Online blackjack Australia: the law, rules and house edge

Key facts

Online blackjack is a casino-style game that cannot legally be offered to people in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. It is not an offence to play, but there is no Australian licence protecting your money.
Australian casino blackjack has no dealer hole card, lets you double only on 9, 10 or 11, and returns your extra double or split money if the dealer turns up blackjack.
With 6 decks, those rules cost 0.55% of each bet in our calculation, against 0.46% for the common overseas rule set with doubling on any two cards.
The cheapest versions we calculated: Australian pontoon at about 0.35%, standard blackjack at 0.55% and Blackjack Switch at 0.58%. Free Bet costs 1.44% and 6 to 5 payouts 1.81%.
Side bets cost far more: most of the ones we calculated keep between about 2.5% and 16% of each side bet, depending on the bet and the pay table.

Can you play online blackjack in Australia?

Online blackjack cannot legally be offered to people in Australia. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 bans online casino-style games, and ACMA names blackjack, poker and roulette among the illegal online services. The offence is the provider's: an official review of the Act noted that it does not make it an offence for Australian customers to use these services.

That does not make the sites safe. Anyone offering you real money blackjack online is doing it from offshore with no Australian licence. ACMA asks internet providers to block these sites and warns that players risk losing their money, and you have no Australian regulator to complain to if a withdrawal never arrives.

Blackjack itself is perfectly legal in person. Every Australian casino deals it, and each state regulator approves the rules before a game reaches the floor. In Victoria the VGCCC says it must, by law, approve any rules or changes to table games at the casino. That makes Australian blackjack unusually easy to check: the rules are written down, approved and published.

How Australian casino blackjack actually works

Australian blackjack is not quite the game in American films or most online lobbies. Queensland's Casino Gaming Rule, the rule book for that state's casinos, sets out a typical version:

Rule	Queensland casino blackjack	Common overseas and online rule
Decks	5 to 8	6 or 8
Dealer's second card	Dealt only after all players act	Dealt at the start, dealer checks for blackjack
Dealer gets blackjack	You lose your original bet; extra double or split money is returned	Hand ends before you can double or split
Doubling	First two cards totalling 9, 10 or 11 only	Any first two cards
Splitting	Once, no resplitting; split aces get one card each	Often resplitting allowed
Dealer on soft 17	Stands	Stands or hits, depending on the table
Blackjack pays	3 to 2	3 to 2, or 6 to 5 on some tables
Insurance	Pays 2 to 1, up to half your bet	Pays 2 to 1

Crown Melbourne's approved rules are close to this, with one extra: you may split again to make up to three hands, except with aces.

The no hole card rule sounds risky but costs you nothing extra, because a dealer blackjack only takes your original bet. The doubling limit is the real price. In our calculation, 6 deck blackjack with doubling on any two cards has a house edge of 0.46%. Restricting doubles to 9, 10 and 11 lifts it to 0.55%. With 8 decks it is 0.58%, and Queensland's Soft 17 Blackjack, where the dealer hits soft 17, comes out at 0.77%.

What every version of blackjack costs

Casinos and game makers sell many variations on the same idea. Their house edges differ by a factor of three or more, and the rule changes that cause it are often in small print on the felt. Our calculations, per original bet, played with the best strategy for each game's own rules:

Version	Main rule changes	House edge, 6 decks
Australian pontoon or Spanish blackjack	Tens removed, 21 always wins, bonus payouts	about 0.35%
Standard blackjack, double any two cards	The overseas baseline	0.46%
Standard blackjack, Australian rules	Double on 9 to 11 only, no hole card	0.55%
Blackjack Switch	Swap cards between two hands; blackjack pays 1 to 1; dealer 22 pushes	0.58%
Dealer hits soft 17 (Australian rules)	Dealer draws to soft 17	0.77%
Free Bet Blackjack	Free doubles and splits; dealer 22 pushes	1.44%
6 to 5 Pontoon	Pontoon paying 6 to 5	1.61%
6 to 5 blackjack (double any two)	Blackjack pays 6 to 5	1.81%

On $25 hands, the gap between 0.35% and 1.81% is the gap between an average cost of about 9 cents and 45 cents a hand. Over a four hour session that adds up.

Each version has its own guide with the rules, the maths and the strategy changes: Free Bet Blackjack, Blackjack Switch, Spanish 21 and the Australian pontoon card game. For the chance of being dealt a blackjack, winning a hand or busting, see blackjack odds.

Side bets: where the money really goes

Almost every blackjack table now has at least one side bet: pairs, poker hands, dealer busts or a progressive. They are separate bets with their own pay tables, and in our calculations they cost far more than the main game.

Side bet (pay table)	House edge in our calculation
Blackjack Switch Super Match, 6 decks	2.55%
Crown Pairs, 6 deck option A (25, 13 and 6 to 1)	4.18%
Kings Bounty, 6 decks	5.06%
Insurance at 2 to 1, 6 decks	7.40%
Buster Blackjack, pay table A, 6 decks	7.55%
Bet the Set 21, 6 decks	10.61%
Royal Match 21, 6 decks	11.48%

A $5 side bet beside a $25 main bet can easily cost more than the main bet does. Our blackjack side bets guide covers each one, including 21+3 and how to work out the edge from any pay table.

Online and live blackjack versions you will see named

Game makers stream blackjack from studios overseas and sell it to online casinos. Evolution, the biggest of them, describes seven-seat classic tables with a Bet Behind option, Infinite Blackjack where unlimited players share the same first two cards, Power Blackjack played with 8 decks that have the 9s and 10s removed, and Lightning Blackjack, which adds a 100% fee to every initial bet in exchange for random multipliers on your next winning hand.

Each of those changes the maths, and the details live in in-game help screens rather than on the felt. Our live blackjack online Australia guide explains what the main formats change and why they are still illegal to offer here.

Before you sit down at any blackjack table

Read the payout for blackjack. 3 to 2 is right. 6 to 5 or 1 to 1 needs a good reason elsewhere in the rules.
Check the dealer's soft 17 rule. Hitting soft 17 costs about 0.2% of every bet.
Check doubling. Any two cards is better than 9 to 11 only.
Use the right strategy. Our blackjack strategy chart is for standard rules. Variants need their own play.
Skip side bets and insurance, or treat them as the expensive extra they are.
Set a limit first. A low house edge is still a cost. If gambling stops being fun, gambling help is free and confidential.

Pundit tip: the best blackjack rule change you can make is the one you control: bet less per hand. A 0.55% edge on $10 costs a quarter of what it costs on $40.

Can card counting beat Australian blackjack?

In theory a skilled counter can tip the odds slightly with deep enough deals, but Australian rule books let the casino respond. Crown Melbourne's approved rules let a Casino Manager limit a player to one betting area at the table minimum, after notifying a VGCCC inspector, and continuous shuffling machines remove the point of counting altogether. Our card counting blackjack guide runs the numbers on how small the edge really is.

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Frequently asked questions

Is online blackjack legal in Australia?

No, not for the provider. Online casino games, including blackjack, cannot legally be offered to people in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, and ACMA lists blackjack among illegal online services. It is not an offence for you to play, but the sites are unlicensed here and ACMA blocks them.

Can you play online blackjack for real money in Australia?

Only with offshore sites that are breaking Australian law by offering it. They have no Australian licence, ACMA asks internet providers to block them, and ACMA warns that players risk losing their money. Blackjack for real money is legal in person at licensed Australian casinos.

Which blackjack game has the best odds?

Of the versions we calculated, Australian casino pontoon (the local version of Spanish 21) had the lowest house edge, about 0.35% with 6 decks, followed by standard blackjack at 0.46% to 0.55% depending on the doubling rules. Anything paying 6 to 5 for a blackjack is far worse.

Is blackjack in Australian casinos different from online blackjack?

Yes. Australian dealers take their second card only after you play, you can usually double only on 9, 10 or 11, and if the dealer gets blackjack you lose only your original bet. Most overseas games let you double on any two cards and the dealer checks for blackjack first.

Does basic strategy work in every version of blackjack?

The idea works everywhere, but the chart changes with the rules. Free Bet, Blackjack Switch and pontoon all have plays that would be mistakes in normal blackjack, so use a strategy built for the exact rules on the table.