$5 Blackjack Tables Atlantic City
Atlantic City has been the home of a rotating network of casino properties and resorts since gambling was legalized in the late 1970s.
Double Attack Blackjack Table Minimums. I may have never played a game of this variant if it wasn’t for the low minimums. On weeknights in the off season, I’ve seen the table run at $5 per hand, which is a rare find (The only live $5 blackjack table that I’ve found outside of the Borgata, in fact). On the weekends, minimums will vary. Our casino offers card games like Blackjack and Let it Ride, to classic Vegas-style games like mini-baccarat, craps, and roulette. Ocean Casino Resort is the only casino in Atlantic City to offer Blackjack Surrender to EVERY table games player! Bally's Atlantic City: great $5 blackjack tables - See 15,747 traveler reviews, 1,967 candid photos, and great deals for Bally's Atlantic City at Tripadvisor.
The hotels offered by these resorts range from five-star luxury to basic economy. Prices during the week are substantially lower than weekends. The best nights in terms of price are usually Sunday through Wednesday. Thursday may be moderately expensive compared to early weekdays. Saturday is by far the most expensive night of the week in Atlantic City, followed by Friday.
Try one of these Atlantic City Online Casinos
There are nine Atlantic City casinos open. Three are owned by CaesarsEntertainment (Caesars sold Bally’s in 2020 but the sale is pending):
- Bally’s
- Caesars
- Harrah’s
MGM Resorts owns the top-grossing casino-hotel, Borgata. ElDorado Resorts operates the Tropicana Atlantic City after a sale of the property in early 2018. Golden Nugget is owned by Landry’s Inc., and Resorts is independently owned.
Borgata, Golden Nugget and Harrah’s are in the Marina District. Bally’s, Caesars, Resorts, and Tropicana are on the Boardwalk.
In 2018, two casinos opened in preexisting, refurbished properties. Ocean Casino Resort, the former Revel, opened its doors the same day as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, which reopened in the former Trump Taj Mahal property.
For information about gambling revenue in Atlantic City, click here.
Atlantic City casinos in 2020
Here is a brief rundown of the nine casinos in Atlantic City:
Bally’s
Bally’s is on the Boardwalk and offers more than 100 table games and a poker room. Its hotel is perfect for budget-minded travelers. Wild Wild West, found along the Boardwalk under Bally’s, offers low-limit games and the largest sportsbook in Atlantic City at 15,228 square feet.
Borgata
Located in the Marina District, Borgata is the flagship of Atlantic City. Owned by MGM Resorts, Borgata’s luxury resort is home to more than a dozen restaurants. It has a giant poker room and a sports and race book. The limits at Borgata are reasonable, with many $5 and $10 table game minimums. All blackjacks pay 3-2. Games with a minimum bet of $25 stand on all 17s.
Caesars
Caesars is on the Boardwalk. It is owned by Caesars Entertainment and is a middle-tier resort with more than 100 table games. There are more than a dozen restaurants at Caesars, as well as two showrooms for entertainment.
Golden Nugget
Golden Nugget is a boutique hotel in the Marina District. It has several Landry’s restaurants on-site. All blackjacks pay 3-2 at Golden Nugget. Its hotel rooms are more modern than most in Atlantic City, and there is a walking trail between Harrah’s and Golden Nugget.
Hard Rock Atlantic City
Hard Rock AC opened its doors in summer 2018. The newly remodeled and redesigned building on the Boardwalk no longer bears any resemblance to the Trump Taj Mahal casino. The casino features 120 table games and a variety of entertainment options and restaurants.
Harrah’s
Harrah’s is the Atlantic City flagship for Caesars Entertainment. Located in the Marina District, it offers more than 100 table games, as well as competitive video poker. There is an after-hours pool with the latest musical acts and DJs. Harrah’s is also home to a variety of dining establishments.
Ocean Casino
The repurposed Revel Hotel & Casino got a new name in early 2018 when the property was officially sold to AC Oceanwalk before transitioning ownership to Luxor Capital in early 2019. Ocean Casino opened its doors on June 28, 2018, and includes one of the more luxurious casino floors and a variety of high-end restaurants and shops. Ocean Casino is at the opposite end of the Boardwalk from Tropicana.
