The Venetian has pumped up baccarat at its VIP lounge atop the casino. One might think they have transformed the setting to Asia when they get a look at the decor. The televisions are tuned to Asian stations and signs are in Chinese writing. Caesars Palace casino has also strived to create an Asian-friendly baccarat pit, including 12 baccarat tables and Pai Gow poker tables.

Many claim the Mandalay Bay casino has one of the best baccarat pits in Las Vegas. The MGM Mirage and Grand have good baccarat pits, and the Bellagio is getting in on the action, expanding its pit. Limits at casinos vary, but most have limits starting at $100 per hand and going up to as much as $50,000 per hand or more. Most strip casinos are getting in on the action, now that the boom has begun around the game in the last three years.

Baccarat has become an important part of most Vegas casinos’ revenues. With the Chinese gambling dollar playing high-stakes baccarat over all other games, the Vegas casinos are doing more and more to attract the action to the degree of buying a fleet of airplanes to fly from Vegas to Macau).

But revenues are down in Vegas this year, and many gaming experts think that the increased high-stakes baccarat action is the cause. The house edge is lower in baccarat – which is part of the reason it’s so popular – and the higher the percentage of a casino’s action that’s baccarat, the lower the profit for the house.

I don’t think that baccarat action will help or hurt a casino from thriving. But casinos certainly don’t need to offer the game to do well. There are lots of them thriving without baccarat as part of their lineup of games.

Gaming revenues for January 2008 were down 4.75% over that period last year. Initially, high-stakes baccarat was blamed for the decline but after Vegas dropped room rates for the month of February, things still continued to decline. February had a decline of 4% from that same period last year, and eyes on Wall Street have begun to watch Sin City a little closer.

“Gaming revenues have been soft this year. However, we believe the decline is not as bad as expected,” Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Bill Lerner said in a note to investors. “Still, with room rates down this quarter and gaming revenue declining, it is clear that Las Vegas is feeling the impact of a difficult economic environment.”

Gaming declined in every area of Nevada other than Carson Valley and Clark County casinos. Some experts think that the NY Giants upset victory in the Super Bowl caused most of the February loss.

They’ve been doing it in ships on the ocean for decades, but no one has thought of providing gaming action in the air before, until now. Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Venetian Resorts in Vegas and Macau, has come up with the brainstorm of ferrying high rollers from China to Vegas and breaking open the baccarat tables at 30,000 feet of altitude.

The revenue possibilities for these trips could be very big. For one thing, they will be traveling in international air space and will not be taxed by any country. Vegas revenues are taxed 6.75%, and Macau taxes are a whopping 40%.

They will be offering baccarat action as soon as they purchase two Lockheed wide-bodied jets and begin to offer flights. There are laws that prohibit gambling on flights into, and out of, the U.S. But private flights are exempt from the 1994 amendment that prohibits the airborne action.

Chinese New Year is the biggest time of year for Vegas Strip baccarat action. The ten-day celebration can provide the lion’s share of the baccarat action for the year, with last year’s wagers totalling over $1B for the month of February. That put $116.4M into the revenue stream for the casinos. That translates into 2.9% of total business.

The MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts have all opened casinos in Macau and they have been promoting Vegas as a Chinese New Year destination. The ten-day celebration allows visitors a longer-than-usual visit to the city, and the free-flowing Asian gambling dollar is becoming much more desirable to Vegas casino owners.

The casinos would rather see the Asian gaming dollar spent in Vegas because the gaming tax is 6.75% in the U.S., as compared to the 39% they must pay to the Chinese government in Macau.

Vegas always wins. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances may be, Vegas will always continue to grow. When the economy is doing well people will always look to dump a little dough on a trip to Sin City. We might accept the fact that we’re going to lose more than we’ll win, but we can’t wait to get there again. All games are set to make money for the house.

Even the rare genius who comes up with a method to temporarily beat the house makes money for the casinos. All the stories of the MIT blackjack group, and the other famous house beaters, only increase the folklore and appeal of the casinos.

High rollers don’t have a better place to be a big shot than Vegas. With all the attractions and celebrities, anyone with money heads there to play. Even after lavish comps, Vegas will always come out on top at the tables.