Maryland’s newest casino, MGM National Harbor, is the second casino in the state to take advantage of new regulations implemented last year that allow individual casinos to set table-game rules. On many of its blackjack tables, MGM has instituted 6-5 payouts on blackjack, a practice begun by the large Las Vegas Strip casinos that boosts the house edge on the game by around 1.4 percent over the standard 3-2 payment for blackjack.
MGM joins Horseshoe Cleveland in implementing the more house-friendly rules, which also permit the dealer to hit soft-17 and lower the minimum payback on slots from 90 percent to 85 percent.
The three other Maryland casinos offering table games—including the second-largest, Maryland Live!, in the Baltimore suburb of Hanover—are maintaining the 3-2 blackjack payment. Officials there, and at Hollywood Casino Perryville and Rocky Gap, have commented their businesses serve local players, and therefore maintain a policy of offering the most fair gamble possible.
In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, casino analyst and Harford Community College history professor James Karmel noted that most casual gamblers—tourists, the mainstay of the new MGM property—won’t notice the difference in 6-5 blackjack, “but the serious blackjack player is going to notice and may start scouting the casinos.”
An MGM spokeswoman declined to comment on the Sun story, and Horseshoe issue a statement saying the change “has enabled the casino to offer games with a wider range of minimum bets, thus appealing to a broader range of guests.”
