The majority of people who gamble in Las Vegas are low rollers. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the average person who gambled had a budget of $619 for their entire visit. While not everyone is looking for the best games to play, they’d like their money to last the entire trip. Finding a game with a lower house edge will improve chances of extending that bankroll.
A lot has been made of deteriorating blackjack games in Las Vegas over the past few years. There’s no doubt that the proliferation of blackjack games that pay 6:5 for a natural blackjack have reached almost every casino on the Vegas Strip. Poor blackjack games can be found all over Las Vegas. The segment of gamblers hit hardest by bad blackjack rules are the low rollers.
Unfortunately, the blackjack games with the worst rules always start with the low rollers. While these gamblers are the vast majority of blackjack players, they may generate similar revenue for a casino as mid to high rollers. Green and black chippers, those who play $25 and $100 units respectively, can often find a decent blackjack game in Las Vegas. The red chippers, $5 units, can’t say the same.
Finding a good blackjack game is a challenge for low rollers in Las Vegas. The larger a casino floor is the more tables they can offer. This turns into more blackjack rules variations. A $5-$15 blackjack player at a large casino in Las Vegas may see three tables next to each other with three different sets of rules.
If you’re a low roller looking for the best game in the casino, you’re going to have to take a look at the rules each table offers. You should know the best blackjack rules to look for. Today we’ll try to help narrow the search. We’ll pull some of the best blackjack games in Las Vegas from John Mehaffey’s 2017 Blackjack Survey. These are traditional live dealer blackjack games below $25 and with a house edge below 0.60%.
Las Vegas Strip
- Bally’s
- Caesar Palace
- The Cromwell
- Flamingo
- Harrah’s
- The Linq
- New York-New York
- Paris Las Vegas
- Planet Hollywood
- SLS Las Vegas
- Treasure Island
- Tropicana
Downtown Las Vegas
- El Cortez
- Golden Gate
- The D
- Downtown Grand
- Golden Nugget
Around Las Vegas
- Aliante
- Arizona Charlie’s
- Boulder Station
- Club Fortune
- Eastside Cannery
- Fiesta Rancho
- Gold Coast
- Green Valley Ranch
- Hooters (½ block from MGM Grand and Tropicana)
- Joker’s Wild
- Lucky Dragon (½ block from SLS Las Vegas)
- M Resort
- Orleans
- Palms
- Railroad Pass
- Rampart
- Red Rock
- Rio
- Santa Fe Station
- Silver Sevens
- Silverton
- South Point
- Suncoast
- Texas Station
The first thing that stands out in the list above is that the Vegas Strip has more casinos with games under $25 and below the 0.60% house edge that downtown Las Vegas. It should be noted that the California, Fremont, Main Street Station, and Plaza just missed the cut off for this list. They each offer blackjack games with games just below 1%.
The number of blackjack games with rules that allow for such a low house edge vary. Some casinos might have one table while others have multiple tables. Likewise, you may find video blackjack machines, blackjack switch, or other blackjack variations at some of the casinos listed above with a house edge below 1%.
This Las Vegas Blackjack Survey is a great resource with much more information. You can see even more information here. These were the rules for each casino as of the date this was posted. The list probably won’t be updated until next year. Unfortunately, all game rules are subject to change by the casino and may change at any time.
