Blackjack Tables in Ontario: Every Table's Rules and House Edge

The register of blackjack tables in Ontario

The rows are sorted by house edge, cheapest first, from 0.31% on Vegas Single Deck Blackjack to 2.77% on Easy Blackjack. All 27 carry a figure. The buttons above the register filter by type, so you can look only at the 19 live dealer games or only at the 8 computer-dealt ones, with the counts shown on each button.

The spread is narrow in the middle. Four tables sit below 0.40%, all of them Games Global computer games. Eighteen sit between 0.40% and 0.71%, where most live studio tables land. Five cost more than 0.71%, and four of those change one rule sharply: a dealer 22 push, a shoe without tens or nines, or no player hand.

The 19 live tables come from four studios: twelve from Evolution, five from Pragmatic Play Live, and one each from Playtech and OnAir Entertainment. The eight computer-dealt games split between Games Global with five, Evolution’s two First Person titles and Pragmatic’s Blackjack X. The cheapest live table, ONE Blackjack at 0.41%, sits just above the four Games Global leaders.

How to read the columns

The first column names the table and the company that supplies it, such as Evolution, Pragmatic Play Live, Playtech, OnAir Entertainment or Games Global. Type tells you how the cards are dealt: a live dealer on camera in a studio, or a computer shuffle that deals a fresh shoe every round with no cut card and no camera at all.

House edge is the column that matters most. It is the share of each main bet the table keeps over a long run of basic strategy, which is the decision on every hand that gives up the least on average. A small note under the figure says whether it came from a published return or was computed from the rules.

Decks, soft 17 and payout are the three rules that move the number most. Stands means the dealer stops on a soft 17, which costs the house about 0.21% against the hitting version on a six-deck shoe. Pays shows the blackjack payout. A 6:5 game gives back far less than 3:2, and no table in the register pays 6:5.

Double after split, surrender and limits complete each row. Doubling after a split is worth roughly 0.14% on a six-deck game, and surrender lets you give up half the bet on your first two cards. Limits carry the currency of their source: Canadian dollars for most Evolution tables, otherwise the provider’s quote, such as US$1 to US$200.

Published returns: where the house edge figures come from

Twenty-six rows take their figure from a stated return. Evolution’s game pages and rules files cover its twelve live tables, from 99.56% on Lightning Blackjack down to 97.23% on Easy Blackjack. Its Power Blackjack file states 98.80%, which puts Power at 1.20%. Subtract the return from 100 and you have the house edge shown in the register.

Pragmatic’s own documents cover its five live tables. They state 99.59% for ONE Blackjack and 99.41% for its Speed and classic VIP tables, and its Privé Lounge page gives 99.51%. Playtech’s All Bets Blackjack carries 99.46%, and OnAir Entertainment’s seven-seat city tables 99.44%, the figure the specialist sites that review the studio all print.

The computer-dealt games add their own figures. SlotCatalog’s listings for Games Global give 99.69% for Vegas Single Deck, 99.65% for Atlantic City and Vegas Strip, 99.62% for Vegas Downtown and 99.42% for the five-deck Classic Blackjack. Evolution states 99.56% for First Person Lightning Blackjack and 99.29% for First Person Blackjack.

A stated return is the figure for optimal play on the main bet, and some providers state it for the first hand of a fresh shoe. Our engine, run on the same rules, lands within a few hundredths of most of them. Where both exist, the register shows the provider’s own number, the one the table’s maker stands behind.

One table computed from its rules

One row carries no stated return, so the maths engine computes it from the printed rules. Pragmatic’s Blackjack X deals eight decks without a live dealer, with the dealer standing on soft 17, blackjack paying 3:2 and doubling on any two cards, including after a split. That rule set comes out at 0.49%, level with Privé Lounge.

The engine treats it like any other rule set. It enumerates every starting deal with its exact probability, removes each card as it is drawn, builds the basic strategy chart for those rules and plays that chart on every decision. The calculator runs the same engine, so anyone can enter the Blackjack X rules and reproduce the 0.49%.

Where the table rules come from

Each record grades its sources. In order of weight they are a regulator, the provider itself, an operator’s own lobby data, a press release, a search snippet, and a third-party review. The record keeps the lowest grade actually used for any filled rule, so a reader can see how firm each row is before relying on it.

Provider documents carry most of the detail. Evolution publishes a game page for each title and full help files with the rules, side bets and returns. Pragmatic does the same for its live range. Playtech’s All Bets Blackjack has the highest-graded source in the register, a set of rules of play approved by a gaming regulator.

The five Games Global computer-dealt games take their rules from the Wizard of Odds rules table, a third-party source, and each of those records says so plainly. Classic Blackjack is the European no-peek version, dealt from five decks, which Wizard of Odds and GamesAndCasino both describe the same way. OnAir’s rules come from specialist sites.

Operator availability comes from the operators’ own data. A table counts as available at a site when its title appears in that site’s Ontario catalogue or lobby: Casino Days publishes catalogue files, TonyBet and ToonieBet game feeds, Betway its blackjack lobby. For Jackpot City, Royal Vegas and Spin Casino, the titles come from their Ontario pages.

How fresh the records are

Records show the date they were checked, and the register prints it under the table. A provider can revise a rules file, and an operator can change a minimum bet overnight, so a figure is only as current as that date. If a rules panel at the table disagrees with a row here, the table in front of you wins.

Limits move most often. Evolution’s Infinite Blackjack rules file prints C$1 to C$5,000 and adds that limits may change from time to time. Specialist sites quote other ranges for the same game, and an operator can set its own. The register keeps the rules-file figure in the row and the other ranges in the record’s notes.

Availability differs from site to site as well. LeoVegas and ToonieBet each deal 16 of the 27 tables, Casino Days 13, Betway and TonyBet 10. Five tables appear at a single Ontario site only, among them Privé Lounge at TonyBet and Always 6 at ToonieBet, so check the operator list on a record before you plan around it.

Rules that move the house edge most

Five rules decide most of the difference between the top and bottom of the register. The blackjack payout comes first, then the soft 17 rule, then whether the dealer peeks for blackjack. Doubling restrictions and the number of decks follow. A dealer 22 push in Free Bet games is large enough to need its own family of tables.

A rough guide from the engine, measured on a six-deck shoe: hitting soft 17 adds about 0.21%, losing double after split adds about 0.14%, playing without a hole card where doubles are lost to a dealer blackjack adds about 0.11%, and late surrender takes off about 0.07%. These shifts stack, and the calculator lets you combine them for any table.

Three rules do not fit that pattern. Six Card Charlie, used on Evolution’s Infinite Blackjack, pays any six-card hand of 21 or less and lowers the edge. The dealer 22 push raises it, to 1.74% on Evolution’s Free Bet tables and 1.10% on Pragmatic’s. Easy Blackjack drops the player’s hand altogether; its 97.23% return is the register’s highest edge.

What to check at blackjack tables before you play

Open the game’s rules panel and match it against the row. Look for the deck count, the soft 17 wording and the blackjack payout first, since those three set the bulk of the edge. Then look at doubling and splitting limits. If a line in the panel differs from the register, price the table on the panel.

Check the limits on blackjack tables in your own lobby instead of trusting a figure from another site. A table that suits a C$5 bettor in one lobby may start at C$50 in a VIP version elsewhere. Every site in the register needs you to be 19 or older and physically present in Ontario before it deals a hand.