Roulette and Blackjack Now Playing at Hard Rock

It will be some time before the Seminole Hard Rock installs the live table games (bj and baccarat) included in the compact signed by Governor Crist, but in the meantime gamblers can enjoy electronic versions of Roulette and Blackjack.

800 Class III Las Vegas style slots debuted in late January, replacing some of the existing Class II Electronic Bingo slots. Among those machines are electronic roulette, blackjack, and keno games.

But be forewarned: the house edge is inflated from the normal table versions of these games.

Electronic Roulette - These machines are manufactured by Bally, and have a long, vertical screen depicting a roulette wheel with 36 numbers and a single zero. However, unlike traditional roulette which pays 35 for a single number bet, these only pay 32 (31-1). According to The Wizard of Odds website (link), the difference in house edge is astronomical: 2.7% for the traditional single-zero live game, and over 13% for the electronic version.

Electronic Blackjack - These are Game King (IGT) Multi-Game machines with blackjack, 7/5 Jacks or Better video poker, and keno. The blackjack game has several disadvantages for the player: 1) blackjack pays even money, 2) splitting of pairs is not allowed, and 3) you cannot double down. I couldn't find out the house edge for this game, but paying even money rather than 3-2 for blackjack alone increases it by 2.27% over the traditional game (link).