4/12/2022

Las Vegas Blackjack Payouts

The chances of turning a profit while playing blackjack in any gaming establishment on the Las Vegas Strip have deteriorated a great deal as the gaming operators decided to lower the standard blackjack payouts. The regular 3/2 payout on blackjack hands has now been lowered to 6/5 at most tables on the casino floors.

In this case, the player has blackjack and receives a payout of 6:5 on his/her $100 bet. The blackjack payout in this case is $100 x 1.2 = $120. You're more likely to encounter 6:5 blackjack tables at Las Vegas Strip casinos. These venues often place the 6:5 restriction on blackjack tables with the minimum bet is under $50 per hand.

There are several casinos in Las Vegas tourist areas that offer $3 blackjack. All of these games offer worse rules than the ones mentioned above. These casinos only pay even money on $3 and $4 bets when a blackjack is dealt. Most of these casinos offer $5 blackjack games that pay 3-2. For double deck games, a majority of Las Vegas casinos offer 3 to 2 on blackjack. However there are a couple of casinos that brazenly payout 6 to 5 on their double deck games. The Cosmopolitan offers 6 to 5 on all double deck games located on the casino floor. Lucky Lucky Blackjack is a traditional blackjack game that allows you to play up to five hands simultaneously but with the addition of a side bet that could see you win a huge payout. The Lucky Lucky side bet is a bet on the first two cards in a hand and the dealer's face-up card forming one of eight winning combinations and it can payout up to.

Las Vegas Casino Blackjack Payouts

Venetian and Palazzo were the first two casinos to introduce the change and the others where soon to follow. At the time of writing, every single casino on the Strip houses tables with 6 to 5 payouts on blackjack.

Having seen serious downtrend in the number of tourists actually gambling during their Las Vegas vacations, the casinos appear to have found a way to boost their revenue, although the underhand tactics is unlikely to go down well with more experienced gamblers.

The mere fact that low limit tables were the first to adopt said decreased blackjack payouts is enough to suggest that casinos hope that casual gamblers will not even notice the change, or at least will not protest too much even if they become aware of the new rules.

Nevertheless, with the player expected to hit a blackjack approximately once every 15 minutes, the 6/5 blackjack payout instead of the original 3/2 can make all the difference, moving the money from the player’s pockets to the casino cage at a much faster rate.

What Difference Does it Make?

Many seasonal players underestimate the difference this change makes. “So I’ll get $12 instead of $15 when I get blackjack. What’s the big deal?” – It is a huge deal. A 1.5% deal to be exact. That’s the difference this change makes, lowering your odds from somewhere in 99.5% area to closer to 98%.

To show it in a different way: let’s say you play $20 per hand for just 3 hours. The chances of getting blackjack with 6 decks is just below 1/20 hands. Let’s say that you play 120 hands each hour which means, 6 blackjacks every hour for which you will get $24 instead of $30. So, due to this change, after these 3 hours you will end up with $108 less than you would have with the regular payout.

So What Should I do?

First, check the rules before you start playing and ask if there are tables with a regular 3/2 payout. You might find tables with slightly higher bet limits that still use the regular rules. You can also consider checking a bit less popular casinos – those are more likely to have some table with regular payouts.

Last, you might consider playing online, where you can play even Single Deck Blackjack with 3/2 payouts (98.84% return!), something that disappeared from Vegas years ago.

All Las Vegas Strip casinos, as well as some in the downtown and locals markets, short-pay some blackjack tables with a 6:5 payout. The list below shows the minimum bet it takes for you to find a 3:2 blackjack table so that you can get the best game for your bankroll.

The minimum bets and rules listed are based on my observations when visiting Las Vegas casinos in December 2019. Minimum bets may increase during peak hours or due to a policy change.

The list assumes that the game is a six or eight-deck shoe with double down before and after splitting and the dealer hitting soft 17. If there is a variation from these rules, it is included in parenthesis.

$1

Lucky Club

$2

Poker Palace

$3

Jokers Wild (no double down after split)
Sam’s Town

$5

Las Vegas Blackjack Payout

Aliante (double deck or shoe, latter adds surrender)
Arizona Charlie’s Decatur (double deck and shoe)
Bighorn (double down before or after split on two or three cards plus surrender and re-split aces)
Boulder Station (surrender)
California (double deck or shoe, no double down after split in both)
Cannery (double deck or shoe, latter adds surrender)
Club Fortune (double deck or shoe)
Downtown Grand (surrender and re-split aces)
Eastside Cannery (double deck and shoe with re-split aces, shoe adds surrender)
El Cortez (single deck with no double down after split or double deck and shoe with double down after split)
Ellis Island
Fiesta Henderson and Rancho (double deck and shoe, latter has surrender)
Fremont (double deck and shoe, no double down after split in both)
Gold Coast (double deck and shoe)
Golden Gate
Jerry’s Nugget (double deck and shoe)
Longhorn (double down before or after split on two or three cards plus surrender and re-split aces)
M Resort (double deck and shoe)
Main Street Station (double deck, no double down after split)
Orleans (double deck and shoe)
Palace Station (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
Plaza
Railroad Pass
Rampart (double deck or shoe, latter adds surrender and re-split aces)
Santa Fe Station (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
Silver Nugget
Silverton (surrender and re-split aces)
Skyline
South Point
Suncoast (double deck and shoe)
Texas Station (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
The Strat (surrender and re-split aces)
Tuscany

$10

How To Deal Blackjack In Vegas

Bally’s (surrender)
Circus Circus
Cromwell (surrender)
Green Valley Ranch (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
Oyo
Palms (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
Red Rock (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
Rio (surrender)
Silver 7’s (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender and re-split aces)
Sunset Station (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender)
The D
Treasure Island (double deck and shoe, latter adds surrender and re-split aces)

$15

How To Win Blackjack In Vegas

Caesars Palace (surrender)
Flamingo (surrender)
Golden Nugget (surrender)
Harrah’s (surrender)
Paris (surrender)
Planet Hollywood (surrender)
Sahara
Westgate

$25

Four Queens (double deck, no double down after split)
Cosmopolitan (surrender and re-split aces)
Encore (surrender and re-split aces)
Excalibur (surrender and re-split aces)
Linq (double deck, no double after split, or shoe with surrender)
Luxor (surrender and re-split aces)
Mandalay Bay (surrender and re-split aces)
MGM Grand (surrender and re-split aces)
Mirage (surrender and re-split aces)
New York New York (surrender and re-split aces)
Park MGM (surrender and re-split aces)
Tropicana (double deck and shoe)
Wynn (surrender and re-split aces)

$50

Las Vegas Blackjack 6 To 5 Payouts

Aria (surrender and re-split aces)
Bellagio (stand on all 17’s with surrender and re-split aces)
Palazzo (double deck or shoe, latter adds surrender and re-split aces)
Venetian (double deck or shoe, latter adds surrender and re-split aces)

Las Vegas Blackjack Payouts

Las Vegas casinos with no 3:2 blackjack games

There are three Las Vegas casinos with table games that do not offer any traditional 3:2 blackjack games. Those casinos are Binion’s, Casino Royale and O’Sheas. I found 3:2 tables with a forced $1 side bet at Binion’s but no other ones. The other two casinos have no 3:2 tables of any kind, based on my observations.