Best Atlantic City Blackjack Tables

Yes the Borgata is a great casino best in AC. Yes, they have a single $5 table most of the time. But good luck getting on it. It's three deep with blue hairs and drunken frat boys. I know you asked about low limit so I assume a $25 table may be out of your range. But the Taj has a whole pit of $25 S17 tables all the time. Our casino offers card games like Blackjack and Let it Ride, to classic Vegas-style games like mini-baccarat, craps, and roulette. Ocean Casino Resort is the only casino in Atlantic City to offer Blackjack Surrender to EVERY table games player! Play Atlantic City Blackjack GOLD Table Game Online! Welcome Bonus 100% up to €250 + 100 Free Spins. Over 2K Slot Games, Sportsbook & Live Casino b-Bets.

1. Best Atlantic City Blackjack Tables For Beginners
2. Atlantic City Blackjacks Arena Football

People in the state of New Jersey can play real-money blackjack by going to one of nine Atlantic City casinos or by playing online. This gives NJ blackjack players one of the largest markets for playing blackjack in the Garden State.

Four decades ago, New Jersey voters legalized gambling in Atlantic City – and nowhere else in the state. That remains the in-person casino layout of the state today.

But in February 2013, the state legalized online casinos. Now, 22 legally-licensed casino sites are available to everyone over 21 located within state lines.

How To Play Real Money Blackjack Online In New Jersey

To play real money blackjack online in NJ, you need to join an online casino. Once you've created an account, you can then make a deposit and start playing. The only restrictions are that you need to be physically located in New Jersey and at least 21 years old.

All Online Casinos With Blackjack In New Jersey

Best Online Casinos With Blackjack In New Jersey

Here are the top five best online casinos in New Jersey in terms of blackjack variety, game variety, bonus offers, and overall quality.

Golden Nugget Casino

The number one most impressive online casino in New Jersey is the Golden Nugget. They offer close to 800 games, which would be overwhelming if it weren't for the intuitive and helpful filter and search features.

At Golden Nugget Casino online, you have access to 11 versions of digital blackjack as well as 10 versions of live dealer blackjack.

The welcome bonus doubles your first deposit up to $1,000 and includes 200 free spins on a select slot.

Golden Nugget also offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email.

Play SugarHouse

Play SugarHouse is best known for a quality combination of casino games and online sports betting. On the casino side, you can have your first deposit double by up to $250, which can be used on blackjack games.

They offer a few varieties of digital blackjack as well as live dealer blackjack from Evolution Gaming, which has one of the largest catalogs of live streams in the world. All of it is available on desktop, mobile, and through their mobile apps.

BetMGM Casino

BetMGM offers one of the best online casino welcome bonuses. On top of $25 in bonus money just for registering, they'll also match your first deposit by 100% up to $1,000.

The blackjack selection includes both digital varieties as well as live dealer rooms. The smart navigation tools make finding all the different options extremely simple too.

They also have online poker and sports betting. In fact, playing online poker at BetMGM means sharing a player pool with Borgata and PartyPoker NJ.

888 Casino

888 Casino has five digital blackjack variations and several live dealer blackjack tables. Their gaming selection spans over 300 titles as well.

888 is also one of the most well-known online poker sites in the world. If you decide to mix up your blackjack play by throwing in a little online poker, you'll be glad to know 888Poker NJ shares a player pool with Delaware and WSOP players in NJ and Nevada.

The deposit match bonus of 120% up to $500 is also one of the industry's most competitive offers.

Betfair Online Casino

BetFair offers a massive first deposit bonus of 100% up to $2,500 and that's on top of a $30 no-deposit bonus. The near countless number of promotions continue from there.

BetFair also offers eight variations of digital blackjack as well as live dealer blackjack. But their live dealer rooms have both daytime and late-night options, so you can play live blackjack almost around the clock.

It also might be worth noting that BetFair paid out New Jersey's biggest online casino win ever: over $1.5 million on a slot's progressive jackpot.

