The most popular card game in the world, and perhaps the most loved gambling pastime that has ever existed, casino blackjack has a mystic all its own, and pulls many people under its spell. We have a special interest in the relationship between casino blackjack and online blackjack, specifically in how it impacts the player’s experience.

There are two main areas to look at in this comparison: those factors which affect game-play and the rules of the game, and those factors affecting your senses, or your environment. This article deals with the latter, factors affecting our playing environment. To read about difference in game-play, read our online blackjack vs. the casino article.

Casino blackjack isn’t just blackjack, it’s a product produced by the casino in order to generate revenue. Most people simply nod to that statement and assume it is a reference to the ‘house edge’, which holds our winnings statistically at bay. But there is much more to it than simple mathematics.

The casino environment created in Las Vegas, and now copied by most land based casinos in North America, is spectacularly engineered. Every last detail of your experience is the product of decades of research by the casinos themselves, looking to maximize the potential profit their establishment can generate. The end result is a sort of vacuum space within the casino that is very different than what you encounter walking into almost any other kind of building on the planet.

The air in a casino is replenished with pure oxygen, which has the subtle effect of keeping us awake all night, and inducing a slight sense of euphoria, which in turn leads us to play longer, and take more risks. Your casino blackjack game is affected by this variable the same way many other subtle manipulations affect it. If the casino can keep each player at the table longer, and awake longer, the player is less likely to walk away when up. If the player were to lose track of time entirely, it would be even more beneficial to the casino.

The next time you’re playing casino blackjack, pop your head up for a minute and take a look around. Can you see any windows, or any natural light at all? The reason you can’t is so that you can’t see how much time has passed, and if night has turned to day or day has turned to night. Can you see a clear path to the exit or the cashier box? Chances are what you see around you is very similar in every direction, aided by the help of large well placed mirrors. If you were able to glance up and see outside, or see the cashier, you might decide it’s a good time to walk away, or change your chips to cash.

This article is not meant to be a slight against casino blackjack in particular, as the majority of the environmental disadvantages placed before a blackjack player at the casino or online casino are the same as what other table players must face. The difference is, many table games differ from blackjack in that they are not games of skill, where your attention span and quick thinking play part in where your bankroll ends up at the end of the night. Overall the environment is your worst enemy in the casino, and the task of overcoming it starts with understanding what you’re up against.