For blackjack players, Pennsylvania is a treasure trove. The state has tons of options for blackjack veterans and newcomers alike. No matter your preferred method of play–live or online–Pennsylvania has something for every type of blackjack player.
Pennsylvania is one of few states that has legalized online gaming in virtually every form: sports betting, daily fantasy sports, online poker, and online casinos. For blackjack diehards, this is great news. You can enjoy online blackjack, live dealer games, and full-on table games at land-based casinos. This page covers the myriad options for playing blackjack in the Keystone State.
How To Play Real Money Blackjack Online In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has the benefit of being one of only a few states with fully legalized online casino gaming. This makes it a thriving online gaming market alongside New Jersey, Delaware and soon-to-launch states West Virginia and Michigan. You can play blackjack online in a variety of formats at Pennsylvania’s wide selection of online casino sites. All of these online blackjack games can be played for real money.
Online Casinos With Blackjack In Pennsylvania
DraftKings
DraftKings is a lot like FanDuel in that it rose through the sports betting ranks to become a top-tier online casino provider. In Pennsylvania, DraftKings players can enjoy blackjack via desktop, ioS, or Android.
DraftKings operates using Hollywood Casino’s license in Pennsylvania. New players can take advantage of a $250 initial deposit match to kickstart their online casino accounts.
Visit: DraftKings Casino
FanDuel
FanDuel is best known as a leading sportsbook in multiple states, but the company has a rich history that also places it at the forefront of the online casino space. FanDuel is owned by Flutter, a combination of Paddy Power and Betfair. Flutter is a European gaming juggernaut with tons of experience in online casino gaming, so it’s only fitting that FanDuel’s online casino is a top-notch site.
FanDuel Casino is licensed under Valley Forge Casino Resort and features blackjack. If you’re an all-around gambling enthusiast, the app allows you to seamlessly transition from sports betting to casino gaming. For new players, FanDuel even offers up to $200 in bonus bets for your first 24 hours of play.
Parx
Parx Casino launched its own online casino in Pennsylvania. It was the second online casino to launch in Pennsylvania. Signing up gets you up to $500 in deposit match bonuses plus 500 free spins on online slot games. Parx’s website touts a variety of blackjack variants so players of all types can enjoy the classic game.
PokerStars
PokerStars runs online gaming in Pennsylvania using Mount Airy Casino Resort’s license. Outside of the typical casino fare, PokerStars offers–you guessed it–poker.
PokerStars boasts an Atlantic City Premium Blackjack game that has both single-player and multiplayer functionality.
BetAmerica
Churchill Downs’ BetAmerica brand went live in Pennsylvania in November 2019. Presque Isle Downs is the company’s land-based Pennsylvania partner.
New players can nab a deposit match bonus up to $500, which can be used on a number of casino games, including Blackjack from IGT and Blackjack Surrender from NetEnt.
BetRivers And SugarHouse
BetRivers and SugarHouse are two separate brands that operate in Pennsylvania under Rivers Casino’s license. The blackjack offering at each site is identical. Both BetRivers and Sugarhouse each feature two blackjack titles. One game has a $.10 minimum bet while the other is a $1 game.
Caesars
Of Pennsylvania’s online casinos, Caesars offers one of the best blackjack experiences. You can start off with a new player deposit bonus of up to $300 at the Harrah’s Philadelphia-licensed site, then jump into one of many blackjack variants. Caesars truly has a leg up on some of the competition in this arena. Many sites offer one or two blackjack games, maybe three or four if you’re lucky. Caesars has ten:
- Playboy Bonus Blackjack
- 777 Blazing Blackjack
- Multi-hand Blackjack Perfect Pairs & 21 + 3
- Blackjack (SG Digital)
- Zappit Blackjack
- Classic Blackjack
- Blackjack Xchange
- Player’s Suite Blackjack
- Blackjack Pro Atlantic City Single Hand
- Blackjack Pro Atlantic City Single Hand Micro Limit
If you’re looking for a variety of blackjack options, Caesars PA is hard to beat.
Hollywood
Hollywood was Pennsylvania’s very first online casino. The site has two blackjack games in addition to hundreds of slots and a variety of other table games. New players can receive up to $500 as a deposit match.
More PA Online Casinos On The Way
Because Pennsylvania is a welcoming market to online gaming operators, more are always launching. We will update this page as new casinos launch in the state.