Types Of NJ Blackjack Bonuses

Generally speaking, welcome bonuses at online casinos are grouped into three categories: no-deposit bonuses, deposit bonuses, and cashback offers:

• No-Deposit Bonus: You're given bonus cash just for creating an account, no deposit required.
• Deposit Bonus: The casino matches the deposit amount by a certain percentage. For example, depositing $100 on a 50% welcome bonus would mean having $150 in your account.
• Cashback Offers: Within a certain time frame, the casino will refund your net losses up to a certain percentage.

Online Casino T&Cs To Be Aware Of On NJ Blackjack Sites

It's crucial to read all the terms and conditions before you take advantage of a promotion at an online casino. There's a decent chance that a stipulation will be a deal-breaker, such as:

• Playthrough/Rollover Requirements: The amount of the deposit + bonus that you need to bet before you can withdraw. If you have $200 in deposit + bonus funds and the playthrough is 25x, you'd need to bet $5,000 before you can withdraw.
• Blackjack as a qualifying game: The bonus offer may not apply to blackjack games and might only apply to slots and keno. Double check before you take advantage.
• Promotion Timeframe: For all bonuses but especially the cashback offer, you may need to use up all of the bonus within a certain amount of time. If you're taking advantage of a blackjack bonus, don't join until you're ready to start playing that day.

How To Find Live Dealer Blackjack In New Jersey

The two types of blackjack offered by online casinos in New Jersey are digital blackjack and live dealer blackjack.

To find the live dealer option, search for it on the online casino you're considering joining. If they don't have it, we recommend that blackjack players should join a different casino. The live dealer option doesn't shuffle the decks between every hand like the digital version, making it as close to in-person blackjack as it gets online.

You can find out which online casino offers the live dealer rooms by consulting the table of New Jersey casinos above.

How To Play Real Money Blackjack On Mobile Apps In New Jersey

To play real-money blackjack on your mobile device in New Jersey, you have two options: either visit the casino website through the web browser or download the app if there is one.

For those with an Apple device, you can search for the casino directly in the App Store. Be sure that you're downloading the casino app and that it's the New Jersey version. Some operators have separate apps for their sportsbooks and poker rooms as well as the different states they service. Black jack dc happy hour hours.

For Android users, you'll need to download the app directly off of the online casino's website. The Google Play store does not allow gambling apps, even legal ones.

See our complete guide to How To Play Mobile Blackjack Online.

Sweepstakes Casinos In New Jersey

In every US state and Canadian province except for the State of Washington and Quebec, people have access to sweepstakes casinos. The two main options are Chumba Casino and LuckyLand, but only Chumba has blackjack.

The main reason people play sweepstakes casinos is that their state hasn't legalized online casinos. In fact, only New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania offer legally licensed online casinos.

You can also play sweepstakes blackjack if you're 18 and up. But to join a real-money online casino in New Jersey, you need to be 21 and up.

Online Sweepstakes Casinos In New Jersey

As mentioned above, only Chumba Casino offers sweepstakes blackjack. LuckyLand has a nice selection of slots, including progressive jackpots, and a couple of digital scratch cards. But for now, they do not offer table or card games.

While Chumba Casino only has one version of blackjack, it's pretty good for being the only option. Some of the favorable rules include:

Best Atlantic City Blackjack Tables For Beginners

• Blackjack pays 3 to 2
• Dealer stays on soft 17
• Double after split

However, with the good comes the bad. The Chumba blackjack rules that are unfavorable to the player include:

• 6 decks shuffled after each hand
• Lose full play value against dealer blackjack
• Only double on 9, 10, and 11

It's free to play blackjack at Chumba Casino. If you play with Gold Coins (GC), you only play for fun. If you play using Sweeps Coins (SC), you can win enough to redeem for a cash prize.

How Does Sweepstakes Blackjack Work?

Sweepstakes blackjack is a bit less straightforward than real-money blackjack, but it's simple once you know how it works.

At a sweepstakes casino, you'll receive two free in-house currencies: Gold Coins (GC) and Sweeps Coins (SC). When you join and each day that you log in, you'll receive these currencies for free, no purchase necessary.

However, you can also receive more in other ways, including purchasing GC. Some GC packages do not include SC, but some do. Generally speaking, the more GC you buy, the more SC you receive as well.

