Bitcoin Blackjack

Bitcoin Blackjack

Pure bitcoin blackjack utilizes much of the same cryptographic technology that underpins the bitcoin protocol itself to offer a provably-fair gaming experience. Provably fair, in this case, means that the games can be audited in real time by players as they play, showing beyond doubt that the casino has no predetermined knowledge – or ability to influence – how the deck is shuffled and dealt. Of course, these games are playable only in bitcoin, which offers users the ability to deposit and withdraw almost instantly, while at the same time facilitating a registration process that at most requires an email address and password.

The processing and registration advantages of playing with bitcoin are leveraged by a second group of blackjack-offering casinos, who utilize third party blackjack software, based on audited algorithms utilized by mainstream online casinos. While these casinos are unable to offer provably-fair gaming, they generally have superior graphics and often a greater number of blackjack variants.

Provably Fair Blackjack

Bitzino – now out of business – was the first provably-fair bitcoin casino, and set the benchmark for provable fairness in blackjack, as well as other table games. While the methodology might vary slightly from casino to casino, most operators simply copy Bitzino’s provably fair method, which we describe below. We assume a basic understanding of provably fair concepts – for a quick catch up, click here.

Each of the 52 cards in a deck is represented by a letter or number and are fed into a random number generator prior to each hand. The output of this process is called the “initial shuffle” and this is combined with a random number string, which they call the server seed. The server seed and initial shuffle are kept secret, but a hash is shown to the player prior to each hand.

The player is offered the chance to manually input a client seed, a series of letters and numbers from 1-32. This client seed is hashed against the server seed, which in effect acts to “cut” the initial shuffle of the 52 cards. While not entirely accurate, it is easier to consider the output of the client hash and the server seed as a number between 1-52, which allows a cut to be made at that point in the deck.

However, a cut alone is not sufficient to ensure fairness in all table and card games. Instead, a method known as the “Mersenne Twister” is used to shuffle the deck. For the Mersenne Twister to be “seeded”, a cut point in the deck must be identified, from which the random mixing begins.

After the hand, the user can check the initial shuffle and server seed to ensure that it was not changed after the introduction of the client seed. This logic – an initial shuffle predetermined prior to the introduction of the client variable – ensure that neither the casino nor the player has any way of stacking the deck.

Best bitcoin blackjack bonus

When played optimally, blackjack offers the house a very small edge of approximately .5%. Most casinos alter their bonus terms – which are usually meant for players of slots, a game with a much higher house edge – in order to compensate.

*Deposit of 1 btc or more required.
**Bonus releases in small increments. Despite extremely high turnover requirement, user might actually get some sort of bonus.

Assuming optimal play at a .5 house edge, a user can expect to turnover a deposit 200 times before busting out, assuming appropriate betting levels. This means the Fortune Jack bonus actually vests prior to bust point, quite a selling point to all the crafty bonus hunters out there.

Where to play?

In terms of the blackjack products, Fortune Jack is the clear winner in the number of provably fair blackjack options. Bitstarz is probably the best all around bitcoin casino, with tons of blackjack, including provably fair.  Find out more information on the best bitcoin casinos.