When Was the Insurance Bet First Offered in Blackjack?

When was the insurance bet first offered in blackjack?

The only credible source we found to answer this question is ... us!

The late great Arnold wrote about it in his Big Book of Blackjack, which was excerpted on our site in 2022. All the other sources we checked were inconclusive at best. Here's Arnold's explanation.

An older European card game probably contributed a single feature to our modern-day game of blackjack. The French card game trente-et-quarante, or “thirty-and-forty,” was introduced at the Spa Casino in Belgium in 1780 and had a structure similar to baccarat, where the players could bet on either of two hands dealt.

One curious feature of trente-et-quarante later became a feature of blackjack. Trente-et-quarante was a house-banked game and the edge came from the house taking half of all bets when both hands totaled exactly 31. But players were allowed to place an “insurance” wager against this possibility.

None of the descriptions of vingt-un (the original French game) in various old Hoyles mention anything about an “insurance” wager being allowed. Photographs of casino blackjack tables from the early 1950s don't show the familiar “Insurance Pays 2 to 1” signs on the layout, though photographs of tables from the 1960s usually do display this wording.

Also notable is that in the 1957 analysis of blackjack by Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel, and McDermott in their groundbreaking Playing Blackjack to Win, no mention is made of an insurance wager. Yet Ed Thorp provides an analysis of the insurance option in his 1962 Beat the Dealer.

Since both of these books are very thorough in their descriptions of the player options, we must assume that insurance appeared in Nevada sometime between 1957 and 1962.

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Comments

O2bnVegas Jun-15-2026

insurance poor

Funny how they don't put "Surrender allowed" or any other notice of that option being available.  They know that the word 'insurance' is enough to sucker the unskilled into taking it.  Surrender can do a whole lot better at hold onto more of anyone's money than taking insurance.  JMHO.

Candy

Stewart Ethier Jun-15-2026

Insurance dates back to 1930s

Quoting from my book "The Doctrine of Chances: Probabilistic Aspects of Gambling" (2010):

By the time of Scarne (1949, p. 154), insurance was standard. However, it was not mentioned by MacDougall (1944), perhaps because it was a new development at that time. A 1940 gambling-supply catalogue (Practical Equipment by B. C. Wells & Co. of Detroit) shows two blackjack layouts, both with the phrases "Black Jack pays 3 to 2" and "Dealer must stand on 17 and must draw to 16." The layout with only these words was the standard one, whereas the layout with the additional phrase, "Insurance pays 2 to 1," was called the "Johnson style" layout. Evidently, blackjack insurance was introduced by
Johnson, but we have no further information about this individual.

Kevin Lewis Jun-15-2026

Don't advertise

Candy, the reason why the casinos that offer the surrender option (almost always "late surrender," meaning only AFTER the dealer checks for a blackjack) don't display it is the same reason they don't have any indication on their craps tables of the odds bet (like where you should put it): it's not particularly advantageous to them. Properly utilized, late surrender is a positive for the player. So why should they be particularly anxious to tell the players they can do it?

black jack Jun-15-2026

7.5% house edge

Insurance bets are very profitable for the casinos. Basic strategy says to never buy insurance or take “even money” on your own blackjack. But I see many players automatically grab their 1/1 payout on a blackjack, missing out on a few bucks on most hands. But if you keep track of the count, there are exceptions…

O2bnVegas Jun-15-2026

@ black jack

One I remember is to take insurance when using a matchplay coupon.

Candy

John James Jun-15-2026

Even money

Also if you’re playing 6 to 5 blackjack and they offer you even money you should take it.but you shouldn’t buy insurance.

John James Jun-20-2026

Insurance bet

I was just watching a movie called the Big Boodle filmed in Cuba in 1956 and in the movie the dealer offered insurance.

Question of the Day - 15 June 2026

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