Resorts
Resorts is the original Atlantic City casino. Having opened on the Boardwalk in 1978, it is smaller than its competitors but still retains its playing power. Resorts offers low limits for its table games. All blackjack games stand on all 17s and pay 3-2.
Tropicana
Tropicana has an old-school feel. It is on the far south end of the Boardwalk. All blackjack tables stand on all 17s and pay 3-2. Tropicana’s casino floor is separated into sections of slots and video poker.
Wild Wild West
Not usually counted among the casinos in Atlantic City, Wild Wild West is in the lower level of Bally’s. It offers $5 live table games, as well as some electronic ones with even lower limits. Wild Wild West offers live entertainment, as well as two bars and restaurants.
Games at Atlantic City casinos
AC casino table games and casino videopoker are everywhere in the resort town along with hundreds of slot machines. Most are similar or share the same names as online casino games, but some are exclusive to one or two casinos.
Atlantic City sports betting
New Jersey legalized sports betting in January 2012 after voters passed a nonbinding referendum instructing the New Jersey Legislature to pass it. But the major sports leagues took issue with this.
$5 Blackjack Tables In Atlantic City
New Jersey was not exempted under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Even Delaware, which was exempted under PASPA, lost its own fight with the sports leagues in 2009 and was forced to only offer parlay cards.
The fight between New Jersey and the sports leagues came to an end on May 14, 2018, when the US Supreme Court ruled that PASPA was unconstitutional. After that, the floodgates opened, and AC casinos and NJ online gambling sites got quickly up and running with sportsbooks once the NJ sports betting law and regulations were finalized.
Eight Atlantic City casinos now have retail sportsbooks up and running.
Closed Atlantic City casinos
The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel (closed Jan. 13, 2014)
The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel was actually Atlantic City’s original Golden Nugget.
The property opened as The Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in 1980. It was one of the smallest casinos in the city, but by 1983, it was the top-grossing.
Golden Nugget owner Steve Wynn sold the casino for $440 million to Bally Manufacturing in 1987 and the name changed to Bally’s Grand Hotel and Casino.
Hilton Hotels Corporation bought Bally and renamed the property Atlantic City Hilton in 1998.
In 2005, Resorts International bought the casino. It ran Resorts Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Hilton for the next four years as a single entity called Atlantic City Hilton and Resorts Atlantic City.
In June 2011, the Hilton name was removed and it became the ACH Casino Resort. In February 2012, it was rebranded as a locals casino and renamed The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. By the end of the year, the parent company of online gaming giant PokerStars entered into discussion to buy the property.
Its eye was on legalized online gambling in New Jersey. A purchase agreement was struck in January 2013, but PokerStars pulled out after having difficulty obtaining a casino license.
The casino shut its doors on January 13, 2014. Caesars Entertainment soon bought the property and Tropicana bought all the gaming equipment.
Caesars Entertainment then sold to TJM Properties in 2014. TJM made plans to reopen it as a non-gaming property. The company announced in 2017 another developer would be purchasing the property and turning it into an indoor waterpark.
The financing for this project ultimately fell through.
Showboat Atlantic City (closed Aug. 31, 2014)
The Showboat Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center opened in March 1987 on land leased from Resorts International right beside where the soon-to-be Trump Taj Mahal was under construction. The Showboat featured a 60,000-square-foot casino and a 60-lane bowling alley.
A 1995 renovation brought in a Mardi Gras theme. Three years later, Harrah’s Entertainment, which is now Caesars Entertainment, bought the Showboat’s parent company and took ownership.
The bowling alley became a buffet in 2001. In 2003, Showboat built a new hotel tower and remodeled the original. It also constructed a third hotel tower. But by June 2014, Caesars Entertainment made plans to close down the Showboat. The company looked to sell, but after failing to find a suitable buyer, the Showboat shuttered on Aug. 31, 2014.
In December of that year, Richard Stockton College bought the property with plans to turn it into a college campus.
They later sold it to Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein, who reopened it as a non-gaming hotel in July 2016. Plans currently include an indoor water park on the parking lot next door to Showboat.
