The history of blackjack from its origin to the modern day

It may be one of the world's most popular games, but we still don't know for sure how blackjack became a thing.

Some say it started 2,000 years ago, way back with the Romans who, instead of cards, used squares of wood with numbers etched onto them. It's not clear how this game, devised for gambling-loving centurions between conquests, bore any relation to the card game we all enjoy today.

Other people insist casino blackjack as we know it had nothing to do with the Romans, but began life in the more sedate surroundings of 18th Century France. Here, in Paris's ornate casinos, there began a game called Vingt-et-Un, which translates as 21. Even King Louis 15th was said to enjoy the odd game in the French Royal Court. One imagines any dealer putting the monarch on a losing streak would face the guillotine.

There were several variations of this game of 21, yet it wasn't until the French got itchy feet and began colonizing North America that it began to gain traction. There were some weird rules in the early days, including one where only the dealer was allowed to double down. In fact, the dealer was free to play any way he wished. It was only years later that that he or she had to stand on 17.

Spreading across America

While the French nobility were busying themselves with having their heads chopped off in a revolution, the game of 21 gained popularity in America.

There are stories of one dealer called Eleanor Dumont (ironically from France), who set up a gambling hall in New Orleans. Punters would flock there from miles around to play 21 with her dealing.

By the time the 20th Century rolled around, 21 had become popular in Nevada, and was beginning to become known as something different.

The blackjack name origin

As 21 became popular, early casinos were in hot competition to attract gamblers. Promotions became common, and it is thought one popular promotion of the day was to pay out a special bonus if a player made 21 with two cards using the ace of spades and the jack of spades or clubs. In other words, a black jack.

The term became blackjack and stuck. It wasn't until 1931 that Nevada lawmakers legalized gambling and blackjack, in particular. The rules of the game were fairly standardized from that date – and the origins of a dusty city in the middle of a desert was set in stone: Las Vegas.

Blackjack card counting

As blackjack became ever more mainstream, the punters realized there was a blackjack house edge, and they were not meant to win at all. Ever innovative, gamblers sought ways to beat the system, and the first card counters emerged around 1950. These teams were able to count the number of value ten cards in play, and therefore increase their chances of predicting if the next card would be a ten or not.

Various card counting methods evolved, but all were originally founded on the blackjack games that used just one deck of cards. Nowadays, it's more common to see six or even eight decks in play. While this minimizes the number of times the dealer has to shuffle (the casino can't make any money while the dealer is busy shuffling), it also makes card counting harder.

Online blackjack

Not much changed in the story of blackjack for the next 30 or 40 years. It remained a mainstay of casinos around the world, and even the French had long forgotten that they might well have invented it.

In the 1990s came the Internet, and things were about to go stratospheric for all casino games, including poker. Online gambling became a thing, with online casinos springing up all over the place. Blackjack remained as popular on the virtual casino tables as it is on land.

In the next 20 years or so, technology improved at such a rate that we can play live dealer tables online – streaming a real dealer, dealing real cards, and talking to us while we place bets virtually at the table.

The casino platforms are slick, work on your cell phone, and are fully regulated in various U.S. states. Only last month, TwinSpires Casino launched in Michigan to much acclaim.

And it transpires that blackjack is as popular in Michigan as it was in fragrant 18th Century Paris. Or Roman villas.

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