Blackjack Insurance at Online Casinos

If you've played at casinos, both live and online, for any substantial period of time you'll start to get an idea for how casinos operate and make their money. Usually they do not promote bets that are not highly favorable to the house. Alternatively they prominently display betting options that may sometimes be considered "sucker bets".

This is no more clearly illustrated than in the popular game of Blackjack. Notice that when you sit down at the Blackjack table, that explanations for doubling or splitting are rarely documented or readily displayed for player reference. These bets are favorable for the player, so are not actively promoted by the casino. In contrast, take a close look at the Blackjack table itself and what betting option is prominently displayed on the table layout? In fact the dealer will even pause the game and ask you specifically and directly if you want to take up this bet – that bet is of course Insurance! Why do casinos do this? If you think about it for a moment, the smoke clears and the answer becomes obvious. Taking insurance is usually always a sucker bet that is high-profit for the house – this is why they actively try to promote it to you.

So what exactly is insurance, how does it work and why is it such a poor bet for the player?

If the dealer has an Ace as his "up card", then you will always be prompted for the option to "take insurance" after the deal, before the hands are played out. You may bet up to half of your original wager to win 2:1 if the dealer has a blackjack. You are essentially "hedging" your bet, and in general, hedging when gambling isn't a great idea.

By taking insurance you are simply gambling on whether the dealer is dealt a Ten to make blackjack. Some players like to take insurance when they have blackjack themselves in order to lock in a guaranteed profit. The value of your own cards is actually totally irrelevant and should never be taken into consideration with insurance. In any single deck of cards, there are 16 cards which are have a value of Ten (10, J, Q, K, each of four suits) and 36 which don't. So the odds of drawing a Ten are 36:16 or 9:4, which can be converted to a percentage of 30.77%. However you are only being paid out 2:1 (8:4) for a 9:4 event, so the house clearly has an edge on this bet.

If we look at an example of 100 insurance bets of $5 each, you will win 2x your insurance wager 30.77% of the time, and you can expect to lose your insurance wager the remaining 69.23% of the time:

100 Insurance Bets @ $5

Insurance Wins = 30.77 x ($5 x 2) = +307.70
Insurance Loses = 69.23 x ($5) = –$346.15
Net Profit = –$38.45

So over 100 insurance bets of $5 your expected loss on this bet is $38.45. The more often you take insurance and the higher your wager, the higher the expected loss for you over the long term.

So is taking insurance in Blackjack ever a good thing? It doesn't matter which online casino you play at, whether it be 32 Vegas Casino, Euro Grand Casino or Skykings Casino - there isn't a case for ever taking insurance at an online casino. The only time it may ever be favorable is in a live casino environment using card counting techniques to determine that there are a higher than normal ratio of Tens left in the deck to make the play a profitable one.

Insurance is a bet that is not favorable for the player and one that should always be avoided at Blackjack tables in online casinos. Don't be a sucker, play smart and enjoy the rewards!

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