Blackjack Table Minimums

TIFFANY BROWN / LAS VEGAS SUN FILE

In response to the recession, some casinos have lowered minimum bets for blackjack. But the cheaper games can have rules that boost the house edge, such as a 6-to-5 payout for blackjacks instead of the traditional 3-to-2. The change means a blackjack with a $10 bet wins only $12 instead of $15.

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You’ve seen bargain-basement hotel rates and coupons for meals, show tickets and retail purchases — even volume discounts on bottle service in nightclubs and lounges.

But what are Strip casinos doing with their main attraction in the economic downturn?

Gambling games, priced in terms of how much players will lose over time, aren’t like products on a supermarket shelf. Or are they?

In fact, several Strip casinos have lowered table minimums on games in an apparent attempt to attract more customers during tough economic times. For example, Wynn Las Vegas offers some $25 double deck blackjack games on weekdays, down from a $50 per hand minimum. On the other end of the spectrum, and for a vastly different clientele, the Sahara is offering $1 blackjack.

Players view the moves as a retreat from the high minimums of years past, during the tourism boom. At the time, table minimums at many Strip properties rose sky-high, along with hotel room rates, mixed drink prices and restaurant checks.

Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter, says many major casinos are lowering minimums to lure players. Curtis calls it a rare sign of player-friendliness by casinos loath to offer games that don’t make enough money to justify free drinks for gamblers and staff salaries.

High minimums “never made a lot of sense, ” Curtis says, because they cause gamblers to burn through their bankrolls more quickly and leave.

Strip casinos in the downturn have become aggressive pitchmen for non-gambling discounts, plastering the Internet with offers for tourists as well as locals. Not so for gambling games.

Casinos — mindful of the competition, which can quickly adopt similar games or rules, unlike, say, shows, restaurants or other major attractions — are especially sensitive to details of their games.

For example, Curtis says the lower minimums have been reported everywhere, including at Harrah’s and MGM Mirage casinos.

But when Harrah’s Entertainment Western Region President Tom Jenkin is asked about any changes in limits, he says his company’s seven Las Vegas casinos “have not nor are we planning to lower table game limits.”

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