Etymology Borrowed from Italian banco. Doublet of banc, bank, and bench.
1
A bank, especially that of Venice; formerly used to indicate bank money, as distinguished from the current money when it has become depreciated.
banco money
On account of the great confidence placed on them, payments in banco soon gained a premium on payments in current coin, so that speculation arose on the fluctuating premium.1941, Sir John Harold Clapham, Eileen Edna Power, The Cambridge Economic History of Europe:
2
Gambling, Games In baccarat or chemin de fer, a bet on the banker hand.
Bond had spent the last two afternoons and most of the nights at the Casino, playing complicated progression systems on the even chances at roulette. He made a high banco at chemin-de-fer whenever he heard one offered.1953, Ian Fleming, chapter 4, in Casino Royale, page 23:
banco
verb
Etymology Borrowed from Italian banco. Doublet of banc, bank, and bench.
1
Gambling, Games In baccarat or chemin de fer, to bet an amount equal to the entire bankroll currently being offered by the banker.
The then only hope, thought Bond, was to stamp on him now. Not to share the bank with the table, or to take some minor part of it, but to go the whole hog. This would really jolt Le Chiffre. He would hate to see more than ten or fifteen million of the stake covered, and he could not possibly expect anyone to banco the entire thirty-two millions.1953, Ian Fleming, “The Deadly Tube”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 86: