When it comes to looking for the best online blackjack real money casino games, there are a few criteria we keep in mind.The number one thing we check is if the site is registered and licensed with a gaming commission.
So if you're ready to hit the tables online and play some blackjack for real money there's a few things I shouldwarn you about.
Because unfortunately it's not that simple.
If you've never gambled online before, ther's a lot of misinformation on the web so this article is going to go overa few topics so you know exactly what to expect and look for.
There are literally many online casinos worldwide launched on a monthly basis offering glitzy bonuses and promotions all vying for your business.
However for every new casino that's launched, another gets closed down due to being unable to sustain their business.
The nature of this competitive industry unfortunately also leads to operations falling to the dark side and going rogue bycommonly tricking customers with unethical practices such as
- Long delayed payments or non payments altogether
- Devious terms and conditions that catch the customer off guard
- Unfair bonus requirements
So let's look into how to go about avoiding these sticky situations and set some guidelines for finding a reputable and faironline casino.
Selecting Where to Play Blackjack Online
While we can make suggestions on where to play, it's good knowledge to know what to look for especially since casinos regularlymodify their promotions and terms and conditions.
Speaking of terms and conditions, this leads us to the very first thing to look at:
Terms and Conditions
This is the main crux in determining whether a casino is trying to be sneaky. Yes these things are boring to read but itcontains vital information that could save you throwing your hard earned cash in the bin
Things to look out for are:
- Is it poorly written
- Are there unreasonable wage requirements on promotions/bonuses
- Does it take a long time to cash out
- Is there an unreasonable withdrawal limit
- Do they accept players from the country you reside in
Payment Options
A common issue with most casinos (even the reputable ones) is that even though they might allow you to deposit using a certainmethod, you may not be able to withdraw using that same method.
So make sure you understand the cashing out process and what's involved. Common things to find out include are there any fees involved?How long does it take to process a withdrawal?What currencies are accepted?
The best options tend to be through e-wallets such as Skrill or Neteller or cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereumbecause they are fast with no fees. Paypal is also really good however only UK based online casinos accept it.
If you've never used Bitcoin before, we highly recommend reading our guide to find out how. It is by far the safest and most effective payment method for playing at an onlinecasino for US players.
If you are unsure of any of these items, do not be afraid to ask customer support. This will also give you an opportunityto see how responsive and professional their customer support is as well.
Safe Online Blackjack Real Money
Overall Historical Reputation
Just like anything else online, you can easily find reviews of a casino on the web. So as a last point of judgement you canresearch whether a casino has a historical record of providing a fair and professional service to their customers.
I would be wary of playing at any online casino that hasn't been active over at least 5 years regardless of how lucrativetheir promotions might be. As mentioned earlier, it is certainly not an unusual occurrence for a casino to closeup shop and refuse customers access to their funds.
You should also be wary that many websites (including us) are affiliates of casinos and get paid a commission if you chooseto play there. So you should never take a particular website's review at face value and ignore doing the due diligencein researching further into a casino's credibility.
Ok now on to looking at some actual fun stuff!
Depending on which casino you decide to play at, the software that they are powered by is going to determine what your optionsare. It's also quite common for a casino to be powered by multiple software vendors so that their customers haveplenty of options to choose from.
Real Time Gaming, Microgaming and Betsoft tend to have the most RNG blackjack variations but in my opinion playing against a live dealer is the most fun.
My favourite live dealer software is Evolution Gaming and we'll touch on that later in this article.
Mobile Online Blackjack Apps (iOS/Android)
Another sign of a good casino is can they provide a good mobile experience.
A lot of the smaller non reputable casinos use old technology and can not provide a decent mobile experience (if any at all)and rely on oldschool flash on a desktop browser for their site to function.
And when I mean mobile I mean for both Android and iOS devices. Some casinos, for example LeoVegas, go the extra mile andprovide dedicated iOS/Android apps you can install to your device and play online blackjack with real money through.
However there are certainly many reputable casinos that simply allow you to play from version within the browser that doesn'trequire a dedicated app.
The future is now!
We have an entire section on live blackjack but I'll touch on it briefly here. Here's a video of what it looks like
Live blackjack is a relatively new thing at casinos and due to technology advancements in internet speeds, we can now playon a multiplayer table against a physical dealer streamed over video.
It genuinely does simulate a real casino vibe and the social interaction between other players and the dealer really makesfor a fun experience and will make you totally forget about ever playing the RNG tables again.
