How 6-5 Blackjack Payouts Cost More Than You Think

Casinofy Blog

When sitting down at a blackjack table, most players don’t bother looking at the rules of the game before they start betting. Casinos take advantage of this by offering games with a higher-than-average house edge. One of the biggest detractors of your RTP rate is the 6 to 5 blackjack payout. This rule significantly increases the house edge and ends up costing you more than you’d think. We’ll explain why the 6 to 5 rule matters in more detail, highlight what you should be looking for in your blackjack games, and more!

💸 Small Payouts Add Up to Big Missed Opportunities

On the face of it, changing the rule from a 3 to 2 payout to a 6 to 5 payout doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but there’s a reason why more and more new casinos are adopting this rule. When playing at $10 a hand, a 3 to 2 game will offer a $15 profit, whereas a 6 to 5 game will offer a $12 profit, reducing the amount you receive by 20%.

This 20% reduction will add up over the course of a week, month, or year of playing blackjack, with more of the money going into the casino’s pocket. To demonstrate how much you’ll miss out on, we’ve compared the payouts of 3 to 2 and 6 to 5 in the table below.

Within a year’s worth of play, you’ll have missed out on $3,000 worth of additional funds – for some players, that’s their entire bankroll!

📉 How 6 to 5 Blackjack Affects the House Edge

One of the best features of blackjack is its low house edge. In a standard game with 3 to 2 payouts and basic strategy, you can hit close to a 99.5% RTP rate when playing blackjack. This means that for every $100 you wager, you will receive back $99.50 on average.

Changing the blackjack payout rule from 3 to 2 and replacing it with 6 to 5 increases the house edge by 1.39% per hand. This means that your 99.5% blackjack RTP is reduced to 98.11%. These payout rates are closer to the odds you’d expect when playing roulette – even then, you still need to play perfectly to hit that number; any small mistake will see your RTP decrease even further.

🧮 What You Lose Playing 6 to 5 Blackjack

A 1.39% difference in expected returns may look insignificant, but that 1% multiplied over hundreds or thousands of hands can quickly eat into your bankroll. To see just how much the rule change affects your blackjack budget, let’s compare the expected returns for a $10 bet for each game:

Over the course of 5,000 hands, you can expect to receive nearly $700 less when playing 6 to 5 games over 3 to 2 games. If you’re an avid blackjack player, these numbers highlight how important it is to choose favourable games.

⚠️ Other Blackjack Rules to Avoid

6 to 5 blackjack payouts aren’t the only rule that negatively affects your expected returns. Casinos look for small ways to get back their house edge by adding rules that seem insignificant to the uneducated player. Based on our research, we’ve highlighted some other important rules that you should look to avoid when choosing your blackjack game.

• Splits limited to 2 hands: -0.10%
• Can only double on 10 and 11: -0.18%
• Dealer hits on soft 17: -0.22%

Playing in a game with all of these rules plus 6 to 5 payouts will reduce your expected RTP rate by 1.88%!

✅ What To Look For In Your Blackjack Game

So, we’ve covered the potential pitfalls of real money blackjack games, but what should you be looking for when browsing the tables? To help you find the best-value games on the market, our experts have highlighted the most beneficial rules that blackjack games can offer:

• 3 to 2 blackjack payout
• Single Deck blackjack
• Can double on any cards
• Can draw on split aces
• Early surrender against a 10

Each of these rules increases the RTP rate when played perfectly, giving you a better return on your money and helping you play for longer. By following our advice and avoiding blackjack games with 6 to 5 payouts, you’ll give yourself a better chance of walking away with more money in your pockets.

To find the best online casinos offering generous blackjack bonuses, check out our list of expert recommendations.