I Love Casinos: Game

When video gaming devices started to make their way onto casino floors in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the assumption of most managers was that video blackjack would be a big hit, and that video poker would struggle. After all, blackjack was the most popular casino game, far more popular than poker.

Exactly the opposite happened. Video poker became one of the hottest happenings in the industry, and video blackjack was pushed to the fringes. One of the big reasons is something we explored in this column before: On most video blackjack games, blackjacks pay only even money instead of the 3-2 you get at the tables. That spots the house an extra 2.3 percent edge.

Another reason is that video blackjack doesn't lend itself easily to the kinds of jackpots that attract players to other electronic gaming devices, including slot machines. In video blackjack, you bet a couple of quarters, you win a couple of quarters.

Nevertheless, video blackjack survives as a niche game. It does far better in jurisdictions such as Arizona that do not permit table games. There, table-sized, multi-player video blackjack games are among the most popular offerings.

Where table games are permitted, video blackjack survives on single-player machines, largely as one option on multigame machines that include slot, keno and video poker games.

Those single-player video blackjack games usually are dealt from a single electronic deck, which is reshuffled after every hand. To get the most out of the game means learning and using basic strategy for single-deck blackjack.