In 2010, we started collecting blackjack data from the Las Vegas Strip and downtown. As the years passed, we added all locals casinos to the list. We collected the following information in January 2024 and the winter of 2023. Below are summaries of the blackjack variants found in each casino. More detailed information, including blackjack and table game rules and minimums, is available through our monthly subscription service.
These are all the blackjack variants that we found over the years that are still in service. The differences between each game and standard blackjack are explained here, as well as where you can find it now or where it was played in the past.
This page is split into two sections. The blackjack variants currently found in Las Vegas casinos are listed below. You may find ones from the past that are no longer spread here.
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We compiled graphs on the number of blackjack variants found in Las Vegas during the last decade. This data includes the games and the number of live tables each year.
Free Bet Blackjack has become the most popular variant in Las Vegas. The game is nearly two out of every three installs of a blackjack variant in the market. The graphs below show the percentages of each game in the market that we found, as well as the historical counts for every Las Vegas blackjack variant over the last decade.
Blackjack variants spread in Las Vegas in 2024
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Blackjack Frenzy
Elements of Super Fun 21 and Spanish 21 are combined in Blackjack Frenzy. Players may double down after hitting. There are bonuses for some special 21 hands. Blackjack pays 6:5.
Blackjack Frenzy is available at Sahara with a $15 minimum bet.
Blackjack Switch
Blackjack Switch was the most popular blackjack variant in Las Vegas through 2017, though Free Bet Blackjack passed it in 2018. The number of Blackjack Switch tables has since crashed, dropping from 33 tables in 2014 to just four today.
In Blackjack Switch, a player must make two bets. There is an option of switching a card from one hand to the other. Blackjack pays even money. The dealer pushes players still in the hand when a 22 is drawn.
Now, Blackjack Switch can be found at only four Las Vegas casinos. The minimum bet is typically $10 to $50.
Bonus Spin Blackjack
Bonus Spin Blackjack started out as an optional side bet at many casinos. The game is otherwise identical to a traditional blackjack game. In 2018, it appeared at Four Queens and Golden Nugget in a different form. It later popped up at Binion’s and Fremont. These games force players to make the $1 or $2 side bet. By our calculations, it is the worst blackjack game, giving the house one of the largest edges in the entire Las Vegas blackjack market.
The version at Fremont and Golden Nugget only pays 6:5. On a $10 bet, the typical minimum for this game at these casinos, I estimate the house edge to be 3.9 percent. Some $10 Bonus Spin Blackjack tables at Golden Nugget have a required $2 side bet. These tables have a house edge of 5.5 percent.
The Golden Nugget game has a $5 minimum bet plus $2 forced Bonus Spin side bet at its 6:5 Lucky Cat Blackjack tables. I computed the house edge to be 8.95%, worse than triple zero roulette.
The Four Queens and Binion’s tables pay 3:2 with signs proudly displaying this fact. However, I estimate the house edge on a $10 bet at this table to be 3.9 percent. It is the third-worst blackjack game in Las Vegas.
It is impossible for a casual visitor or blackjack player to know the house edge of the side bet. Our research shows that 23 percent is a good estimate because an ace does not push the side bet like it normally does. That is the number we used to determine the overall house edge in these games.
Double Exposure
Double Exposure Blackjack is a variant that deals all cards face up, including the dealer’s. It was installed at Circus Circus in 2020. It was the first time since 2015 that this game was dealt in the Las Vegas market. It was at Riviera, where it was called Bottoms Up, themed after the ‘Crazy Girls’ show. Riviera closed in 2015.
Blackjack in Double Exposure pays even money. The dealer wins pushes, except on blackjack. At Circus Circus, the minimum bet is usually $10.
Double Up Blackjack
In Double Up Blackjack, players may double up on any hand that stands on two cards. This includes after splitting. To offset this, the house wins all live hands of 20 and under when making a 16. It may be a soft or hard 16.
On the Strip this game pays 6:5. Double Up Blackjack at Binion’s and Four Queens pays 3:2. The minimum bet ranges from $10 to $15.
- Binion’s
- Four Queens
- Horseshoe
- Paris
- Planet Hollywood
Free Bet Blackjack
Free Bet Blackjack is the most popular variant in Las Vegas. It had 88 installs in October 2022. We first discovered the game in 2013, when it had 12 tables throughout all of Las Vegas. In 2018, it overtook Blackjack Switch as the most popular blackjack variant in Las Vegas.
The house pays for all doubles on 9, 10 and 11. All splits are free, except on ten-value cards. Doubling down after splitting is free on 9, 10, and 11, except on aces, which must stand. To offset these rules, the dealer pushes lives hands on 22.
There are two types of Free Bet Blackjack games in Las Vegas. Most pay 6:5. However, downtown and some off-strip casinos offer the game with a 3:2 payout on the casino floor. On the Strip, two casinos have it in the salon. Minimums range from $10 to $50.
- Harrah’s
- Horseshoe
- Linq
- Luxor
- M Resort
- Mandalay Bay
- MGM Grand
- Mohegan
- New York-New York
- O’Sheas
- Palace Station
- Palazzo
Free Bonus Blackjack
Free Bonus Blackjack is like Free Bet. We found it at three Vegas area casinos. It pays 6:5 on a blackjack. Minimums range from $10 to $25.
- Fontainebleau
- Palms
- Sahara
Lucky Cat
Lucky Cat Blackjack is at Four Queens. The game plays like normal blackjack except when the dealer has 22. Four six-sided dice are rolled, with each die containing one cat and five blanks. The player wins based on the total number of cats rolled. If all blanks come, the player pushes. Blackjack pays 3:2. It has a $15 minimum bet.
There are 6:5 forced Bonus Spin side bet Lucky Cat Blackjack tables in the Golden Nugget party pit. We rank it as the worst blackjack game in Las Vegas. It has a $5 minimum flat bet and a mandatory $2 side bet.
Most Liberal 21
Most Liberal 21 originated in the years of Jackie Gaughan’s ownership of Plaza and Las Vegas Club. These are the only two casinos where the game has ever been spread in its more than two decades on the market. The game is down to one table at Plaza. The minimum bet is usually $5 during the day and $10 at night.
The game originally had the most liberal rules, as its name declared, but the rules were changed in the 2000s to what they are today. A player can double down on two, three, or four cards. Split aces may be hit, doubled, or re-split. Players win on a six-card Charlie. Blackjack pays even money, except for suited blackjack, which pays 2:1. The house edge is 1.33%.
Spanish 21
Spanish 21 has made two comebacks in Las Vegas. In our first survey in 2011, there were six tables of Spanish 21. There were two at Cosmopolitan and Palazzo, as well as one each at Fitzgeralds and Venetian. The Fitzgeralds Spanish 21 game disappeared when it became The D in 2012. The other casinos dropped it over the next year.
Palazzo and Venetian brought the game back off and on until 2017, when it stayed until the present time. The minimum bet starts at $25. Circus Circus added Spanish 21 in 2019 but removed it in 2020.
In 2021, the new Virgin/Mohegan Sun Casino opened with Spanish 21. It had a $25 minimum bet there. The game has since left the casino floor there.
Spanish 21 uses eight 48-card decks. The tens are missing. The face cards remain. Players may double down on any number of cards. Surrender is available on any number of cards, as well as after a split or double-down. The player always wins blackjack, which pays 3:2. A player’s non-blackjack 21 always wins as well, with bonus wins for hands that include a 678 or 777, as well as for five or more cards (a Charlie). Split aces may be hit or doubled.
Last Updated on January 18, 2024 by John Mehaffey