Chinese gamblers love baccarat. It’s so popular that the casinos in Macau are trying to convert a percentage of the baccarat players into slot jockeys. Slot machines make up a much smaller percentage of revenues in Macau than in Vegas. Baccarat tables are slow, and many Chinese players will only wager on tables they think are lucky, swarming some tables while others sit empty.

It will be tough to change a culture that has baccarat in its roots. There are some signs of slots games increasing in popularity. There are currently 15,000 machines, compared to 2000 eight years ago.

Slot machines are being created with more recognizable Asian themes, and Macau casino staff has been instructed to persuade customers to play them. They are also developing electronic baccarat games that don’t have live dealers, and deal out a hand in a quarter of the time a regular table can.