To receive a cash prize by playing blackjack, you'll need to play using SC. Any SC that you win through the game can then be redeemed for either a gift card or a cash prize.

For example, let's say you purchase GC 1,000,000 and receive SC 15. Then you play blackjack using SC, bet all SC 15, and win SC 30. You can then redeem that SC for a prize.

However, you need a minimum amount of won SC before you can make a redemption. For gift cards, the minimum is SC 10 – while the minimum for a cash prize is SC 100.

New Jersey Casinos With Blackjack

All in-person (also known as land-based or brick-and-mortar) casinos in New Jersey are located in Atlantic City. There are currently nine total land-based NJ casinos, and they all have blackjack. (Some might consider there to be ten casinos in the state, but Wild Wild West is part of Bally's.)

Best Blackjack Casinos In New Jersey

The best casinos in New Jersey for blackjack depends on what you're looking for. That's why we separated our choices into three categories: lowest stakes, most approachable, and best odds period.

Lowest Stakes: Wild Wild West In Bally's

To play $5 minimum blackjack in Atlantic City, you'll need to go to the Wild Wild West Casino at Bally's. On top of the obvious cowboy theme, you'll find $5 blackjack tables galore.

However, because the minimum is so low, blackjack pays out 6 to 5 instead of the more standard 3 to 2. That means the casino has a higher house edge, but the player gets to enjoy the lowest stakes in A.C. blackjack.

Most Approachable: Caesars

Caesars Atlantic City will often offer 3 to 2 blackjack for $10 on weekdays and during the day on weekends. During peak hours, the minimum may increase to $15 or even $20, but that's still around what you should expect across all New Jersey casinos.

The difference in player advantage that 3 to 2 gives over the 6 to 5 makes it worth the increased investment. You're better off playing fewer hands at Caesars than any hands at Wild Wild West if you're looking at it strictly in terms of the house edge.

The Best Blackjack Odds In Atlantic City: Golden Nugget

Golden Nugget offers late surrender blackjack tables at tables with a $50 minimum. It's a high-roller game for sure, but the late surrender on top of all the other favorable rules makes this blackjack the best option in Atlantic City for the most consistent wins (mathematically speaking).

New Jersey Blackjack Rules

The rules of New Jersey blackjack, better known as Atlantic City blackjack, can differ between casinos. However, generally speaking, players can expect the following blackjack rules in New Jersey:

• Dealer must stand on 17
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2
• Double down on any two-card hand
• Split any pair
• Double down after split
• No re-splitting
• One-card on each split ace
• Insurance pays 2 to 1

The State of New Jersey actually regulates blackjack in the casinos, which is why it's so consistent across the board. However, some variations of the game allow for more flexibility in the rules and therefore may not match the above rules exactly.

Types Of Blackjack Games In New Jersey

Because New Jersey's strict regulations require specific rules for blackjack according to the minimum size of the bet, you won't find very many different versions of the game.

Normally, variations of blackjack are reserved for the online casino. Luckily, you have 22 options if you're located in New Jersey, and the variations include Zappit Blackjack, where you can replace cards for new ones.

For the land-based casinos, the different versions of blackjack come down to the table minimum. The lower it is, the bigger the house's advantage. The higher it is, the bigger the player's advantage.

History Of Blackjack In New Jersey

Between the late-1800s and into the 1940s, Atlantic City was the ultimate beach destination for people within driving distance. Due to the accessibility of more tropical destinations, New Yorkers and New Englanders didn't have many options for white sandy beaches.

But once commercial airlines reached a high level of accessibility in the 1950s and ‘60s, Atlantic City's tourist economy began to decline. Suddenly, it needed to give the surrounding states a reason to come visit, and in 1976, the state's residents voted to legalize gambling.

However, the legalization was (and still is today) limited to just Atlantic City. Nowhere else in the state can a land-based casino legally open.

Playing Blackjack In New Jersey FAQ

21 and up. To play real-money blackjack at an in-person or online casino, you need to be at least 21 years old in the State of New Jersey.
However, you can win cash prizes at a sweepstakes casino if you're 18 and older and live in New Jersey.

