In any case, an early form of blackjack somehow found its way to New Orleans by 1820, where it was known as Vingt-et-Un and, later, 21.īlackjack expert Angela Wyman suggests that blackjack could be found in Nevada in 1931 with remarkable odds: “the casinos really wanted to make blackjack a thing and they offered 10 to 1 payouts. However, it’s possible to find similar games in the parlours of the Romans, albeit using blocks instead of cards. Unlike lots of other card games, which were created and played on streets, evidence suggests that traditional blackjack began in French casinos around the beginning of the 18th century.
This classic casino experience has roots in the same decade that England and Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, meaning that it likely celebrated its 300th anniversary sometime after the turn of the millennium. For all its ability to evolve and adapt to new mediums, blackjack’s recent history, including its success on the internet and mobile phones, is barely a minute on the clock of its existence to date.
