Understanding the Concept of Blackjack Insurance

For most people, insurance is a problematic word and certainly most of us have an uneasy view of what it means. Most of that unease stems from the fact people don’t like paying for insurance but mostly recognize it is necessary in many situations. But what about blackjack insurance, is it a worthwhile betting strategy?

Well, in summary blackjack insurance divides opinion amongst casino bettors, both online and offline. If you’re unfamiliar with insurance for blackjack or are new to the game, this guide will walk you through the basics of blackjack insurance. (Here’s a spoiler… it is not insurance as you know it and you are probably better off without it!)

Firstly, it is worth noting that gambling insurance is not the same as traditional coverage, such as car insurance. You’re not going to be contacting an insurance company and paying monthly to protect an asset. When we talk about insurance in gambling, it means you are employing a system that in theory protects you against losses.

In its simplest terms, insurance for blackjack means you will always bet on the dealer having blackjack.

Specifically, when the dealer shows an Ace before revealing their hole card, a side-bet becomes available. This side-bet is the blackjack insurance. If you’re playing online blackjack, a pop-up will highlight when the insurance side-bet is available.

Importantly, the insurance side-bet operates independently of the main wager and does not affect it. Each blackjack insurance bet has odds of 2:1, which means a return of 2 for every 1 wagered.

So, why is the blackjack insurance bet useful?

Well, the side-bet does what it says on the tin and provides you some insurance. It means you can lose the main blackjack hand (and your initial wager) but still win money from the side-bet. However, if the dealer or online game does not have blackjack, the game will progress as normal.

Below are some useful points about the insurance side-bet in blackjack:

• The bet must be at least half of the opening wager (If your original wager was £30, you will need to bet at least £15 on the insurance bet)
• If you have blackjack (ace and ten-valued card) you can still take the insurance bet. This is called taking even money and will end the hand immediately. By doing this you will be insuring yourself against the dealer also having blackjack and will have your initial wager returned.

Understanding Blackjack Insurance Expected Value

Many players will say blackjack insurance is something everyone should use. Certainly, when you read about the basics above, it probably seems like a sweet deal. Unfortunately, that’s not the case because the math around insurance side-bets does not add up.

We’re not just talking about blackjack. In fact, any type of gambling insurance bet comes with what’s called a negative expected value (EV). This means if you make enough blackjack insurance bets, you will lose money eventually.

Expected value is an important tool because it tells you how much money you will win or lose if you play a game enough. When looking specifically at the blackjack side-bet, this so-called insurance has a worse EV than betting on a single random number on roulette. Anyone who plays roulette will know how crazy or desperate you’d need to be to wager a lot of money on a single number. When playing blackjack, taking even money is a better option than attempting the insurance bet. In fact, even not taking even money and just playing the hand gives you a better EV over many games.

Let’s use an example to show why you should avoid the blackjack insurance bet:

Imagine you wager $10 over 200 hands and you choose to take even money 100 times and not to take even money 100 times. When you take the even money, EV statistics and average suggest you would win $1000 over those 100 hands. If you do not take even money, you would need to win 66 of the hands to make $1000.