No. Gambling apps offered by legally licensed New Jersey online casinos are not rigged. They use random number generators (RNGs) to create fair games that not even they can manipulate. Each site is regularly audited to ensure fairness as well.
But all casino games are at least slightly in the house's favor. It is a mathematical certainty that if you play a casino game indefinitely, you will eventually lose all of your bankroll. That's why it's important to set a budget and know when to stop.

You can play real money blackjack online in New Jersey from 22 different online casinos. See above for a full list of the options.
New Jersey is one of only three states (alongside DE and PA) that offer legal online casinos, they also have the most options by far. In fact, the state has 13 more online casinos than they do land-based casinos.

Yes, you can play live dealer blackjack at most of the online casinos offered in New Jersey. To see if a casino offers live dealer games, you can search live dealer or blackjack in the search bar. Some even have live dealer games separated into their own section of the site.
If an NJ online casino offers live casino games, they likely offer it at both the desktop and mobile versions of the casino, including through the mobile app.

You can play free blackjack online in a few different ways. Some examples include:
Taking advantage of an online casino's no-deposit bonus.
Play the game in 'demo' mode.
Play sweepstakes blackjack at Chumba Casino, where you can win cash prizes.

Every brick-and-mortar casino in Atlantic City offers blackjack. The same is true for online casinos.
Blackjack is the most popular table game, and the second most popular casino game after slots. So it's not only a common option, it's pretty much an essential component of any casino floor, whether it be in-person or online.

As a blackjack fanatic and occasional visitor the Jersey Shore, I've found myself in my fair share of Atlantic City casinos hunting down blackjack games.

I guess I'm a minor-league expert on blackjack in AC.

Even after the tumultuous past few years of casino closings and projects that failed to launch, Atlantic City is a little Mecca of blackjack. When you compare the setting of my favorite AC casinos to Las Vegas, there's really no comparison. In South Jersey, you've got miles of beaches, the beautiful boardwalk, and a countryside so pastoral that the area was once covered in health spas. In Vegas, you've got acres of desert and miserable weather pretty much year-round.

Well I've finally done it. I've played at or at least gathered details on every blackjack game in the city. In this post, I cut right to the chase and discuss the best blackjack games in AC.

The Best Blackjack Odds

When most people hear the phrase 'the best blackjack,' they think of the game that gives the house the smallest advantage. That's a totally reasonable assumption, but I don't think it tells the whole story. I'll start there, since that's what most people want to know right off the bat.

The best blackjack game in Atlantic City (in terms of odds) is at the Golden Nugget. It's a game played with a six-deck shoe, which gives the house a smaller edge than the standard eight-deck shoe. The other rules that make it favorable to players – dealers stand on soft seventeen, and players are allowed to make a late surrender. A late surrender is a common rule available in AC which gives the player the right to forfeit and retain half his wager after the dealer checks for blackjack.

Taken all together, these rules give the casino a 0.34% advantage over players following basic strategy. The late surrender rule is worth 0.8% all by itself. What's the catch? You have to be willing to wager at least $50 per hand. It's a high-roller game, though $50 per bet is not exactly out-of-this-world expensive. Tables requiring $1,000 wagers per hand are common in VIP rooms in Vegas. But I imagine it's out of the reach of most casual blackjack players.

Every other casino in the city (besides Bally's) has a six-deck game with similar rules, available for minimum bets of $25. The reason for the cheaper bets? They don't allow late surrender. You can even find $10 minimum six-deck shoe games during the daytime at Borgata, but no late surrender is allowed in that game, either. The house edge for these games (without the benefit of the late surrender rule) is 0.42%.

The Best Budget Game

Part of the problem people have with blackjack in Atlantic City is that they think all the games follow the same rules. I'll admit that the majority of blackjack games in the city's casinos are identical. They look like this: played with an eight-deck shoe, allowing double down on any first two cards, dealer hits on soft 17, you can split up to three times, and doubling after splitting is allowed. That game gives the casino an edge of about 0.67% against basic strategy.

Here's the thing – I don't think this is such a bad game. Look, you knew going in that blackjack in AC isn't nearly as good as blackjack in Las Vegas, right? So when you talk about a 'budget' blackjack game, you have to know that you're not going to get great odds.

