Why blackjack pays 3 to 2

Why blackjack pays 3 to 2: the short version

Most blackjack wins pay even money: bet £10, win £10. A natural, an ace with a 10-value card as your first two cards, usually pays 3 to 2 instead, so the same £10 wins £15. That extra half-stake is the single most valuable rule in the game for the player.

It exists because blackjack would otherwise be lopsided. The dealer follows fixed rules and seems to have no advantage, yet the dealer wins every time you bust first. The 3 to 2 bonus is the player's main compensation for that, alongside the options the dealer doesn't get: doubling down, splitting and sometimes surrender. Our blackjack payouts page lists every standard payout.

Where the dealer's edge comes from

Imagine a game where you copied the dealer exactly: hit to 17, stand on 17 or more, never double or split. You'd bust exactly as often as the dealer. But whenever you both bust, you lose, because you went first and your hand was already settled. That double-bust overlap is pure profit for the house, and it's why mimicking the dealer is a poor strategy.

Blackjack evens this out in a few ways. The player gets choices the dealer doesn't have. Ties at 17 to 21 push instead of losing. And the natural pays a bonus. Take away the 3 to 2 bonus and the game becomes markedly worse: Wizard of Odds' rule variations table (opens in a new tab) puts an even-money blackjack at a 2.27% cost to the player.

How often a blackjack turns up

You can count the chance directly: you need one ace and one 10-value card, in either order. Ten, jack, queen and king all count as 10, so there are 16 such cards per deck against 4 aces.

So in a typical six- or eight-deck game you'll see a natural about once in 21 hands, though the dealer sometimes has one too and the hand pushes. Short runs can be much leaner or richer than this. Our blackjack odds page has more probabilities worked out the same way.

What the 3 to 2 payout is worth

Here's the rough arithmetic. A blackjack shows up about 4.75% of the time, and a small slice of those push against a dealer blackjack, leaving roughly 4.5% of hands where your natural is paid. At 3 to 2 you get an extra half-stake over even money on each. Half of about 4.5% is about 2.25%, very close to Wizard of Odds' measured value of 2.27%.

A 2 to 1 payout on naturals is unusual; we show it only to complete the scale. Our comparison of 3 to 2 against 6 to 5 goes deeper on the most common change.

The 3 to 2 payout in pounds: a worked example

Say you play 100 hands at £10, putting £1,000 through the game. You'd expect around 4 or 5 natural blackjacks that get paid.

• At 3 to 2, each pays £15: about £67.50 for 4.5 paid naturals.
• At 6 to 5, each pays £12: about £54.
• The gap is about £13.50, close to the £13.90 the full calculation gives once strategy changes are counted.

Put that next to the overall cost of play. Wizard of Odds gives a six-deck game with the dealer hitting soft 17 and doubling after splitting a 0.62% house edge, which is about £6.20 per £1,000. Switch the same game to 6 to 5 and the edge climbs by 1.39%, to about 2.01%: roughly £20.10 per £1,000. The payout alone can triple your expected loss. See how the house edge works for the general method.

Where the blackjack name and bonus story come from

Blackjack grew out of the 'twenty-one' family of games, with the English game vingt-un as its immediate ancestor. In Britain the game is recorded in the 1770s and 1780s, and its first rules were published in 1800. The first American rules, in 1825, reprinted the English ones.

A popular story says the name came from a ten-to-one bonus for an ace of spades with a black jack, and that the name stuck after the bonus was dropped. Historian Thierry Depaulis found no evidence of that bonus. He traced the name to Klondike Gold Rush prospectors (1896–99), suggests it came from the mineral zincblende, and dates the American renaming to around 1899, as summarised in Wikipedia's blackjack article (opens in a new tab). So the popular story is best treated as just that. Our history of blackjack page covers the rest.

Blackjack games that don't pay 3 to 2

Some games change the natural's payout as part of a different rule package. The trade is never free: something else in the game shifts to pay for it.

• 6 to 5 tables: same game, smaller bonus, 1.39% worse.
• Blackjack Switch: blackjacks pay even money, in exchange for being able to swap cards between your two hands.
• Double Exposure: both dealer cards are face up, and player blackjacks pay even money.
• Pontoon (the online RTG version): a pontoon or five-card trick pays 2 to 1, but ties lose.
• Spanish 21: a player blackjack beats a dealer blackjack, and bonus payouts apply to five-, six- and seven-card 21s.

How to check a blackjack payout before you play

1. Read the table felt or game title. Many games print 'Blackjack pays 3 to 2' on the layout.
2. Open the help screen and find the payout table.
3. Confirm what a natural pays. 3 to 2 means a £10 blackjack wins £15 (you get £25 back including the stake).
4. If it says 6 to 5, expect a £10 blackjack to win £12, and a far higher house edge.
5. Check the other rules (soft 17, doubling, surrender) using our house edge guide.
6. Set your stake and session budget before the first hand.

Myths about the 3 to 2 payout

• Myth: 6 to 5 pays more because 6 is bigger than 3. 6 to 5 is 1.2 times your stake; 3 to 2 is 1.5 times. A £10 natural wins £12 against £15.
• Myth: 3 to 2 means you get £3 for every £2 including your stake. The 3 to 2 is profit; your stake comes back on top.
• Myth: the bonus makes blackjack a winning game. With basic strategy the house still keeps an edge, so losses are likely over time.
• Myth: you should take even money to lock in a win. Even money is insurance on your blackjack, and Wizard of Odds' strategy says never take it.

Wizard of Odds' blackjack basics (opens in a new tab) gives the standard payouts in brief.

Where our partner offers fit for blackjack

Our partner offers are slot offers or matched bonuses with game restrictions. Don't expect to clear them on blackjack: table and live games are often excluded or count for less towards wagering. Check each casino's game lobby and the payout rules of each blackjack table. 18+ and terms apply.

• Casumo: 50% bonus up to £100 on a first deposit of at least £20, opt-in needed; 10x bonus wagering within 7 days; £5 maximum bet while active; game, play and payment restrictions apply.
• 10bet: 100% match up to £25 when you choose the casino welcome bonus at sign-up and deposit within 7 days; 10x wagering on slots within 3 days; maximum bonus winnings £1,000; Skrill and Neteller excluded.
• Coral: bet £10+ on slots after depositing to get 100 free spins at 10p on selected games; accept within 48 hours, valid 7 days; free spin winnings have no wagering; certain payment methods excluded.

Our guide to the 10x wagering cap explains the UK limit on bonus terms.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.