The Best Blackjack Bonuses and Casinos

Everyone’s heard of blackjack or played it growing up with family. You might have even called it Pontoon, which is ever so slightly different. If you haven’t heard of it, where have you been living?! Keep reading to understand about blackjack online, how to play blackjack, the best blackjack bonuses, the best blackjack casinos and much, much more. We also have a guide purely dedicated to “how to play blackjack“.

The Best 5 Online Blackjack Casinos in the UK

Let’s kick off our blackjack review by giving you the top five blackjack casinos in the industry for UK players.

There are plenty of online casinos who offer blackjack online as part of their casino and live casino suite, but below are the best of the bunch for overall product and user experience.

What is Blackjack?

Blackjack is a game which origins lie deep in the 17th century. Its seemingly simple rules of play, negligibly low house edge, and potential for skilled players to earn serious cash, is what made this game spiral out of control in terms of popularity. Nowadays, a casino without at least one blackjack online table is like a house without windows.

Dating back to the 17th century in North America, blackjack, also known as twenty-one, is a card game whereby players try to reach 21 and no more. Blackjack is also one of the most popular card games played at online casinos.

With it being arguably the best paying card game if you know how to play, blackjack can be enjoyed online for fun at many online casinos until you’re ready to play for real cash.

It’s worth checking out our how to play blackjack guide to understand the blackjack rules and strategy needed to prosper. If you go in blind, like anything in life really, more often than not it doesn’t end well.

Blackjack Online – Which Blackjack Games are Available?

With hundreds of online casinos now at our fingertips, online blackjack has risen in popularity amongst the worldwide gaming audience in recent years. New, exciting variations have spawned and innumerable adaptations of land casino classics have been transferred to the convenience of online play.

There are a fair few different types of blackjack. The basic rules are essentially the same but with minor variations such as the number of decks used and the payouts. Here’s a list of some of the more popular variations:

• Classic Blackjack
• Progressive Blackjack
• European Blackjack
• Spanish 21
• Blackjack Switch
• Vegas Strip Blackjack
• Pontoon
• Live Blackjack
• Super Fun 21

We’ve covered the different types of blackjack games in more detail in our How to Play Blackjack guide, so make sure you check that out if you want to understand how to play the many variations of blackjack that are available at the different online casinos.

Blackjack Online For Fun – Practice Makes Perfect!

Having almost any game to play for fun is an often underestimated benefit all players have today at online casinos. Prior to the rise of online UK casinos, new players would fall into the trap of staking real money at a table without any experience to speak of. Now, you can practice to your heart’s content before putting your hard-earned cash on the line.

We recommend you avoid blackjack games that have been specifically constructed for just fun play. While there may be nothing inherently wrong with them, why not play blackjack for fun at an online casino that’s offering the same real money variation? You’ll get the most realistic experience, and you get to learn the specific set of rules the game in question has in place.

Once you’ve played blackjack online for fun, you may want to read up on how to win at blackjack and the tips and tricks to master along the way. Luckily for you, we’ve done all of the hard work so you don’t have to! Check out our guides below to understand the ins and outs of what it takes to become a good online blackjack player.

Blackjack Online for Real Money – Slow and Steady Wins The Race

Once you’ve gotten the hang of a certain table whilst playing blackjack online for fun, you can seamlessly transfer over to real money action and play blackjack online for money. Make a deposit with one of the top casinos listed in this review if you haven’t already and you’ll be set.

You may also claim a blackjack bonus while you’re at it. We’ve listed the best blackjack bonuses below for you to get stuck in to.

However, before diving into the numerous welcome bonuses, make a note of the key terms and wagering contributions. A lot of blackjack tables contribute quite poorly to the wagering requirements of a bonus. The contribution percentage can get up to 25% if you’re lucky, but sometimes they do not contribute at all.

However, there are some online casinos that offer welcome bonuses with no wagering contributions whatsoever, so give the key terms a browse beforehand and away you go.

Without further ado, here is a handpicked selection of online casinos where you can play blackjack for fun and real money

Best Blackjack Casinos

Ladbrokes Casino

Ladbrokes is one of the best online destinations when it comes to playing blackjack for real money. This casino operator is one of the leading sportsbook and casino brands in the UK. Furthermore, Ladbrokes is now exclusively offering a 100% up to £500 bonus to all customers opening an account via the below link.