The fact that every casino in Atlantic City (except for the Borgata) offers a blackjack game as described above makes it my favorite choice for bettors on a budget. The game at the Borgata is identical, except that dealers STAND on a soft total of 17, so the house edge against basic strategy is 0.44%, slightly better than at the other casinos up and down the boardwalk.

I've decided that the Borgata's basic blackjack table, with minimum bets of $10 (or even $5 during the day off-peak season) and a decent house edge of 0.44%, it's the type of game I'll sit at and play for an hour without paying much attention. At $25 an hour, it's cheaper than a night at the movies, and you meet the most interesting people. Don't forget that AC casinos are on fire for customer service right now, with their profits in the toilet. I got good free drinks all night on my last game in the cheap seats at the Borgata even though I ended up losing about $10 an hour all told.

Try and avoid any extremely low-limit games you find in Atlantic City. In the year 2011 I started seeing games that allowed wagers of just $1. Of course, there's a catch – you have to pay a $0.25 commission fee for each hand you join. This makes every hand a sucker bet, since the player starts out an extra quarter-point in the hole to the casino.

The Worst Game in Atlantic City

The only tables I'll never go near are now available in every single open property in the city. The dreaded single-deck blackjack game.

You should always be suspicious when a casino deals a single deck game. More than likely, the rules are such that the game can't be profitable for even a low-level card counter. That's definitely the case in Atlantic City. There is not one single-deck game that pays 3-to-2 for a natural blackjack. I've looked and I can confirm that every single-deck game (even at my beloved Borgata) pays 6-to-5. That one rule gives the house a monstrous boost in its edge – 1.58% against basic strategy.

However, you can also receive more in other ways, including purchasing GC. Some GC packages do not include SC, but some do. Generally speaking, the more GC you buy, the more SC you receive as well.

To receive a cash prize by playing blackjack, you'll need to play using SC. Any SC that you win through the game can then be redeemed for either a gift card or a cash prize.

For example, let's say you purchase GC 1,000,000 and receive SC 15. Then you play blackjack using SC, bet all SC 15, and win SC 30. You can then redeem that SC for a prize.

However, you need a minimum amount of won SC before you can make a redemption. For gift cards, the minimum is SC 10 – while the minimum for a cash prize is SC 100.

New Jersey Casinos With Blackjack

All in-person (also known as land-based or brick-and-mortar) casinos in New Jersey are located in Atlantic City. There are currently nine total land-based NJ casinos, and they all have blackjack. (Some might consider there to be ten casinos in the state, but Wild Wild West is part of Bally's.)

Best Blackjack Casinos In New Jersey

The best casinos in New Jersey for blackjack depends on what you're looking for. That's why we separated our choices into three categories: lowest stakes, most approachable, and best odds period.

Lowest Stakes: Wild Wild West In Bally's

To play $5 minimum blackjack in Atlantic City, you'll need to go to the Wild Wild West Casino at Bally's. On top of the obvious cowboy theme, you'll find $5 blackjack tables galore.

However, because the minimum is so low, blackjack pays out 6 to 5 instead of the more standard 3 to 2. That means the casino has a higher house edge, but the player gets to enjoy the lowest stakes in A.C. blackjack.

Most Approachable: Caesars

Caesars Atlantic City will often offer 3 to 2 blackjack for $10 on weekdays and during the day on weekends. During peak hours, the minimum may increase to $15 or even $20, but that's still around what you should expect across all New Jersey casinos.

The difference in player advantage that 3 to 2 gives over the 6 to 5 makes it worth the increased investment. You're better off playing fewer hands at Caesars than any hands at Wild Wild West if you're looking at it strictly in terms of the house edge.

The Best Blackjack Odds In Atlantic City: Golden Nugget

Golden Nugget offers late surrender blackjack tables at tables with a $50 minimum. It's a high-roller game for sure, but the late surrender on top of all the other favorable rules makes this blackjack the best option in Atlantic City for the most consistent wins (mathematically speaking).

