When Atlantic City opened, there were 4-deck and 6-deck games with excellent rules and deep penetration. Now, Atlantic City has an abundance of 8-deck games and their 6-deck games, while okay, are mostly in the high-roller rooms for $100 minimums, although there are games even today that offer 6-deck games for everyone.
Throughout the US, single-deck games with $6 to $5 payouts for blackjacks (a $10 bet wins $12 on a blackjack instead of $15!) and the dealer hitting on soft 17 have replaced the old single-deck games of days gone by. The house edge is 1.5 percent – almost 15 times higher than in the good old days. That means players who play standard basic strategy against these single-deck games will lose 15 times faster!
Strangely enough, the high-powered card counting teams play in the high roller rooms where the games tend to be of the better variety so if the casinos are trying to stop card counting, why are they offering such good games for the counters? The fact is – the casinos don't really care about the few skilled counters out there. They offer good games in the high roller rooms to make their high rollers feel as if they are getting something special for betting such large amounts. The casinos figure a smaller cut of a lot more money means more money for them
The hitting of soft 17, a miserable rule for the players, is almost universal on double-deck games. This rule increases the house edge by two-tenths of one percent. That might not sound like a lot but over thousands of hands, it brings in a lot of money for the house and takes a lot of money from the players.
The fact is that the casinos have been trying to make more money from blackjack by changing the rules because card counting is not much of a problem to the casinos' bottom lines. The casinos want the blackjack games to increase the amount earned each and every quarter.
Has it worked?
No, it hasn't. Blackjack revenues are down in many areas of the US – and they are severely down in Las Vegas in the past several years, despite an abundance of some of the highest edged games in the country. Players are flocking away from blackjack, not towards it.
The reverse is happening at craps. Throughout the country we are seeing the best craps games ever offered to the players.
Some casinos offer 5X odds on all the numbers. Still other casinos offer 10X odds and, in the newly opened venues in Tunica, just about all casinos offer 20X odds.
By offering good games, the players are starting to be drawn to the craps tables.
So craps is seeing the beginnings of a new wave, whilst blackjack is seeing some sad and lonely times. Whether these trends continue is up to the casino's executives. If the casinos become paranoid about players who set the dice and take some care with their rolls, we might just see craps revenues decline. If casinos loosen up their blackjack games, we could see it boom again.
The future is not fated. It will be interesting to see what happens.
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