The history of blackjack
What is the history of blackjack? It is generally accepted that Blackjack
originated in France – it grew out of games like ‘Chemin de Fer’ and became
popular in casinos in the 1700s. In French, it is called ‘Vingt-et-Un’ which
means ‘Twenty-and-one’. The French colonists brought it to North America,
and it spread all over the continent.
Play blackjack here:
In the history of blackjack, it was still known as ‘21’ when Nevada made
gambling legal for the first time in 1931. To attract more customers, some
of the casinos offered a special bet which paid 10 to 1 to the player if he
got specific first two cards. This bet has since been discontinued, but the
name has persisted.
A new chapter was added to the history of blackjack in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mathematical information was published that showed gamblers how they could
play so that they were nearly even with the house and obtain a slight edge.
One of these books became immensely popular and even got into the New York
Times’ bestseller list. The information sparked immense public interest and
made Blackjack the topmost table game in the US in the 1960s, and the
casinos made huge profits.
But the casinos were not happy with the success of the book. They tried
changing the rules of blackjack to make winning more difficult. This didn’t
last very long – the public protested and refused to play the new version of
blackjack. This resulted in loss of revenue, which quickly forced the
casinos to go back to the old rules.
Ultimately, the casinos did make changes to increase their odds, which
succeeded in restoring their edge.
More blackjack links
 |