New Jersey Blackjack Rules

The rules of New Jersey blackjack, better known as Atlantic City blackjack, can differ between casinos. However, generally speaking, players can expect the following blackjack rules in New Jersey:

• Dealer must stand on 17
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2
• Double down on any two-card hand
• Split any pair
• Double down after split
• No re-splitting
• One-card on each split ace
• Insurance pays 2 to 1

The State of New Jersey actually regulates blackjack in the casinos, which is why it's so consistent across the board. However, some variations of the game allow for more flexibility in the rules and therefore may not match the above rules exactly.

Types Of Blackjack Games In New Jersey

Because New Jersey's strict regulations require specific rules for blackjack according to the minimum size of the bet, you won't find very many different versions of the game.

Normally, variations of blackjack are reserved for the online casino. Luckily, you have 22 options if you're located in New Jersey, and the variations include Zappit Blackjack, where you can replace cards for new ones.

For the land-based casinos, the different versions of blackjack come down to the table minimum. The lower it is, the bigger the house's advantage. The higher it is, the bigger the player's advantage.

History Of Blackjack In New Jersey

Between the late-1800s and into the 1940s, Atlantic City was the ultimate beach destination for people within driving distance. Due to the accessibility of more tropical destinations, New Yorkers and New Englanders didn't have many options for white sandy beaches.

But once commercial airlines reached a high level of accessibility in the 1950s and ‘60s, Atlantic City's tourist economy began to decline. Suddenly, it needed to give the surrounding states a reason to come visit, and in 1976, the state's residents voted to legalize gambling.

However, the legalization was (and still is today) limited to just Atlantic City. Nowhere else in the state can a land-based casino legally open.

Playing Blackjack In New Jersey FAQ

21 and up. To play real-money blackjack at an in-person or online casino, you need to be at least 21 years old in the State of New Jersey.
However, you can win cash prizes at a sweepstakes casino if you're 18 and older and live in New Jersey.

No. Gambling apps offered by legally licensed New Jersey online casinos are not rigged. They use random number generators (RNGs) to create fair games that not even they can manipulate. Each site is regularly audited to ensure fairness as well.
But all casino games are at least slightly in the house's favor. It is a mathematical certainty that if you play a casino game indefinitely, you will eventually lose all of your bankroll. That's why it's important to set a budget and know when to stop.

You can play real money blackjack online in New Jersey from 22 different online casinos. See above for a full list of the options.
New Jersey is one of only three states (alongside DE and PA) that offer legal online casinos, they also have the most options by far. In fact, the state has 13 more online casinos than they do land-based casinos.

Yes, you can play live dealer blackjack at most of the online casinos offered in New Jersey. To see if a casino offers live dealer games, you can search live dealer or blackjack in the search bar. Some even have live dealer games separated into their own section of the site.
If an NJ online casino offers live casino games, they likely offer it at both the desktop and mobile versions of the casino, including through the mobile app.

You can play free blackjack online in a few different ways. Some examples include:
Taking advantage of an online casino's no-deposit bonus.
Play the game in 'demo' mode.
Play sweepstakes blackjack at Chumba Casino, where you can win cash prizes.

Every brick-and-mortar casino in Atlantic City offers blackjack. The same is true for online casinos.
Blackjack is the most popular table game, and the second most popular casino game after slots. So it's not only a common option, it's pretty much an essential component of any casino floor, whether it be in-person or online.

As a blackjack fanatic and occasional visitor the Jersey Shore, I've found myself in my fair share of Atlantic City casinos hunting down blackjack games.

I guess I'm a minor-league expert on blackjack in AC.

Even after the tumultuous past few years of casino closings and projects that failed to launch, Atlantic City is a little Mecca of blackjack. When you compare the setting of my favorite AC casinos to Las Vegas, there's really no comparison. In South Jersey, you've got miles of beaches, the beautiful boardwalk, and a countryside so pastoral that the area was once covered in health spas. In Vegas, you've got acres of desert and miserable weather pretty much year-round.

Well I've finally done it. I've played at or at least gathered details on every blackjack game in the city. In this post, I cut right to the chase and discuss the best blackjack games in AC.

