Macao (banking game)

Not to be confused with the card game Macau.

Macao is an old, European gambling card game played with French playing cards that is related to Baccarat. It was first mentioned in 1774,[1] and may have originated in Hungary or Italy.[2] It was described as being popular with the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th century,[3] although the game was later banned as a game of chance.[4]

  1. ^ Actually in Geneva, where we find it banned by an Ordonnance des Magnifiques & Très-Honorés Seigneurs Sindics & Conseil [of Geneva] dated 22 January 1774, forbidding “de joüer aucun jeu de hazard ou de reste sous quelque dénomination que ce soit, & notamment celui appellé Macao” (see E. Rivoire, Bibliographie historique de Genève au XVIIIe siècle, Geneva, 1897, no. 1398).
  2. ^ Zollinger 1997, p. 302.
  3. ^ Lentner 1855, p. 111.
  4. ^ Perles 1891, p. 312.