Trump Plaza (closed Sept. 16, 2014)
The $210 million Harrah’s at Trump Plaza opened up as the biggest casino in Atlantic City history on May 14, 1984. It was a joint partnership between Donald Trump and Holiday Inn’s gaming division Harrah’s. It originally featured 614 rooms, seven restaurants, a 750-seat showroom, and a 60,000 square foot casino.
Competitor Hilton was soon denied a casino license on its $320 million Atlantic City Marina casino project under construction nearby. Trump came in and bought out Hilton, finished construction and opened it up as Trump Castle. Harrah’s sued Trump, claiming a conflict of interest. Trump bought out Harrah’s interest in Harrah’s at Trump Plaza and renamed it Trump Plaza.
Trump continued building an empire in Atlantic City over the next decade, buying up existing casinos and construction projects. However, when he opened up the even larger Trump Taj Mahal in 1990, business at Trump Plaza suffered.
The property went through a bankruptcy in 1992. Trump’s publicly-traded Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts ultimately gained ownership. A new East Tower opened in early 1996 as did a connection to the new Trump World’s Fair.
In 2011, with Trump almost completely divested in the company, Trump Entertainment Resorts announced it was looking to sell Trump Plaza or find a financing partner for a new renovation. At least one deal to sell fell through. By July 2014, the company said it would soon shut Trump Plaza down.
In August 2014, Trump filed a lawsuit demanding the property remove his name. On Sept. 16, 2014, Trump Plaza shut down.
In June 2020, the AC mayor announced that Carl Icahn submitted a plan for the Trump Plaza demolition to take place in 2021.
A brief history of Atlantic City
New Jersey voters amended the State Constitution in 1976 to allow casino-style gambling. It became the second state after Nevada to legalize casinos. They were restricted to Atlantic City. No other parts of the state could build casinos.
On May 28, 1978, Resorts International opened as the first casino in Atlantic City. There are currently nine hotel-casinos located in the resort city.
Borgata is by far the biggest winner in terms of casino revenue. It was built in 2003. Only one casino has been built since Borgata. Revel opened in March 2012. But it fell into bankruptcy within a year after it failed to attract gamblers with its attempt to be a resort first and casino second.
New Jersey has fallen on hard times as neighboring states have legalized casinos. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun began drawing gamblers from New York City in 1992. Today, casinos are now found in all states that border New Jersey.
This has forced New Jersey out of the second-place spot in terms of gaming revenue. Pennsylvania now has that honor.
NJ online gambling goes live
Former Gov. Chris Christie signed online gambling into law on Feb. 26, 2013. This legalized NJ online poker and online casinos in the state. Any player located within New Jersey at the time of login will be able to play interactive real money games.
Christie had twice vetoed legislation before finally signing it into law.
In March 2011, Christie outright vetoed similar legislation after citing that he felt it would take a change to the New Jersey Constitution to allow gambling outside of Atlantic City, regardless of where the actual servers were located.
On Feb. 7, 2013, Christie apparently changed his mind. While he still vetoed the bill in front of him, it was only a conditional one. He instructed the legislature to raise the tax rate from 10 percent to 15 percent and add more funds to the problem gambling services provided under the law.
The legislature approved his wishes.
As a blackjack fanatic and occasional visitor the Jersey Shore, I’ve found myself in my fair share of Atlantic City casinos hunting down blackjack games.
I guess I’m a minor-league expert on blackjack in AC.
Even after the tumultuous past few years of casino closings and projects that failed to launch, Atlantic City is a little Mecca of blackjack. When you compare the setting of my favorite AC casinos to Las Vegas, there’s really no comparison. In South Jersey, you’ve got miles of beaches, the beautiful boardwalk, and a countryside so pastoral that the area was once covered in health spas. In Vegas, you’ve got acres of desert and miserable weather pretty much year-round.
Well I’ve finally done it. I’ve played at or at least gathered details on every blackjack game in the city. In this post, I cut right to the chase and discuss the best blackjack games in AC.
$5 Blackjack Tables In Atlantic City
The Best Blackjack Odds
When most people hear the phrase “the best blackjack,” they think of the game that gives the house the smallest advantage. That’s a totally reasonable assumption, but I don’t think it tells the whole story. I’ll start there, since that’s what most people want to know right off the bat.
