If you've ever played blackjack online before, I think you'd agree that you're always wondering:
Is this game rigged?
How different is 🍐 this compared to playing at the casino?
Well online casinos have heard your thoughts and have come up with a solution 🍐 to ease your concerns by providing a much more transparent and real experience to substitute that annoying RNG dealer.
Live blackjack 🍐 dealers.
In this article we're going to look at how live blackjack works, how they compare to RNG blackjack and where 🍐 you can play safely for real money.
Live Dealer Blackjack Sites
How Does Live Blackjack Work?
The latest evolution of online casino gaming 🍐 allows you to play blackjack against a real physical dealer which you can see over a live video stream in 🍐 real time.
So just like visiting the local casino, the live action thrill is much more present as you can chat 🍐 and interact with not only the dealer, but other players and viewers on the table.
All of this is provided to 🍐 you through a live stream on your desktop or mobile device however the dealer, and any other players will NOT 🍐 be able to see you which should ease any privacy concerns.
All of the actions the dealer makes are visible and 🍐 as he/she deals the cards, you will prompted on your screen on what options to take. This is achieved through 🍐 microchips that are attached to each card so the software knows what the values are and can track your chosen 🍐 actions accordingly.
RNG Blackjack vs Live Blackjack
RNG Blackjack
RNG (Random Number Generated) blackjack are the standard computerised games that are found at 🍐 all online casinos.
These are powered by software that perform intricate mathematical algorithms to simulate the shuffling of multiple cards so 🍐 that the result is a fair system that mimics playing with actual cards.
The benefits of playing RNG blackjack is that 🍐 you can play at a much faster pace (or slower if you prefer) than normal and most online casinos offer 🍐 a multitude of variations to choose from.
Now is it possible for these type of games to be rigged? Absolutely. This 🍐 is why we list reputable online casinos only on blackjackinfo where their games are audited by third parties to ensure 🍐 fairness. However, the live blackjack option certainly does give more comfort because you can visually see the cards being dealt 🍐 by a human dealer
Live Blackjack
Live dealer blackjack allows you to play against a human dealer in real time so there 🍐 is no RNG used. The gaming experience is much more realistic as you can interact with the dealer and other 🍐 players on the table through a live chat function.
The negative aspect of live blackjack is that you can't decide how 🍐 fast/slow a pace you want to play because there are other players on the table waiting for you to make 🍐 a decision. Each casino will have some sort of visual indicator to show you how much time you have remaining 🍐 to make a decision. If time expires then the lack of response is interpreted as a stand.
Also note that streaming 🍐 the live feed of the dealer requires a lot of data so be sure to have a stable and fast 🍐 internet connection or it may turn out to be a more frustrating experience instead.
Live Blackjack Variations
Just like in normal RNG 🍐 online blackjack, the type of live blackjack variation and rules offered depends on the software provider the casino chooses to 🍐 use.
Live Blackjack Software Compared
Playtech Live Gaming Evolution Gaming Net Entertainment Extreme Live Gaming Visionary iGaming Tables 100+ 100+ 10+ 20+ 🍐 20+ Blackjack Pays 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:2 Decks 8 8 6 (Mid-shoe machine reshuffle) 8 6 (Shuffle Master i-Shoe) 🍐 Dealer Hits Soft 17 Double Any 2 Any 2 Any 2 Any 2 Any 2 Double After Split Hit After 🍐 Splitting Aces Resplit Allowed Surrender Allowed Insurance Offered House Edge 0.48% 0.73% 0.44% 0.62% 0.69% Min. & Max. Bet Range 🍐 £/$5-£/$20k £/$3 - £/$20k £/$5 - £/$10k £/$5 - £/$10kR$0.50 -R$2.5k (early payout tables)
$5 -R$100 (Blackjack HD & American Blackjack) 🍐 Languages English
Russian
French
Spanish
Italian
Romanian
Mexican-Spanish
Mandarin English
Danish
Swedish
German
Flemish
Finnish
Norwegian
French
Spanish
English
German
Dutch
Italian
Norwegian English
Italian
German English
Spanish Studio Locations Spain
Belgium
Latvia
Philippines
Romania Live studios:
Malta
Latvia
Romania
Canada
Land Based Casino Stream Locations:
Belgium
Spain
USA Malta London
Gibraltar San Jose
Costa Rica
Let's go 🍐 over a few of the popular providers so you can see the difference
Visionary iGaming
Visionary iGaming Blackjack Visionary iGaming Early Payout 🍐 Blackjack
Visionary iGaming is the only software provider that powers the live dealer games of all US casinos and interestingly uses 🍐 only 6 decks as opposed to the usual 8 seen in other providers. They have two variatons called Normal and 🍐 Early Payout which also allow for Side Bets which can make things interesting. You can read more about Visionary iGaming 🍐 here. They have a house edge of around 0.58% (RTP 94.2%) for their regular tables.