The Best Blackjack Odds

When most people hear the phrase 'the best blackjack,' they think of the game that gives the house the smallest advantage. That's a totally reasonable assumption, but I don't think it tells the whole story. I'll start there, since that's what most people want to know right off the bat.

The best blackjack game in Atlantic City (in terms of odds) is at the Golden Nugget. It's a game played with a six-deck shoe, which gives the house a smaller edge than the standard eight-deck shoe. The other rules that make it favorable to players – dealers stand on soft seventeen, and players are allowed to make a late surrender. A late surrender is a common rule available in AC which gives the player the right to forfeit and retain half his wager after the dealer checks for blackjack.

Taken all together, these rules give the casino a 0.34% advantage over players following basic strategy. The late surrender rule is worth 0.8% all by itself. What's the catch? You have to be willing to wager at least $50 per hand. It's a high-roller game, though $50 per bet is not exactly out-of-this-world expensive. Tables requiring $1,000 wagers per hand are common in VIP rooms in Vegas. But I imagine it's out of the reach of most casual blackjack players.

Every other casino in the city (besides Bally's) has a six-deck game with similar rules, available for minimum bets of $25. The reason for the cheaper bets? They don't allow late surrender. You can even find $10 minimum six-deck shoe games during the daytime at Borgata, but no late surrender is allowed in that game, either. The house edge for these games (without the benefit of the late surrender rule) is 0.42%.

The Best Budget Game

Part of the problem people have with blackjack in Atlantic City is that they think all the games follow the same rules. I'll admit that the majority of blackjack games in the city's casinos are identical. They look like this: played with an eight-deck shoe, allowing double down on any first two cards, dealer hits on soft 17, you can split up to three times, and doubling after splitting is allowed. That game gives the casino an edge of about 0.67% against basic strategy.

Here's the thing – I don't think this is such a bad game. Look, you knew going in that blackjack in AC isn't nearly as good as blackjack in Las Vegas, right? So when you talk about a 'budget' blackjack game, you have to know that you're not going to get great odds.

The fact that every casino in Atlantic City (except for the Borgata) offers a blackjack game as described above makes it my favorite choice for bettors on a budget. The game at the Borgata is identical, except that dealers STAND on a soft total of 17, so the house edge against basic strategy is 0.44%, slightly better than at the other casinos up and down the boardwalk.

I've decided that the Borgata's basic blackjack table, with minimum bets of $10 (or even $5 during the day off-peak season) and a decent house edge of 0.44%, it's the type of game I'll sit at and play for an hour without paying much attention. At $25 an hour, it's cheaper than a night at the movies, and you meet the most interesting people. Don't forget that AC casinos are on fire for customer service right now, with their profits in the toilet. I got good free drinks all night on my last game in the cheap seats at the Borgata even though I ended up losing about $10 an hour all told.

Try and avoid any extremely low-limit games you find in Atlantic City. In the year 2011 I started seeing games that allowed wagers of just $1. Of course, there's a catch – you have to pay a $0.25 commission fee for each hand you join. This makes every hand a sucker bet, since the player starts out an extra quarter-point in the hole to the casino.

The Worst Game in Atlantic City

The only tables I'll never go near are now available in every single open property in the city. The dreaded single-deck blackjack game.

You should always be suspicious when a casino deals a single deck game. More than likely, the rules are such that the game can't be profitable for even a low-level card counter. That's definitely the case in Atlantic City. There is not one single-deck game that pays 3-to-2 for a natural blackjack. I've looked and I can confirm that every single-deck game (even at my beloved Borgata) pays 6-to-5. That one rule gives the house a monstrous boost in its edge – 1.58% against basic strategy.

Any single-deck game you come across (that's not in the high-roller or VIP section) is the worst game in the city.

Atlantic City Blackjacks Arena Football

Conclusion

Las Vegas tables tend to have the most liberal rules in the world of blackjack. In Atlantic City, the addition of features like late surrender or stand-on-soft-17 looks nice, but you have to pay for those privileges with an increased advantage to the casino. If you find yourself in South Jersey itching for a blackjack game, make sure you know the games available at the casino you're headed to before you leave. Most of the casinos in AC aren't great for blackjack players – unless you have a fat bankroll.