History of blackjack

Blackjack is a game with a history that goes back a few centuries and its origins are still eluding researchers to this very day. There is not one person at a definite point in time who invented the game. It evolved through the centuries, being fueled by its growing popularity. Today, it is one of the most popular games played at both land casinos and at the fast-growing online casinos.

The earliest roots were in Europe, probably in France, where, in 17th century, a game called “Vingt et un”, meaning Twenty-one was played and from which it is thought that blackjack originated. Its rules, although similar to today’s blackjack, were not entirely identical to the ones commonly used today.

Another variant was found in Spain, with a game called “veintiuna” (Spanish for twenty-one) and an early variant of it was found mentioned in a book by Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, who was also a gambler himself.

After the French Revolution, the game reached North America, where it gained popularity due to the lack of any laws banning gambling. Here, gamblers analyzed the game and came up with the blackjack basic strategy, which greatly improves the winning odds against the house.

In 1910, as the United States government banned blackjack, along with all gambling activities, the game was confined largely to the underground. In the 1920s, as the Federal Marshalls chasing the gamblers, blackjack began to be more popular than ever.

Eventually, Nevada was the first state in the US to decide, in 1931, the legalization of gambling and thus Las Vegas was born. At that time, it was still called 21. The game got its current name when some casinos, in order to attract more gamblers, began to have special bonuses. One of these was paying 10-to-1 for a hand which featured an ace of spades and either of the two black jacks (Jacks of Spades and the Jacks of Clubs). Although the casinos renounced at this bonus payout, the name blackjack stuck and its known by this name even today.

The earliest scientific studies on blackjack began in 1956, as a team of mathematicians published an article in the Journal of American Statistical Association which detailed the first statistically accurate set of recommendations for the blackjack players. If a gambler uses exactly that article advices, the house edge will be decreased considerably.