Category: News

Pennsylvania

Right now blackjack at the new Pennsylvania casinos is at its best. Players are currently enjoying a house edge of 0.4% if they play according to basic strategy, which is lower than the typical basic strategy blackjack house edge. But such a house edge may not last, and speculation is already building on what will change.

With the opening of any new casino, the games are highly likely to have more player favorable rules and therefore lower house edges. This is done primarily to bring new players in and get them comfortable with the casino in hopes that they will return even if the rules change.

And the rules almost always change.

When the Gaming Control Board of Pennsylvania fist set down the blackjack rules, they did so with the intention of meeting a few months after the casinos had been open to discuss possible changes. The few months is drawing to a close, and member of the Gaming Control Board are not commenting on the possibility for changes to the blackjack rules.

And naturally the casinos are not going to mind changes to the blackjack rules as long as they are favored in the changes, which is likely. The casinos will present and promote the potential of gaining more through taxes with changes to the rules. And the need for revenue was the whole reason for legalizing casinos and blackjack and other table games in Pennsylvania. So I am guessing that if they learn that they could make more for changing a couple of rules, I am willing to bet they would make the changes.

So the state would get more revenue. The casinos would get a lot more in profit. And blackjack players would be left will less money in winnings in the long run.

What rules would be changed?

The Wizard of Odds is banking on them allowing dealers to hit soft 17s and that the natural blackjack payout be changed from a 3-2 payout to a 6-5 payout. The change in payout alone would increase the house edge by 1.4% alone. But both rule changes combined would raise the house edge to 1.9%. Again, that is if you are playing according to basic strategy, and with rule changes like that on the horizon, you had better be playing according to basic strategy.

Now no rule changes have been made yet. But gaming professionals have seen rules change after a casino has been open for a few months, and they have seen which rules change the most often. This is what makes them think that the good blackjack rules Pennsylvania players are enjoying now could be shuffled along for house friendly blackjack rules.

If you live in Pennsylvania you had better get your blackjack in now should the rules change.

Online Blackjack for Florida

Now that blackjack tables have been straightened out between the state and the Seminoles, the state of Florida is now turning its attention to online gambling and the possibility of regulating it. This would mean that online blackjack would be available to those in Florida.

There are two aspects of this online gambling regulation that fit together. One, there are one million residents in Florida who gambling online be they online blackjack players or online poker players or a fan of some other online casino game.

Two, despite the Seminole compact and the $1 billion in revenue it will generate, Florida is still around $2 billion short of its budget after considering the compact revenue.

So what can Florida do with its one million residents who gamble online and its budget shortfall?

They can regulate online gambling, thus allowing revenue to be generated from the online gambling.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) allows for each individual state to choose whether or not to regulate online gambling within their borders. This compliments the enforcement of UIGEA by the financial institutions. See, US citizens are not banned from gambling online, but financial institutions are banned from knowingly processing transactions between citizens and online casinos.

But if a state were to regulate online gambling, residents of that state would be able to gamble online legally, and financial institutions would not be prohibited from processing those transactions going to online casinos licensed by the regulating state.

In short, if Florida were to regulate online gambling, those of you who are in Florida and play blackjack online would be able to do so. So you would get your online blackjack and Florida would get its revenue.

How much revenue? It is estimated that Florida could make $200 million in the first year and $100 million in subsequent years. While it will not entirely cover the budget shortfall, the revenue would certainly help Florida

Blackjack Boats Possible in 90 Days

North Charleston has been talking about whether or not to launch casino boats with games like blackjack on them as a new source of revenue. And as of Thursday casino boats with blackjack are now legal in North Charleston. Huzzah for good blackjack news!

For residents and tourists who are interested in the casino boats, they will be glad to know that the boats could be set up and launching as soon as ninety days from now. Thus far there are at least eight companies who have expressed varying degrees of interest Mayor Keith Summey has said. But he only thinks that a few of those will actually make the investment to create a casino boat business.

The way it would work is that a company interested in running a casino boat with blackjack would have to pay for a licensing fee as well as pay rent for a loading and unloading point. The company would also pay a percentage in taxes from whatever earnings they make off of games like blackjack and slots.

The loading and unloading points would be limited to a certain area, on the Copper River area south of Riverfront Park extending as far south as Shipyard Creek. In short to and from the former Nave Base and Shipyard complex. Any gambling would wait until after the boats had crossed the city

Blackjack Dealer Charged with Fraud

So it came up in the casino and blackjack news that a dealer in Minnesota was arrested and charged for committing fraud at the Mystic Lake casino he worked at.

Over the course of two weeks at the end of July and the beginning of August more than $18,500 was paid out to three people involved in the scam.

The dealer in question, Jacob Edwin Christensen, was paying those three players, his friend from high school, his landlord

Blackjack Boats One Step Closer

A little more than a month ago I wrote about the possibility of North Charleston launching casino boats with blackjack as a way to bring in some extra revenue for the city.

Last Thursday the blackjack boats are one more step closer to becoming a reality. The bill, introduced by Mayor Keith Summey and supported by the City Council, had its first reading. A reading is kind of like a public hearing on the bill in which people are allowed to voice their opinions about the proposed bill

21 Blackjack Party

For those of you who have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and who love to play blackjack on the go, you will be quite pleased with what Spin3 is doing with their 21 Blackjack Party app.

Back in February of this year Spin3 was launched, and 21 Blackjack Party was their first game to be sold in the Apple App Store. Spin3 itself is actually a division of Spiral Solutions who is known for being a leader in eGaming services and managing those services.

The Spin3 21 Blackjack Party app has been a hit with those who like to play blackjack on the go, not to mention that this particular blackjack app is free.

But Spin3 was looking to take the abilities of the 21 Blackjack Party app further, make it even more well-known. And recently they found out just how to spread the word about their darling blackjack app: Facebook.

Yes, we are back to talking about Facebook again. But the social networking site is worming its way into everything in some form or another. I remember when people asked if businesses had a company website; now they ask if they have a Facebook page.

I digress.

So how is 21 Blackjack Party opening its little programmed heart to the social networking giant? It is quite simple really. Players who are playing can post their progress to their Facebook pages so that their friends can see just how awesome

Networking and Online Blackjack

What do World of Warcraft and online blackjack have in common?

Initially they are two games in the online gaming world. But as of late they might have more in common than simply being games played online.

Yazino is a fairly recently launched social networking online casino. It is a site in which blackjack players can play online blackjack and other online casino games but are also playing with other players and networking through the site.

In other words, there are two types of online games, and every single online game can be fit into one of two categories: online gambling and social gaming.

Social gaming is like World of Warcraft

West Virginia Blackjack a Success

August saw the first full month that the Chares Town Hollywood Casino had their blackjack and other table game set up.

While the debate on whether or not to allow blackjack and other table games in the state, the hope was that the addition of table games would boost revenue for the state who is in need of the money.

For those that were supportive of the table games