32Red Online Casino

32Red is supplied by a series of leading gaming suppliers, therefore their gaming range is quite versatile. The instant play portion of 32Red offers 29 variations of blackjack. What’s more is that the game rules are compactly listed to the right of your screen, meaning you won’t have to run the extra mile to identify them yourself.

The casino certainly knows what players want. We could not find a single 6:5 paying blackjack table in their lobby, meaning whichever version you decide to play, you wouldn’t be making a mistake.

The Best Blackjack Bonuses

We’ve tickled your taste buds with the best online casinos around that offer blackjack online, but what about the best blackjack bonuses? Who offers those? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

The top 5 online blackjack casinos are listed above, but solely from a bonus perspective, here are the 5 best blackjack casinos that offer great offers for new customers.

Best Online Blackjack Casinos – It Pays to Understand the Rules

In order to understand the best blackjack variation to play at an online casino, you must pay attention to the game rules because they dictate the house favour.

Blackjack Rules That Favour Players

Number of Decks Used

The general rule of thumb is that the less decks a blackjack table uses, the better your odds are.

However, more often than not, the number of decks used is far from a detrimental factor. A single deck game that pays 3:2 is nigh impossible to find, but Vegas Single Deck by Microgaming is an honourable exception. It can be enjoyed at 32Red or Betway.

Dealer Stands on Soft 17

Intuition may lead you to believe otherwise, but a soft 17 is not a great hand. Therefore, it is beneficial to the dealer if he hits on a soft 17, making the house edge greater, albeit very slightly.

Double After Split

If you can double your bet after splitting your hand, the house edge is ever so slightly reduced.

Splitting Aces

Splitting and even the resplitting of aces are rules you should look towards when finding a proper blackjack table. It may not be a common occurrence, but every little percentage matters.

Rules That Do Not Favour Players

Players Can Double on 9-11 or 10-11 Only

This is an important rule that hinders regular blackjack gameplay. Once again, the house favour does not change dramatically in relation to this rule but it’s worth looking for tables where you have the liberty of splitting your hand.

Blackjack Pays 6:5

This rule is so undesirable for all players that we’re surprised tables like this still exist. Even if we assume the following rules: single deck, resplit up to 4 times, double down any pair, dealer stands on soft 17 and a late surrender option. It is still unfavourable to play a 6:5 table over a 3:2.

Once you’ve got a hang of the rules, jump on to any online casino recommended by us and dive straight into the blackjack action.

Live Blackjack – Enjoy the Rush of a Live Casino

Online casinos keep improving by the day, and live casino play is the most immersive experience you can get next to being at an actual physical casino. Thanks to live streaming capabilities you can enjoy a game of blackjack with other players from around the world.

There are now plenty of live blackjack options with most online casinos and the tables are streamed from live locations whilst being administrated by professional dealers.

Blackjack Strategy – Hit or Stand?

Since blackjack is, in fact, a game of skill, employing a gameplay strategy can significantly work to your advantage. With blackjack, there are two main strategies you can employ – basic strategy and card counting.

The blackjack basic strategy is a mathematically calculated chart which dictates optimal blackjack play. It takes into consideration probability, your hand and the hand of the dealer.

Learning basic strategy is child’s play in comparison to mastering card counting, but it does have a significant weight of its own.

Card counting is a whole other beast, one that requires extreme efforts to master. Because of the complexity of card counting, numerous types of counting strategies have emerged – some significantly simplified, while some require serious work to master.

Regardless of which card counting strategy you’re employing, you must employ the basic strategy initially. Contrary to popular belief, card counting is not illegal, but land casinos do frown upon it, so be cautious with this approach.

Some may argue that the following strategy is one to always adhere to with blackjack. We’ll let you be the judge of that once you’ve mastered the game.

1. Always hit hard 11 or less.
2. Stand on hard 12 against a dealer 4 to 6, otherwise hit.
3. Stand on hard 13 to 16 against a dealer 2 to 6, otherwise hit.
4. Always stand on hard 17 or more.
5. Always hit soft 17 or less.
6. Stand on soft 18 except hit against a dealer 9, 10, or Ace.
7. Always stand on soft 19 or more.

Whatever strategy you adopt, make sure you grab one of the welcome bonuses at the top online casinos listed. As always, gamble responsibly, but enjoy it.