Pennsylvania Blackjack Bonuses
When you sign up for a Pennsylvania online casino site, you’ll likely receive a new player bonus. These can come in multiple formats and go a long way in terms of initially funding your account.
No Deposit Bonus Plus Free Spins
No deposit bonuses are simple. Sing up, and the casino will give you some money to get started. Usually, these come in smaller amounts around $10 or $20. They’re often paired with free spins, which you can use to play the casino’s slot games.
Deposit Match
Deposit match bonuses add money to your account once you make an initial deposit. For example, some casinos might offer a 100% deposit match up to $500, so if your first deposit is $250, they’ll match it and add another $250 to your account. Be mindful of the terms and conditions here; you usually have to bet a certain amount before you can collect the full bonus.
Bonus Bet Days
Some casinos will offer you 24 hours of bonus bets up to a certain threshold (usually a few hundred dollars). Any bet you place and lose will be refunded until you’ve passed the threshold. These bonuses are particularly great if you want to try out a number of games without too much risk of losing money.
How To Play Real Money Blackjack On Mobile Apps
Almost every Pennsylvania online casino will let you play on a mobile app. There are just a few things to keep in mind.
If you’re playing on iOS, just download the application from the iOS App Store.
Android users have to jump through a few hoops to get the app. The Google Play Store doesn’t allow gambling apps on its marketplace, but you can still get the app. Head to your preferred casino’s website and find the link to download the Android app. Follow the on-screen instructions to install it. \
Once you’ve got the app, you can play online as long as you’re within Pennsylvania state lines and logged in.
Legal Online Blackjack Sites Versus Illegal Sites In Pennsylvania
Online casinos in the US are only a few years old. This means that illegal and grey market offshore sites are still pretty common.
Offshore sites are not beholden to strict laws and regulations that govern Pennsylvania’s legal online casinos. Legal sites go through a rigorous licensing process and pay millions of dollars in fees just to operate. For those reasons, they’re incentivized to offer an above-board experience with great customer support.
Grey market sites have no such obligations, and playing at them is risky at best. You could have your information stolen or lose money without any hope of getting it back. In general, it’s best to stick to legal, state-sanctioned Pennsylvania online casinos.
Sweepstakes Casinos In Pennsylvania
Sweepstakes casinos operate under a different model than real money sites. Players purchase gold coins for real money and use them to play casino games for fun. You also earn sweeps coins with every purchase (and can get them for free with a mail-in offer). If you play with sweeps coins, you can redeem your winnings for cash prizes.
Chumba Casino, the most popular sweepstakes casino, is available for Pennsylvania players. They offer a sweepstakes blackjack game.
Online Sweepstakes Casinos In Pennsylvania
For Pennsylvania players, Chumba Casino is the best option to play blackjack. LuckyLand casino is another option for sweepstakes gaming, but it only offers slots and lottery-style games.
Chumba offers a single blackjack game that’s effective and streamlined. It’s a fun way to play for fun, hone your skills, and possibly win cash prizes if you gain enough sweeps coins.
When you sign up for Chumba, you’ll get a few free sweeps coins and an allotment of gold coins to kick off your experience. If you connect your Facebook account, you can enter regular drawings for extra in-game currency as well.
How Does Sweepstakes Blackjack Work?
The sweepstakes model is authorized in every US state except for Washington. The way it works is similar to a lot of free-to-start apps like Candy Crush. You start with some free in-game currency, gold coins, and you can purchase more if you run out. Gold coins are the primary currency you’ll use to play with, but they have no cash value once purchased.
Every purchase gets you some free sweeps coins as well. After you play with sweeps coins, they can be redeemed for cash prizes.
You can also get free sweeps coins by mailing in a request form. These “free entries” are how the sites are allowed to operate on a sweepstakes model.
Outside of blackjack, you can play other table games like roulette and plenty of slot games.
Visit: Chumba Casino
Pennsylvania Casinos With Blackjack
Pennsylvania has 12 land-based casinos, each with its own unique offering. Of them, Parx is the largest. Parx became one of the first full-fledged Pennsylvania casinos after 2004 legislation paved the way for race tracks to expand their gambling offerings.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board only allows a maximum of 14 casino properties in the state. Right now there are 12 open, with a 13th preparing to open in late 2020. The state’s casinos are a mix of tribal-owned and commercial properties.
Best Blackjack Casinos In Pennsylvania
Parx Casino
Parx is Pennsylvania’s biggest casino, located just outside of Philadelphia. The property hosts 3,200+ slot games, 188 live table games, a poker room, and plenty of live entertainment options.
