400 years in the Making: What's the Future of Blackjack?

Like many of the world's favorite card games, Blackjack has distinctly French origins that date back to the 18th century. As the game is so simple, fun and easy to learn, it has been played almost everywhere during this time, from the French Royal Court during the reign of King Louis XV to the super casinos of Nevada where celebrities like Kerry Packer have waged up to $20 million dollars per visit.

But, as the game of blackjack is now over 400 years old, it likely needs to change in order to stay with the times and remain relevant. With this in mind, here's what we think the future of blackjack will look like.

Greater Game Variety

The basic premise of blackjack couldn't be any simpler. However, with several casinos adding more side bets, new variations of the game are always occurring and new strategies for playing the game are emerging. This means different versions of the blackjack game were invented over the 20th century. Although American Blackjack remains the most popular type of blackjack in the world, it's closely followed by European Blackjack, Vegas Strip Blackjack and Spanish 21.

So, depending on whether you'd rather split cards, surrender cards or allow the dealer to peek at their hand, the different variations of blackjack mean there's already likely to be a version of the game to suit you. However, although there are over 100 different versions of blackjack available, because the basic rules of the game remain the same, many of the variants only involve minor differences.

As a result, in the next 10-20 years, it's likely that we'll see more experimental versions of the game emerge. This is a strategy that's proved popular with slot machines, so it's easy to see how blackjack - another staple of online games - could follow suit. Now, if you play slots, you find hundreds of varieties based on your favorite TV shows like Wheel of Fortune or Deal or No Deal. So, in the future maybe we'll see blackjack games based on TV shows like Gambit and Catch 21, which have featured blackjack-style games previously.

Immersive Play and Robots

Virtual reality is a transformative experience that really does have the ability to bring a land-based casino right into someone's living room. We've already seen the application of virtual reality in the online gaming sphere with titles like Half-Life and No Man's Sky, and the product's successes make it feel as though it's only a matter of time until we see casinos bring virtual reality products to the market. However, with an Oculus Rift still costing over $500, the technology required for virtual reality still isn't widely available to the masses. This means that, unless the cost of the technology lowers, public pick-up of such a scheme isn't likely to be widespread for 10 years or more.

As a result, many online casinos have instead turned to live streaming technology instead. It's easy to see why. Streaming is not only improving daily, but it's also completely revolutionizing the way we live our lives. Research from Nielsen has shown that, in 2018, 42% of the US population had streamed content online (a huge rise from the 25% that did so in 2017). Plus, by 2021, the world's largest market research store Research and Markets predicted that the industry will be worth over $70 billion. Twitch.tv is one example of the level of innovation in live streaming, bringing in nearly 10 million active users every day as viewers watch other creators play games, interact and make unique forms of entertainment. In terms of live casinos specifically, the concept of live streaming is already advanced, with online providers like Betway offering live blackjack. There, the live experience already occurs in real-time with live dealers - with whom the user can communicate via a Live Chat functionality - so it's easy to see how the technology used by these online providers could grow even further in the coming years. It's easy to imagine thousands of blackjack players uniting in the same chatroom and playing for combined pots while interacting over chat functionality.

And as 4K streaming becomes more easily accessible, the quality of the feeds will only improve, too. Alternatively, perhaps live casinos could instead use robot dealers like the SDA10F "Dexter Bot" made by Yaskawa Motoman Robotics to further enhance the experience. With a rotating torso, two arms and bubble-like hands with suction cups, this semi-anthropomorphic machine uses a vision recognition camera and software to read the cards dealt and relay the results to human players. This would be an interesting development because the robot also includes another key advantage over human dealers: it never needs a break. This is a technology that's still very much in its infancy, but the possibilities are already clear, with robots like the SDA10F already passing several trials.

Personal Wi-Fi Puts the Casino Inside Our Brains

Elon Musk may be best known for launching rockets into space, but his most ambitious project may actually be his personal Wi-Fi company Neuralink, which he launched in 2017. The company aims to develop a brain implant that will allow us to interface with technology directly. If this product is properly developed, then you will be able to automatically network with anyone anywhere in the world; and play any game that you could possibly think of, bringing an altogether new dimension to the game for blackjack players. Continuing to look specifically at blackjack, personal Wi-Fi could allow for a form of 'progressive blackjack' where players from around the world play together and play for a large, progressive jackpot.

With over 400 years of history to build on, the future for blackjack really looks exciting. Over the next 10-50 years, we're likely to see revolutionary technology transform the industry, with gamblers gaining more choice than ever before.