It is said that France is the home of Blackjack. The first known record about Blackjack is found as "vingt-et-un" (`21` in French) in the 17th century. The precise historical origin of the game is unknown and there are only speculations about the truth beginning of the game. Blackjack is thought to have descended from other similar French card games but as gambling games are built upon precise and well balanced calculations, this is very unlikely. Casino games seldom mutate one into another all on their own accord. Some gaming scholars believe that Blackjack was derived from a family of card games that includes Seven-And-A-Half, Baccarat, Vingt-et-Un (“21” in North America and Pontoon in Australia). Most gaming fans probably are familiar with these names, but what exactly do those games have in common. In fact each one can be the origin of today’s Blackjack. Blackjack’s evolutionary track can’t be identified for sure. Soon after the French Revolution in 1789 Blackjack hit the United States and rapidly became popular because of its flexibility and freedom. Professional gamblers soon realized that Blackjack was a wonderful playing field for manipulating the odds and bets. Without any government regulation, gambling was flourishing and provided fertile soil for this unique game to grow and evolve until almost the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the government of United States realized that the unregulated and uncontrolled gambling industry was leading to major forms of internal and external corruption and blatantly encouraged, or at least provided the atmosphere for, organized crime.

        As Las Vegas was reborn after the turmoil, the popularity of Blackjack spread quickly throughout the casinos, momentarily winning the hearts and the minds of the players. As all other US states were comparatively conservative and did not seek to reintegrate casino gambling, Las Vegas quickly became the gambling center of the United States and Blackjack was one of its most popular games. At first the game wasn’t very popular, so gaming houses tried to attract gamblers to try the game. Casinos offered special bonuses to make the game more attractive. There was one special 10-to-1 payout bonus if the player’s hand consisted of the Ace of Spades and either Jack of Clubs or Jack of Spades (black Jack). “Blackjack” was the name of this hand, and it was so popular that even after the special bonus payout was abolished people still called it blackjack. Since 1919 special green-felted Blackjack tables are being made. In the year 1931 Blackjack was the third most popular Nevada casino game after Roulette and Craps, in 1948 it was on the second place (Craps was first). First mathematically proven Blackjack basic strategies appeared and Blackjack was the most popular casino game.