Blackjack has some fascinating history, which not many people may know about. To this day, the iconic game remains one of the best-known and most-loved by players, and you’re sure to find different variations of online Blackjack at your favourite casino site, as well as physical games at any land-based casino. In theory, it’s one of the simplest to learn and play – but where did it originate?
Keep reading to find out more about the history and evolution of Blackjack.
The origins of Blackjack are quite disputed, but the most common theory comes from the French. In France, ‘Vingt-et-un’ was the game that made its way to casinos towards the end of the 17th century.
It derived from two other French card games and soon became popular in Europe. Then, French Colonists brought the game over to North America, where it gained even more popularity and began to resemble the form Blackjack we know and love today. But it was still called Twenty-One when Nevada first made gambling legal in 1931.
The making of Blackjack
With legalised gambling in place, Blackjack quickly became a favourite in casinos, and the name was coined simply by coincidence. To attract more attention to the game, some casinos offered a special bet: a hand which contained the Ace of Spades as well as either of the black Jacks would pay out 10/1 odds on the player’s bet. Of course, these rules no longer stand – but the name Blackjack stuck.
Card counting unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with the game of Blackjack and has done since the 1950s.
In 1962, Edward O. Thorp released a book called Beat the Dealer, which effectively revealed ways in which to card count, with theories such as ‘first card counting techniques’ and ‘ten count system’.
Understandably, the book received an overwhelming response, with his strategies sparking public interest to of course go out and attempt to beat the dealer! Only a few years later, Thorp released part two of his book, featuring the findings of computer scientist Harvey Dubner, who introduced a counting system, now known as the ‘hi-lo count’.
Of course, these days land-based and online casinos are more vigilant and have technologically-advanced security measures in place to prevent card counting from happening and obviously reprimanding those that still do, or try to, card count. Whilst it is not illegal, it is hugely frowned upon, and could see you banned from certain venues.
The original way of catching card counters was via a book. Las Vegas Private Detective, Robert Griffin, was the instigator and compiled a book with pictures of and information on known or suspected card counters. This was handed out to numerous casinos and was also regularly updated, but proved a long-winded process.
We hope this article has helped you to understand the history of Blackjack, we are sure there was something in there that you didn’t know about before!
Now you know more about the iconic game; will you be sitting at the Blackjack table anytime soon?
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