What changes
Only the payout on a natural. On a 3:2 table a $100 blackjack returns $150. On a 6:5 table it returns $120.
A blackjack arrives roughly once in 21 hands, so the loss looks small per hand and is not. Running the full calculation with only this rule altered moves the house edge from 0.515% to 1.868%, a rise of 1.353 percentage points.
Against every other rule
| Rule | Effect on house edge | Resulting edge |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack pays even money | +2.25 pp | 2.765% |
| Blackjack pays 6:5 | +1.35 pp | 1.865% |
| Dealer hits soft 17 | +0.22 pp | 0.735% |
| No double after split | +0.13 pp | 0.645% |
| Double on 9-11 only | +0.09 pp | 0.605% |
| Late surrender allowed | -0.09 pp | 0.425% |
Read the top row against the rest. The 6:5 payout costs more than a dealer hitting soft 17, losing double-after-split and losing surrender put together. It is not one rule among several; it is the rule.
What it costs in money
At $25 a hand and about 80 hands an hour, that is $2,000 of action per hour. The edge difference of 1.353 percentage points is roughly $27 an hour in extra expected loss, for a game that deals identically.
Some tables now pay even money on a natural, which is worse still: +2.25 pp, taking the edge to 2.77%.
How to spot it
The payout is printed on the felt, usually in the semicircle in front of the dealer. It will say Blackjack pays 3 to 2 or Blackjack pays 6 to 5. That is the first thing to read at any blackjack table and it takes one second.
6:5 is most common on low-minimum tables and single-deck games, where the lower buy-in is the bait. A $10 6:5 table is worse value than a $25 3:2 table, which is the opposite of how it is presented. Single deck normally saves the player around half a percentage point; a 6:5 payout takes back roughly three times that, so single-deck 6:5 is a worse game than a six-deck 3:2 shoe.
If the only tables available pay 6:5, the honest answer is that another game is better value. Our craps free odds page covers a bet with no house edge at all, and French roulette under la partage costs less than a 6:5 blackjack table.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does 6:5 blackjack cost?
- 1.35 percentage points, taking the house edge from 0.52% to 1.87%. It is the most expensive single rule in blackjack.
- Is a single-deck 6:5 game better than a six-deck 3:2 game?
- No. Single deck saves roughly half a percentage point; the 6:5 payout costs 1.35. The shoe game is the better bet.
- Why do casinos offer 6:5?
- Because it is nearly invisible. The game deals identically and most players never read the payout printed on the felt.
- What should I do if every table is 6:5?
- Play something else. A craps line bet with odds or French roulette under la partage both cost less than a 6:5 blackjack table.
Every figure on this page is computed by an expected-value engine that plays the game out: it derives the dealer's final-total distribution by recursion, evaluates standing, hitting, doubling and splitting at each decision, and takes the best. Rule costs are measured by re-running the whole calculation with the rule changed, not by quoting a published delta. The model assumes independent card draws, which sits a few hundredths of a percent from an exact shoe analysis; the rule differences it produces match published values. Rules vary by table, so read the felt.