The rules generally tend to be:
- Blackjack pays 3:2
- Dealer stands on soft 17
- Double any card
- Can not re-split Aces
- No Surrender
- Total Decks - 8
Depending on the casino, there are usually up to 8 seats per table with the option to bet behind other players as well.
Not many casinos are able to provide this yet but here are some notable ones that are leading the pack:
Online Live Blackjack Real Money Usa
- Bovada - US Only
- Betonline - US Only
- LeoVegas
- William Hill
- 888
- Bet365
Be wary though that it takes a lot of data to stream to mobile so it's highly recommended to be connected to wifi
Online Blackjack Bonuses BEWARE!
Get 100% Sign Up Bonus for a Billion Dollars!!
Ok so I'm exaggeating slightly but EVERY online casino has a sign up bonus of some sort that sounds like they're giving away free cash.
Unfortunately the vast majority of these promotions aren't as lucrative as they sound and even worse, they don't apply verywell to blackjack. That's why it's extremely important to read over the terms and conditions to be clear of thewage requirements
Wage requirements are the amount that you have to wager before being able to cashout on any bonus received.
So let's take for example Royal Vegas has a 100% sign up bonus up to $300 and I deposited $300 to get the maximum $300 bonus.The wage requirement is 50x the bonus which means I will have to wager $15,000 in total before I can withdraw thesebonus funds.
So as you can see, the wage requirement is pretty difficult to meet but here's the worst part, blackjack only contributes2% to the wage requirement!
See https://www.royalvegascasino.com/about-us/terms-and-conditions/
This means that if I were to play blackjack only, I would have to wager a whopping $750,000!
This is because blackjack has a low house edge so the casino would prefer you to play other games (like slots which has 100%contribution to wage requirements) so that your chances of clearing the bonus is significantly less.
Most casinos structure their bonuses like this so if you do choose to play blackjack online do not claim any bonus they offer!
Contrary to what some people may say:
No! Nope! Nup!
The rules are just not conducive to allow for card counting to be effective.
The biggest problem is that the decks are shuffled on too regular a basis so the deck penetration will always be too lowto gain any profit.
Online Blackjack Tournaments
It's quite rare but some casinos do offer online blackjack tournaments (in RNG format) and the way they usually work is eachparticipant starts with a certain amount of chips to start with and are given a time limit to play. At the endof the time limit, the player with the highest amount of chips wins.
Visit our tournament monitor to see when the next upcoming tournmanet is on.
In the United States, gambling online is in a legal gray zone so let’s address any concerns before looking into which casinosallow US players.
First of all, if you are from the US there is no federal law that prohibits you from gambling online and it is completely safe.
However:
The only online casinos that are regulated and legally operated in the United States are those that are located in the statesof New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Now due to the UIGEA, it is currently ILLEGAL for banks to process any online gambling transactions so many online casinos have moved theiroperations offshore.
If you don’t reside in either of the above three states listed then your only option is to play at an offshore online casino.For further clarification, you can read more about US online gambling legislation here.
Is it Legally Safe to Play at an Offshore Casino?
ABSOLUTELY!
Even if you reside in a state that does have a ban on gambling online, law enforcement has historically shown no interestin prosecuting players. And even if they were to action, they would most likely be targeting establishments ratherthan the players themselves.
However what you certainly do need to be mindful of is the reputation of any offshore casino you choose to play at. Sincethey don’t fall under US jurisdiction, there is no telling how well regulated these operations are and if theyare running a fair and serviceable casino.
You are essentially unprotected if for example they were to just close up shop and disappear with your funds.
An example of a casino like this is Lock Poker who went rogue and closed down in 2015. Unable to pay their customers, it is said they owe over $1,000,000 to at least 400 players.
Recommended Casinos
Online Blackjack for US Residents
In our opinion Bovada is by far the best choice available for US residents at the moment (unless you reside in New Jersey,Nevada or Delaware where there are local legally licensed operators). They have the best live dealers and you havethe option to play on mobile too.
Whilst their withdrawal option via check is horrible, they do offer withdrawing via Bitcoin which is super quick and reliable.
The alternative option is Betonline however their reputation took a bit of a hit in 2017 after being accused of cheating
Online Blackjack for UK Residents
Now you guys are spoiled for choice.
My recommendation would be based off any casino that runs Evolution Gaming software because their blackjack live dealers provide the most entertaining experience andare the best at keeping things lively, energetic and interactive.
Reputable big names include - 888 Casino, William Hill, Bwin
Online Blackjack for Canadian Residents
Similar to UK options, I'd go with a casino that runs on Evolution Gaming for the live dealer experience.
