I recently did a search looking for the best blackjack odds in Las Vegas in 2023 and was unhappy with the results I found. So, I decided to put together this post for you.

I’ve played blackjack in Las Vegas many times, and I always look for the best games. And if you’re planning a trip to Las Vegas in 2023, you need to know how to find the blackjack games with the best odds.

In my mind, Las Vegas has two gambling areas. I think of casinos on the strip and casinos on Freemont Street/Downtown. But for this post, I separate Las Vegas into three areas.

Find the casinos offering the best blackjack odds on the Strip, on Fremont Street, and Downtown below.

 

Best Blackjack on the Strip in 2023

The best blackjack games on the Las Vegas Strip can be found in several casinos. In other words, several casinos offer games using the same set of rules.

Here are the rules you’re looking for:

• Blackjack pays 3 to 2
• The dealer stands on soft 17
• You can double after splitting pairs
• The games use two decks of cards

These rules give a house edge of 0.26% and a return of 99.74%. If you can find these rules with a game allowing multiple splits of aces, the edge comes in closer to .2%.

Las Vegas Strip casinos with games offering these rules include:

• The MGM Grand
• Treasure Island (They also have the lowest minimum bets on the Strip, $50 per hand)
• The Mirage
• The Bellagio
• Mandalay Bay

These casinos also offer the best blackjack games using six decks. But the edge on these games starts at .28%.

The best blackjack odds are found in the high limit blackjack areas on the Strip. But the best start at $100 and some tables have even higher minimum bets.

Best Blackjack in Downtown Vegas

El Cortez has the blackjack games with the best odds in downtown Las Vegas in 2023. And El Cortez also offers some of the best blackjack games in Las Vegas for low rollers.

The El Cortez offers $10 blackjack tables with good rules. They offer a single deck $10 game using a 3 to2 payment for blackjack. In this game, you can double down on any two cards. The house edge sits at about 0.3%, making the return 99.7%.

They also offer a $10 double deck game using 3 to 2 payouts. But El Cortez also has many blackjack games using six decks. While most of the six deck games offer good rules, they aren’t quite as good as the single and double deck games.

Other casinos offering blackjack games with good odds include Arizona Charlie’s, the Rampart, and Silverton. Look for the double deck blackjack games paying 3 to 2.

Best Blackjack on Fremont Street in 2023

The casinos on Fremont Street offer a wide variety of blackjack games. So it’s important to be able to identify a game with good odds and a game with poor odds. I explain more about how to do this in the following sections.

Here’s a list of Fremont Street casinos offering the best overall blackjack odds:

• Golden Gate
• Golden Nugget
• The D

The best odds are at double deck tables paying 3 to 2 where you can double after splitting pairs.

While it’s not technically on Fremont Street, the El Cortez, mentioned in the Downtown Las Vegas casinos section, offers slightly better odds. If you’re playing on Fremont Street, the short trip over to the El Cortez is worth it.

How to Maximize Your Return in Las Vegas When You Find Blackjack Games with Good Odds

Now you know how to find the blackjack games in Las Vegas with the best odds. But finding games with good odds only gives you an opportunity. It doesn’t guarantee you’re going to get a better return.

You have to use the correct strategies to realize the best return.

Here’s a quick guide explaining everything you need to do when you play blackjack.

Every blackjack game, including the ones with the best odds, has at least one bet with terrible odds. Fortunately, you can avoid bets with bad odds when you know what these bets are.

I’ve never played a blackjack game that didn’t offer insurance. And I used to use insurance, especially when I had a good hand. But now I never accept insurance. Insurance bets have terrible odds.

I also used to make blackjack side bets when they were available. But I stopped making side blackjack bets for the same reason why I stopped taking insurance. Side bets have terrible odds.

Avoiding bad bets comes first. And avoiding bad bets can easily be done. But the next step requires a little bit more work.

You only receive the highest returns when you use basic blackjack strategy. Every blackjack hand can be played in multiple ways. But only one way gives you the highest return.

You can research basic strategy to learn how and why it works. But you don’t need to know how it works to benefit from using it.

A blackjack strategy chart or card has every correct play listed. And all you need to do is follow the basic strategy on your card or chart to receive the highest returns.

What Makes Good Odds in a Blackjack Game in Vegas?

How do you know if a blackjack game has good or bad odds?

You can compare blackjack tables and games using the house edge and return. But the house edge and return aren’t fixed. As you learned in the last section, they vary based on the strategies used and the side bets.

Here’s a quick overview of the rules found at blackjack tables. Each rule either makes the return better or worse. You want to find tables with as many rules that help your return as possible.

• Blackjack pays 3 to 2 gives you ugh higher returns than when blackjack pays 6 to 5.
• Blackjack games with surrender have higher returns than games without surrender.
• When the dealer stands on a soft 17 you get slightly better returns than when the dealer hits on a soft 17.
• Double down after split gives you better odds than not being able to do so.
• The more times you can split, the higher your returns.
• Blackjack games with fewer decks offer slightly better odds than games with more decks.

These are the main rules to look at when comparing blackjack games in Las Vegas. A few other things influence the house edge and return, but games with good rules from this list are the best games.

You can find blackjack games with good odds in Las Vegas. But if you’re willing to play online blackjack, the best odds are playing online Blackjack Switch.

With the right rules, the house edge of 0.05% makes it the best online blackjack game.

The Worst Blackjack Odds in Las Vegas in 2023

In the sections above, I shared where you can find the best blackjack games and the best odds in Las Vegas. But I think you also need to know how to avoid the worst blackjack games and odds in Las Vegas.

But, instead of a list of the worst blackjack odds, I’m going to give you directions on how to recognize bad games when you see them. These directions are an extension of the things you learned in the last section.

Many casinos offering good blackjack odds also have some blackjack tables with bad odds. You can’t assume every blackjack game in a casino with some good blackjack games has good odds.

Here’s an example:

You enter a casino and find two blackjack tables with open seats. The first table you see pays 3 to 2 for blackjack, the dealer stands on a soft 17, and you can double after split, and re-split aces. This gives you good blackjack odds.

The next table uses the exact same rules, except it pays 6 to 5 for blackjack. Unlike the first table, this table gives you bad odds.

This example shows the number one reason why some blackjack games have bad odds. When you find a blackjack table paying 6 to 5 for blackjack, the odds are bad.

Many casinos take advantage of blackjack players who want to bet small amounts. The casino might offer good odds on tables with a minimum bet of $50 or $100, but at tables with a $5 or $10 minimum bet, the odds are worse.

If you want to avoid blackjack games with bad odds, avoid all tables paying 6 to 5. And use what you learned about other blackjack rules in the last section to rate the games you find.

Conclusion

In 2023, Las Vegas offers many blackjack tables with good odds. But the city also has a lot of blackjack tables with bad odds.

Plan on visiting the casinos listed in this post to find the best blackjack games in Vegas. But you can also use the things you learned in this post to identify good and bad blackjack games in other casinos.

And when you find blackjack games with good odds in Las Vegas in 2023, remember to follow the rules included in this post. Never use insurance or any other blackjack side bet. And always use the right strategies when playing blackjack.

If you ignore these directions you’re never going to get a high return at the blackjack table.

I consulted multiple (17) different pages when writing this post, but the one with the most helpful information was at Vegas Advantage. According to their site, the game information was last updated in March of 2023, so it might have changed some since then. They were the only site which included this information, so they’re way more reliable than most.