There certainly is a lot of drama with blackjack in Florida. In late 2016, a judge ruled that Florida Casinos Can Offer Blackjack Until 2030. That was swiftly met with a lawsuit by the state which had hopes of expanding casino gambling. Well, that suit has ended with an agreement that will allow Seminole Tribe casinos to exclusively deal blackjack until 2030.
According to the Associated Press, the Seminole Tribe will exclusively deal blackjack in Florida until 2030. In return, the state will receive payments from the tribe for the right to exclusively offer blackjack. The deal calls for an immediate payment of $220 million by the Seminole Tribe and up to another $120 million over the next year. Prior to settlement of this deal, the Seminole Tribe wanted to stop making payments as the previous deal had expired.
There is potentially a major hiccup in this settlement that could keep this issue in the news for years to come. The agreement states that Florida must “take aggressive enforcement action” against pari-mutuel casinos at racetracks that offer designated player games that operate as banked card games. These are casino games like 3 Card Poker, where the player may play the role of banker.
There are 30 card rooms and pari-mutuel casinos throughout the state. These designated player games are very profitable for those pari-mutuel casinos so don’t expect them to back down quickly or quietly. For the time being, players can enjoy blackjack exclusively at the different Seminole casinos in Florida.
As we previously discussed the Seminole casinos offer a variety of blackjack games with different rules. The games all have a small house edge under 1%. The major rule is that you’re paid 3:2 when you’re dealt a natural blackjack.
The casinos offer games where the dealer hits or the dealer stays when they have a soft 17. When the dealer stays on a soft 17 the players have a smaller house edge by 0.22%. You can see the full rules on the Seminole Hard Rock website. You can read more about Florida blackjack here.