The only difference with the Canadian casinos is that there are less options in payment methods. For example, Paypal is widelyaccepted in the UK but not accepted at all in Canada.
So be careful if you're from Canada and you visit a casino that says they accept Paypal, they're referring to their UK customersonly.
Reputable big names include - 888 Casino, LeoVegas, Mr. Green
Even in the years after both the federal government and a handful of state law enforcement agencies began limiting American citizens’ access to Internet wagering, online casino gambling is big business in the United States. The American Gaming Association’s most recent data indicates that US gamblers wager about $9 billion a year over the Internet, placing bets on everything from bingo and state lottery games to poker tournaments and casino table action.
Americans can now play games of chance and skill for real cash prizes on their smartphones, tablets, and laptops, and some games on popular social media sites are already paying out prizes and (in some cases) actual US dollars. Blackjack, a popular casino game since the early 18th century, is available to USA players who want to lay real-money bets, provided those gamblers don’t live in one of eight states that have outlawed Internet wagering.
United States Online Blackjack Games & US Law
Three sets of laws apply to casino gambling over the Internet in the United States: federal gambling law, state gambling statutes, and financial restrictions imposed by the federal government. Blackjack players have nothing to fear in terms of federal law. The US Justice Department recently clarified the Wire Act of 1961, often interpreted as a law banning all types of online gambling, to apply only to sports wagers. As for state law, only citizens of Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin are restricted from placing bets online due to language in those state’s penal codes. It’s important to point out that no online gamblers have been arrested or charged under any of those state laws, and that attitudes towards online betting in America are changing as states look for new sources of tax revenue.
The last category of American law that impacts online casino gamblers is a set of banking regulations designed to prevent Internet betting. Specifically, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, known as the UIGEA bill. An attempt on the part of a few Congressmen to stop online wagering of all forms in America, the UIGEA placed restrictions on the way banks and other financial institutions in America do business with known gambling sites. It’s because of the UIGEA that most Americans can’t deposit funds to their online gambling accounts with a credit or debit card, the simplest way of doing so. Adding funds and retrieving money from your Internet bankroll is a bit of a headache if you’re a US citizen, but legal loopholes exist that allow wannabe casino customers to make deposits to sites that accept real-money wagers.
How to Fund a US Blackjack Casino Account
If you want to play blackjack over the Internet and you live in the United States, you probably won’t be able to deposit money to bet with by plugging in your credit card number or sending a deposit from your checking account electronically. Some American gamblers report success using MasterCard and VISA-branded credit and debit cards to make deposits, but the vast majority of these deposits are blocked by the UIGEA bill or the casino site itself, in order to follow US law.
One way to fund your account from the US is to purchase a prepaid credit/debit card product. Available from all the major credit card brands, prepaid cards are either actual physical cards loaded with a set amount of cash (and requiring a small activation fee before you use them) or online-only accounts used for any kind of Internet purchase, including deposits to some betting sites. Most of the time, deposits to your online gambling account using these cards is the easiest way around the restrictions on USA deposits.
If the casino you choose to play your blackjack game at doesn’t accept these prepaid cards as valid deposit methods, they probably have their own preferred deposit method for their American customers. Some sites let you send funds via wire transfer services, others work with third-party funds transfer methods, like eWallets. Using these services, you can transfer money from your traditional credit or debit card to a sort of financial middle man, and then transfer it to your player account using the site’s cashier service. Both of these methods have fees associated with them, so look into all your options and talk to your casino’s customer service department before you choose a method for adding money to your gambling bankroll.
Blackjack Game Varieties at USA Accepted Online Casinos
One of the benefits of playing blackjack and other classic table games on the Internet is the variety in which these games appear at online casinos. If you walk into a casino in Vegas or a tribal gaming property anywhere in the US, you may only have one or two different versions of 21 to choose from, and you’re likely to see just one version of the game, following standard American rules.
Online casino software competition has created a series of new versions of blackjack not normally found in traditional American casinos. It’s common to have a choice of between two and twelve variations on the game, each of which has a slightly different set of rules. European-rules games are common at US-facing gambling sites; also known as no-peek blackjack, this is blackjack as it’s played throughout Europe, in which the dealer doesn’t check for blackjack before the player makes his first in-game decisions.
Other variants of blackjack available to US players at Internet casinos include a miniature version of the game (which lets you play other games, check your email, or just play in a smaller-sized window), variants that include side wagers that pay out for specific hand combinations, and even live dealer games in which webcams are used to allow players to interact with a casino dealer in real-time. Variety in game rules is a big draw for American casino gamblers who turn to the Internet for their casino action.