The best blackjack game in Atlantic City (in terms of odds) is at the Golden Nugget. It’s a game played with a six-deck shoe, which gives the house a smaller edge than the standard eight-deck shoe. The other rules that make it favorable to players – dealers stand on soft seventeen, and players are allowed to make a late surrender. A late surrender is a common rule available in AC which gives the player the right to forfeit and retain half his wager after the dealer checks for blackjack.
Taken all together, these rules give the casino a 0.34% advantage over players following basic strategy. The late surrender rule is worth 0.8% all by itself. What’s the catch? You have to be willing to wager at least $50 per hand. It’s a high-roller game, though $50 per bet is not exactly out-of-this-world expensive. Tables requiring $1,000 wagers per hand are common in VIP rooms in Vegas. But I imagine it’s out of the reach of most casual blackjack players.
Every other casino in the city (besides Bally’s) has a six-deck game with similar rules, available for minimum bets of $25. The reason for the cheaper bets? They don’t allow late surrender. You can even find $10 minimum six-deck shoe games during the daytime at Borgata, but no late surrender is allowed in that game, either. The house edge for these games (without the benefit of the late surrender rule) is 0.42%.
The Best Budget Game
Part of the problem people have with blackjack in Atlantic City is that they think all the games follow the same rules. I’ll admit that the majority of blackjack games in the city’s casinos are identical. They look like this: played with an eight-deck shoe, allowing double down on any first two cards, dealer hits on soft 17, you can split up to three times, and doubling after splitting is allowed. That game gives the casino an edge of about 0.67% against basic strategy.
Here’s the thing – I don’t think this is such a bad game. Look, you knew going in that blackjack in AC isn’t nearly as good as blackjack in Las Vegas, right? So when you talk about a “budget” blackjack game, you have to know that you’re not going to get great odds.
The fact that every casino in Atlantic City (except for the Borgata) offers a blackjack game as described above makes it my favorite choice for bettors on a budget. The game at the Borgata is identical, except that dealers STAND on a soft total of 17, so the house edge against basic strategy is 0.44%, slightly better than at the other casinos up and down the boardwalk.
I’ve decided that the Borgata’s basic blackjack table, with minimum bets of $10 (or even $5 during the day off-peak season) and a decent house edge of 0.44%, it’s the type of game I’ll sit at and play for an hour without paying much attention. At $25 an hour, it’s cheaper than a night at the movies, and you meet the most interesting people. Don’t forget that AC casinos are on fire for customer service right now, with their profits in the toilet. I got good free drinks all night on my last game in the cheap seats at the Borgata even though I ended up losing about $10 an hour all told.
Try and avoid any extremely low-limit games you find in Atlantic City. In the year 2011 I started seeing games that allowed wagers of just $1. Of course, there’s a catch – you have to pay a $0.25 commission fee for each hand you join. This makes every hand a sucker bet, since the player starts out an extra quarter-point in the hole to the casino.
The Worst Game in Atlantic City
The only tables I’ll never go near are now available in every single open property in the city. The dreaded single-deck blackjack game.
You should always be suspicious when a casino deals a single deck game. More than likely, the rules are such that the game can’t be profitable for even a low-level card counter. That’s definitely the case in Atlantic City. There is not one single-deck game that pays 3-to-2 for a natural blackjack. I’ve looked and I can confirm that every single-deck game (even at my beloved Borgata) pays 6-to-5. That one rule gives the house a monstrous boost in its edge – 1.58% against basic strategy.
Are There 5 Blackjack Tables In Atlantic City
Any single-deck game you come across (that’s not in the high-roller or VIP section) is the worst game in the city.
Conclusion
Las Vegas tables tend to have the most liberal rules in the world of blackjack. In Atlantic City, the addition of features like late surrender or stand-on-soft-17 looks nice, but you have to pay for those privileges with an increased advantage to the casino. If you find yourself in South Jersey itching for a blackjack game, make sure you know the games available at the casino you’re headed to before you leave. Most of the casinos in AC aren’t great for blackjack players – unless you have a fat bankroll.