Blackjack options at Parx range from classic live blackjack (look for 3:2 games instead of 6:5 tables), video blackjack, and special fusion tables that feature video screens and a recording of a dealer who doles out cards.
Parx’s website has a “Live Game Report” feature that shows you which games are open and available at any given time.
Mohegan Sun Pocono
Mohegan Sun Pocono is in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The tribal property has a variety of blackjack games, including Triple 7s Blazing Blackjack, Down Under Blackjack, Interlock Blackjack, and classic tables.
For gambling enthusiasts of all kinds, Mohegan Sun also has a full race track and sportsbook.
Hollywood Casino
Hollywood Casino has 56 table games, many of which are designated for blackjack of different types. The property’s blackjack tables feature the Lucky Ladies and 21+3 side bets. You can learn about those side bets in a handy sheet on the casino’s website.
Hollywood Casino is located in Grantville, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Blackjack Rules
Pennsylvania casinos have a low house edge thanks to the player-friendly rules. Even the worst blackjack games in Pennsylvania can have a house advantage as low as 0.50. This low house edge is among the best in the casino. These blackjack rules are among the best in the country. Here are common blackjack rules at Pennsylvania casinos, both online and land-based.
- Natural blackjack must be paid 3-to-2
- Dealer must stand on Soft 17
- Player may double down on any two cards
- Player may double after splitting a pair
- Casinos must offer Surrender
Types Of Blackjack Games
Blackjack comes in many forms, and you’re likely to find variants online and in the state’s retail casinos. For example, Hollywood casino offers Spanish 21, which removes 10s from the decks (face cards remain). A player’s blackjack always beats a dealer’s in Spanish 21, putting a fresh twist on classic blackjack.
There are many other variants on blackjack, such as Zappit, Blackjack Switch, Blackjack Xchange, and Atlantic city blackjack.
If you want to play different iterations of blackjack online, give Caesars casino a try. They have multiple online blackjack variants that can teach you the ins and outs of each type. Our Real Money Blackjack page also details some of the more popular variants.
History Of Blackjack In Pennsylvania
Blackjack’s history in Pennsylvania is naturally intertwined with the growth of the state’s gambling market. Casinos first started popping up after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was created in 2004 and authorized racetracks to start offering slot machines. Now, the state has 12 casinos with a 13th on the way. Current licensing limits allow for a maximum of 14 casinos in Pennsylvania, and it’s unclear as of this writing when the 14th license will be granted.
Online casinos are a more recent development. Pennsylvania became the second state after New Jersey to authorize online casinos in 2017, and the first platforms launched in 2019; Now, the state has a thriving online casino market replete with many blackjack games and variants plus thousands of other games.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey are both seen as online gaming pioneers, and many states looking to legalize online casinos look to them as they form their own regulations.
Playing Blackjack In Pennsylvania FAQ
At a land-based casino or online casino, you must be 21 or older to play blackjack. Sweepstakes sites like Chumba require you to be 18 or older to play.
Yes. as long as you’re playing on a licensed and regulated site, it is safe to play online. Online casinos use high-level encryption to protect your data and keep your transactions secure. When you visit an online casino site, scroll to the bottom of the page to find licensing information and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s seal.
Yes. Pennsylvanians and visitors to the state can legally enjoy blackjack. You can play online, at a real casino, or on a sweepstakes site. Pennsylvania is one of the most gambling-friendly states in the US.
We steer clear of the term “rigged” because it is not accurate, and no regulated casinos “rig” their games against the player.
Every casino game, whether online or in-person, has a house edge. This simply means the math of the game is built to pay a small percentage of every bet to the casino over time. This doesn’t mean you can’t win money, but it does mean the odds are generally in the house’s favor.
Blackjack apps use random number generators and a slew of other technology to keep the games fair and balanced.
Pennsylvania has a whole portfolio of online casinos that offer real money blackjack.
Caesars’ online casino has the most blackjack games: 10 different types! Other casinos have a few different iterations on blackjack, though the classic game is most common.
You can play blackjack for free right here on our site. Our Free blackjack page has a single-player version in which you can play three hands at once, and a multiplayer version you can enjoy online with friends. These are completely free and legal.
Some of Pennsylvania’s online casinos also feature free demos of their blackjack games that you can play without an account. Use them to test out the game and see if it’s a fit for you!