  The game of baccarat has evolved from a parlor game played by French
aristocrats in the first half of the 19th century to a casino game that
generated over US\$41 billion in revenue for the casinos of Macau in 2013. The
parlor game was originally a three-person zero-sum game. Later in the 19th
century it was simplified to a two-person zero-sum game. Early in the 20th
century the parlor game became a casino game, no longer zero-sum. In the mid
20th century, the strategic casino game became a nonstrategic game, with
players competing against the house instead of against each other. We argue
that this evolution was motivated by both economic and game-theoretic
considerations.
