How Much More Does 6:5 Blackjack Cost?
See the expected extra cost of 6:5 blackjack compared with 3:2 over $1,000, $10,000, $50,000 and $100,000 of total wagering.
A 6:5 blackjack payout is roughly 1.39 percentage points worse for the player than 3:2 under the cited comparison. Over $10,000 of total blackjack action, that difference represents about $139 of additional long-run expected cost—not a prediction of one session.
The difference in dollars
The payout on a natural blackjack matters much more than it can look at first glance. Using the published approximate 1.39 percentage-point effect of changing 3:2 to 6:5, the extra expected cost scales with total wagering:
| Total blackjack action | Approx. extra expected cost from 6:5 |
|---|---|
| $1,000 | $13.90 |
| $10,000 | $139 |
| $50,000 | $695 |
| $100,000 | $1,390 |
What this calculation does—and does not—say
The calculation isolates the approximate effect of the blackjack payout rule. It does not tell you the complete house edge of every 6:5 game, because deck count, soft-17 rules, doubling, surrender, splitting rules and strategy also matter.
Why 3:2 is easier to overlook than it should be
A $10 blackjack pays $15 on a natural at 3:2 but $12 at 6:5. That $3 difference only occurs on naturals, but across many hands it produces a large shift in expected return.