Best Live Blackjack Casinos Canada

Live blackjack combines the excitement of real-life blackjack with online casino gameplay, allowing you to enjoy social interaction without leaving your home. 

Delivered directly from professional casino studios through HD-quality video streams, these popular games offer much more than their virtual RNG-based counterparts. The fantastic technology lets you communicate with fellow players and the dealer as you watch the action play out in real-time. 

In this article, we explain how to play live blackjack, how it differs from virtual games, and offer tips and strategies to maximize your gameplay. 

Discover the best online casinos in Canada where you can play live dealer blackjack today.

What is Live Blackjack?

So, what is live blackjack? For players unfamiliar with the blackjack game, it’s a classic casino card game that pits players against the house. The game’s objective is to end the round with a hand that beats the dealers by getting as close to 21 points as possible without going over and busting out. 

Live blackjack is a live-streamed version of this iconic casino game. It involves real-life professional croupiers dealing with physical cards in professional gaming environments and revolutionary technology that allows you to watch the action in real time through live streams directly to your device. 

Playing live blackjack at online casinos allows you to enjoy the thrills of this popular card game with the convenience of online gaming for an authentic land-based casino experience when you can’t physically get to a real-life venue. 

You can find a fantastic assortment of live blackjack titles in online casinos across Canada, some with straight-up classic blackjack gameplay, others with bonus games, multiplier possibilities, and side betting options to enhance your gameplay. 

Plus, the live chat functionality adds an extra layer of fun by allowing you to socialize with your fellow players—and the dealer—for a more sociable and interactive online casino experience. 

This has proven particularly popular amongst players who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to land-based casinos or would rather enjoy their gameplay from the comfort of home. 

Live Blackjack Betting Options and Payouts

You won’t find too many live blackjack betting options, although some games offer side bets that can be played independently of your main hand. 

Regular blackjack betting is on the outcome of a game round and whether your hand can beat that of the dealer. Traditionally, payouts for the main game outcomes are as follows: 

Live Blackjack Side Bets

There are two main side bets available in live blackjack, which add an extra layer of excitement to your gameplay, with an opportunity to score higher payouts depending on the side bet you are playing. 

It’s important to note that these higher payouts have a higher risk attached, so this must be factored into your betting strategy. 

The most common and popular side bets in Canada are Perfect Pairs and 21+3, which we have broken down below:

• Perfect Pairs side bets can be placed on either the player’s or the dealer’s hand and are paid out independently of which hand wins the main game round. Add your chip to one of the allocated betting positions to place this side bet. There are three winning outcomes in Perfect Pairs, which must be made using the first two cards dealt:
  • Perfect Pairs – the same rank and same suit
  • Coloured Pair – the same rank and the same colour with different suits
  • Red/Black Pair – the same rank but different colour

The 21+3 side bet involves the first two player cards and the first dealer card. If you can make a three-card poker hand with these cards, you will win a payout based on the hand rank.

Check out our Blackjack Cheat sheet for the best tips.

Advantages of Playing Live Blackjack Online

You can enjoy plenty of benefits to playing live blackjack online, not least the added social aspect of being able to communicate with your fellow players as the game unfolds—celebrating wins and sharing strategies with your peers. 

Plus, you can enjoy the thrills and excitement of the blackjack game without needing to leave your home.  

Playing online will grant you access to far more tables and game variants than you’d find at land-based casinos, and you’ll find a bunch of bonuses and promotions that are unique to online operators that give you a chance to boost your win potential through bonus funds and loyalty rewards, amongst others.  

Best Canadian Online Casinos for Live Blackjack

Discover the best Canadian online casinos for live blackjack as voted by our casino experts below: 

1. Golden Star Casino offers fantastic gaming content from award-winning software developers and a bunch of exciting promos to help boost your win potential.
2. Bitvegas invites you to enjoy over 9,000 casino games, an incredibly user-friendly interface and extensive banking options. 
3. 1Red Casino has a generous welcome bonus for new players and an outstanding mobile experience. 
4. Mr Pacho Casino delivers a wide range of online casino games, an easy-to-navigate design and quality mobile play. 
5. Boomerang has a sleek user interface, many payment options, fantastic mobile play, and quality games from top providers. 

Live Blackjack on Mobile: Play Anywhere, Anytime

Most modern-day online casino players prefer playing their favourite casino games on mobile devices, so live blackjack on mobile is essential. 

Luckily, all modern casino games are built with mobile play in mind, using HTML5 technology so that you can play on both tablets and mobile smartphones across various operating systems. 

Many casinos have native mobile apps for Apple and Android devices. Still, thanks to responsive game design, you can also play directly through your mobile browser without worrying about compromising your gameplay or stream quality. 

If you’re looking for a mobile casino to play live blackjack, check out our recommended online casinos to find an operator you can trust. 

Live Blackjack Variations Available at Canadian Online Casinos

There are many live blackjack variations in Canadian online casinos, each with unique game rules or betting options to enhance your gameplay experience further and boost your chances of winning. We’ve highlighted the most common below: 

Classic Blackjack

Also known as American Blackjack, this is the most widely played version of blackjack and most prevalent in Canadian casinos. This standard game version is played with a single dealer and up to 7 players. 

Classic blackjack usually includes the following standard game rules: 

• Played with between 1 and 8 decks of regular playing cards
• The dealer must hit on 16 or less and stand on 17 or more
• Even money payouts awarded for blackjack

Infinite Blackjack

Infinite blackjack is similar to the classic version of the game but allows an unlimited number of players to join. 

Speed Blackjack

Speed blackjack is a faster-paced version of the game. In this version, players must make decisions simultaneously to speed up the gameplay instead of each player taking turns successively. 

VIP Blackjack:

VIP blackjack is usually reserved for high-roller players. It has higher betting limits and often provides a more personalized VIP experience.

The Future of Live Blackjack in Canadian Online Casinos

As online casino enthusiasts, we are excited about the future of live blackjack in Canada as technology develops and offers further opportunities to enhance your online gaming experience.

Augmented reality is already making a significant impact in the live casino space, merging HD-quality streams with overlaid digital graphics for a more varied and immersive experience. 

We are particularly excited to see how virtual reality can develop the space, with the potential to offer a far more immersive experience. It can make you feel like you are sitting at a real, live blackjack table, complete with fellow players sitting alongside you and the sounds and sights of a land-based casino venue. 

With so many opportunities ahead, this exciting casino space will undoubtedly continue to develop and offer ever more thrilling online casino experiences for players in Canada and, indeed, the rest of the world. 

Responsible Gambling and Live Blackjack

It’s important to remember responsible gambling with live blackjack to ensure you get the best possible experience when you’re playing online. Safer gambling practices should be a part of your everyday online gambling strategy to ensure you maximize your gameplay enjoyment while keeping yourself protected. 

Live casino games can be very immersive, so you should take advantage of the safer gambling tools provided by online casino operators to help keep yourself safe. Many offer limit-setting tools to ensure you don’t exceed your allocated budget and have special time-out facilities and self-exclusion options. 

In addition, there are many independent bodies in Canada, such as ConnexOntario, that are available to help you if you feel you are losing control of your gambling. You can visit them online or call the Problem Gambling Helpline anytime, day or night, to ask for help. Don’t suffer in silence; always seek help if you need it.