for trade.

“What can they do that will affect the US one iota? Nothing,” said Jonathan Winer, a partner at Alston & Bird LLP who has followed the case closely.

A greater threat is that success at the WTO for Antigua could pave the way for the EU to pursue a fair trade case against the US over online gambling, which the US might have to take more seriously.

“If bigger countries choose to take on the case, it could have a bigger impact,” said Mr Winer.

The EU has previously said that it was an “interested party” in the case.

Copyright The Financial Times Ltd –  All rights reserved.