SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Until now, the problem with online Live Dealer blackjack has been how to offer the game to an unlimited amount of players. Bodog says its new blackjack game, Zone21, is ready to rip up the online casino rule book in the same way it did with online poker via its anonymous tables concept.
In April, Bodog launched a new high-speed version of Asia’s most popular casino game, Zone Baccarat. Blackjack enjoys a similar status in the Western world but Live Dealer versions have struggled as they can only service a small amount of players at one time. Zone21 has been specifically designed to change all that.
The game’s creator, Bodog’s Casino Product Director, Bill Hu, commented: “Our research suggests that online Blackjack players get more frustrated by not being able to play at all than by the ‘purity’ of the game itself. To us Zone21 is the nearest we can make the product while allowing everybody, not just a select few, to play. The early figures are very encouraging and the product is a great addition to Zone Baccarat© which is already our most popular Live Dealer game.”
How it works:
- Dealer deals the initial cards: One Player hand is shared by all and a House hand with hole card as usual
- The round ends if the Player Hand hits Blackjack
- If not, Players will be asked for their decision
- Dealer deals one card to Player at set intervals until the Player has:
(i) Total of Hard 21. (ii) 6 cards (iii) Bust - Dealer will deal the next House cards continuously until it has:
(i) Total of Soft or Hard 17. (ii) Bust
Based on the above example, House stands on a total card 17 and Players may have soft 19, hard 19 or 29 (bust) depending on when they chose to Stand.