Evolution Gaming
Evolution Gaming Blackjack Evolution Gaming 🍐 Blackjack Party
My personal favourite, Evolution Gaming has live dealer studios based in Latvia and are known for providing highly energetic 🍐 and entertaining dealers. Their platform was built specifically to provide casinos with live dealer games. While Blackjackinfo is filled with 🍐 information about strategy, sometimes all you want is fun and Evolution Gaming powered casinos are the best at providing an 🍐 entertaining live blackjack experience. They use 8 decks and have a house edge of about 0.73% (RTP 99.27%) with the 🍐 options for side bets called Perfect Pairs and 21 + 3. You can read more details about their rules and 🍐 variations in our complete review here.
Playtech
Playtech Grand Blackjack Playtech Blackjack VIP Playtech Lounge Blackjack Playtech Blackjack Soho Playtech Soriee Blackjack 🍐 Playtech Royale Blackjack Playtech Transylvania Blackjack Playtech Unlimited Blackjack
Playtech have been a software provider for online casinos since 1999 and 🍐 have rapidly expanded their catalogue to include live dealers. To stand out from it's competitors, Playtech look to be the 🍐 first in implementing live blackjack dealers for specific languages. They currently have a staggering 500 dealers who are well trained 🍐 and cater to audiences from the UK, Italy, Spain and Romania. They have several blackjack variations but their regular tables 🍐 use 8 decks with the option to sidebet on Perfect Pairs. Sparing no expense, Playtech built a large studio of 🍐 8,500 square metres in Latvia back in February 2024 and have clearly set their goal to be the leader in 🍐 the live dealer space. You can read our complete review of Playtech's live dealers here.
Extreme Live Gaming
Extreme Live Gaming Blackjack
Founded 🍐 in 2013, Extreme Live Gaming has a studio based in London and offers live blackjack with 8 decks similarly to 🍐 other providers. What sets them apart however is their "LiveBox" product which streams a feed from an actual land based 🍐 casino where you can place bets alongside people inside the venue itself. Unfortunately this is only available for their roulette 🍐 games but it will be interesting if they ever provide this experience for blackjack at some stage
Ezugi
Ezugi American Blackjack Ezugi 🍐 European Blackjack Ezugi Hybrid Blackjack Ezugi Unlimited 21 Blackjack – Auto Split
Offering a variety of different themed tables, Ezugi has 🍐 some great options when it comes to live blackjack. In fact, they are one of the only providers who offer 🍐 the early surrender option which can be found in any of their American Blackjack tables with a very low 0.11% 🍐 house edge You can read more about Ezugi and their catalogue of games here
Is Live Blackjack Rigged?
Considering all actions the 🍐 dealer makes is visible to multiple players/viewers, it would be extremely difficult for a casino to rig blackjack.
HOWEVER:
Having said that 🍐 there was an incident that went viral in February 2024 where video footage of a dealer dealing cards in a 🍐 peculiar manner lead many to believe BetOnline was intentionally cheating.
There is no concrete evidence that this was either an accident 🍐 made by the dealer or purposeful second dealing. It does make you wonder though, since it's so easy to record 🍐 video footage of gameplay, why would a casino even attempt to rig their games in a manner like this?
Live Blackjack 🍐 FAQ
Does every casino offer live blackjack? No. While they all practically offer the normal RNG style blackjack, it takes a 🍐 lot of resources to provide a solution for live blackjack so many of the smaller casinos are unable to provide 🍐 it
Can you card count in live blackjack? No. Casinos have shuffle policies in place to avoid players gaining any advantage 🍐 through card counting. Blackjackapprenceship has a great article about this as to why it's not effective
Can I play live blackjack 🍐 through my phone? Yes. Although the interface can get a little bit annoying on a small screen, there are several 🍐 casinos that do provide live blackjack solutions for mobile
What live blackjack does sodapoppin play? If you've ever been curious where 🍐 twitch streamer sodapoppin plays, he plays at BetOnline which is a US casino brand.
