History and the origins of Blackjack

Blackjack’s origins have been a contentious issue with several stories in circulation about the topic. While the game is thought to have developed and evolved over the years, there is one opinion that it started off from French game with the name ‘Vingt-et-Un’ which translates to twenty-one.

There are legends attributing the game to the Romans, Spain and China as well, without a consensus on any of these stories. The game was first recorded in writing in the work of Miguel Cervantes ‘Novelas Ejemplares’ which had a description of two cheating gamblers playing the game.

The reason the Vingt-et-un or 21 game became so popular could be attributed to the fact that it involved an element of skill more than the luck factor. The game sailed to America in the 18th century after the French Revolution, through the French colonists. However, there were considerable differences between the game at that time and the modern day version.

The growth of Blackjack

The game did not witness much growth and development due to various gambling bans in France, in the 19th century. It found more takers in America during this time, as the game flourished and gained increasing popularity there.

The growth of the Blackjack game in America is associated with the history of a skilled card dealer named Eleanor Dumont. She banked and dealt the game to any player, with any stake and while moving from place to place to make a living she opened a gambling parlour named Vingt-et-un.

Though the less than legalized and player-banked games were common everywhere else in the beginning, legalized and house-banked games made their appearance only in New Orleans in 1820.

It was only in 1931, that the game came to the centre stage after dealers and managers evinced interest in 21 and began offering incentives on the card combinations after the state of Nevada legalized gambling.

Modern day history of Blackjack

Once the basic rules of Blackjack game became solidified it grew in popularity to rival Roulette and came second behind Craps as the most popular casino game ever played. That was when the interest in the game was boosted with the book by Edward Thorp “Beat the dealer”.

The rise of Blackjack strategy and Card Counting

As the popularity of the legalised Blackjack game increased, the great casinos of Las Vegas brought with it a wave of players who devised strategies and systems to optimise successful play, with the prominent one of them probably being the card counting technique.

A book entitled Playing Blackjack to Win, by four authors was published in 1957, which referred to a basic blackjack strategy and tracking the cards dealt to reduce the house edge to a minimum.

The casinos went on the defensive by increasing the number of decks used in the game and other such measures to try and reduce the effectiveness of the system. A number of other players over the years adapted and evolved the principles of card counting.

Full forward – Blackjack online

With the coming of the internet in the later 1990s, casino operators found a new opportunity to diversify from real casinos to online casinos. Blackjack was one of the earliest casino games that was offered by online casinos.

The popularity of the classic Blackjack game on the internet casino, drove casino operators to introduce newer variants of the game such as Blackjack Switch, Double Exposure Blackjack, 21 Duel and many others.

It was quickly recognized that the online casino games powered by the computer software, failed to offer the authentic real casino experience, which led to the introduction of Live Casino games, of which Blackjack and its variants were an important part.

Advances in the internet, HD Video streaming and such other technologies, made it possible for casino operators to stream the live games conducted by real dealers on the internet.

In its long journey to reach the position where players can play Blackjack at their comforts, the Blackjack game has crossed many significant milestones that have been outlined in this writeup.