The origins of card games are more complicated than most casino games, and generally can not be traced to any single game, blackjack is no exception. The 17th century French game Vingt-et-Un, or “21″ is commonly agreed to be one of the most likely candidates for the early roots of blackjack.

The game made it’s way to North America via the European immigrants of the late 19th century, and quite naturally made its way to Las Vegas, Nevada when the state legalized gambling. The game had a slow start, most Americans preferred craps or roulette. Casinos would try different bonus schemes to make it more attractive to players. Probably the biggest bonus was a 10 to 1 payout out when the player made a 21 with the ace of spades and a black jack (either the jack of clubs or the jack of spades), from this we get the name “Black Jack”.
Blackjack enjoyed increased popularity and by the 1930′s the game was the third most popular casino game in Las Vegas, and had edged out all games other than craps by the 1950‘s.
Thorpe, the founding father of blackjack strategy, paved the way for countless card-counting blackjack players during the later half of the 20th century. Computer simulations would help more complex strategies to evolve. Skilled players – or teams of players – would make fortunes from mathematically proven theories before they were banned from the casinos.
Today, with the aid of the popularity of online casinos, blackjack has taken it’s place as one of the most popular casino card games of all time.