Key facts
- Most blackjack side bets we calculated keep 4% to 16% of each bet, against about 0.55% on the main bet with Australian rules.
- Perfect Pairs, called Crown Pairs at Crown Melbourne, pays on a pair in your first two cards. With 6 decks a pair comes about 1 time in 13.5, and the house edge runs from 4.18% to 9.97% depending on the pay table.
- 21+3 pays on a flush, straight, three of a kind or better from your two cards and the dealer's first card. Something pays on about 9.7% of hands, so check the pay table against our fair odds.
- Buster Blackjack, which pays when the dealer busts, costs 7.55% to 16.05% on Crown's six pay tables with 6 decks and the dealer standing on soft 17.
- Insurance is a side bet too: at 2 to 1 it loses 7.40% of what you put on it with 6 decks.
Blackjack side bets ranked by house edge
A blackjack side bet is a separate wager placed before the deal, usually on your first two cards or on the dealer's hand. It is settled on its own pay table, so your skill at the main game does nothing for it. These are the side bets we found in Australian rule books and game maker descriptions, ranked by our calculated house edge:
| Side bet and pay table | Decks | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| Super Match (Blackjack Switch, Queensland) | 8 | 1.46% |
| Super Match (Blackjack Switch, Queensland) | 6 | 2.55% |
| Pairs Play at 11 to 1 (ACT pontoon) | 8 | 2.87% |
| Crown Pairs, option A (25, 12 and 6 to 1) | 8 | 4.10% |
| Crown Pairs, option A (25, 13 and 6 to 1) | 6 | 4.18% |
| Kings Bounty (Queensland electronic blackjack) | 8 | 4.38% |
| Kings Bounty | 6 | 5.06% |
| Insurance at 2 to 1 | 6 | 7.40% |
| Buster Blackjack, pay table A, dealer stands soft 17 | 6 | 7.55% |
| Crown Pairs, option C (25, 12 and 5 to 1) | 6 | 9.97% |
| Bet the Set 21 | 6 | 10.61% |
| Royal Match 21 | 6 | 11.48% |
| Buster Blackjack, pay table F | 6 | 16.05% |
For comparison, the main bet costs about 0.55% with 6 decks and the Australian rules described in our online blackjack Australia guide.
How to work out any side bet's house edge
You need two things: the pay table on the table sign, and the chance of each paying result. Then:
return per $1 = sum of (chance of result x (payout + 1)), and house edge = 1 minus that return
The "+ 1" is your stake coming back on a win. Results that are not on the pay table lose the stake. Only the highest paying result counts, as the Queensland and ACT rule books specify.
Perfect Pairs and Crown Pairs
Perfect Pairs pays if your first two cards are a pair of the same rank: a king and a king, not a king and a queen. The payout depends on the colours and suits:
| Pair type | Example | Chance with 6 decks | Chance with 8 decks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect (same suit) | 7 of hearts, 7 of hearts | 1.61% | 1.69% |
| Coloured (same colour, different suit) | 7 of hearts, 7 of diamonds | 1.93% | 1.93% |
| Mixed (red and black) | 7 of hearts, 7 of spades | 3.86% | 3.86% |
| Any pair | 7.40% | 7.47% |
In Victoria the side bet was renamed: the VGCCC's decision of 23 December 2024 renamed "Perfect Pairs" to "Crown Pairs" and added optional pay tables. Crown Melbourne's approved rules now list ten blackjack pay tables by deck count, plus a pontoon table for 6 or 8 decks. The table on the sign matters more than anything else:
| Crown Pairs table (crown, coloured, mixed pair) | Decks | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| 25, 14, 6 to 1 | 5 | 3.86% |
| 25, 12, 6 to 1 (option A) | 8 | 4.10% |
| 25, 13, 6 to 1 (option A) | 6 | 4.18% |
| 25, 15, 6 to 1 (option A) | 4 | 4.35% |
| 25, 12, 6 to 1 | 7 | 4.96% |
| 30, 10, 5 to 1 (option B) | 6 | 5.79% |
| 30, 12, 5 to 1 (option B) | 4 | 6.76% |
| 25, 12, 5 to 1 (option B) | 8 | 7.95% |
| 25, 12, 5 to 1 (option C) | 6 | 9.97% |
| 25, 12, 5 to 1 (option C) | 4 | 14.01% |
Dropping the mixed pair payout from 6 to 5 to 1 is what hurts: mixed pairs are the most common result, so each unit off that line costs you about 3.9% of the bet.
Pontoon decks have no tens, and that makes pairs more likely: 8.01% of hands with 6 decks of 48 cards. Crown's pontoon pay table (25, 10 and 5 to 1) has a 6.62% edge with 6 decks and 4.44% with 8 in our calculation. The ACT's approved pontoon rules use 25, 12 and 6 to 1, and there the deck count decides everything: we get a 6.99% house edge with 3 decks and 2.62% with 4, while with 6 or more 48-card decks the same table would pay out more than it takes in. Ask how many decks are in the shoe. Our pontoon card game guide covers the rest of that game.
The 21+3 side bet
21+3 combines your first two cards with the dealer's first card to make a three card poker hand. Evolution describes it as an optional bet on poker-style combinations of those three cards, offered on most of its live blackjack tables. Pay tables differ between tables, so here are the chances of each result and the fair payout, the payout at which the bet would have no house edge:
| 21+3 result | Chance, 6 decks | Fair payout | Chance, 8 decks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suited three of a kind | 0.021% | 4,820 to 1 | 0.024% |
| Straight flush | 0.21% | 483 to 1 | 0.21% |
| Three of a kind | 0.50% | 197 to 1 | 0.52% |
| Straight | 3.10% | 31 to 1 | 3.09% |
| Flush | 5.84% | 16 to 1 | 5.88% |
| Any paying result | 9.68% | 9.73% |
Ace counts high or low in a straight here (A, 2, 3 and Q, K, A both count). Any real pay table sits below these fair payouts, so plug the sign's numbers into the formula above. Flushes and straights are where almost all the money is: they make up over 90% of the winning results.
Queensland's electronic blackjack side bets
Queensland's rule book sets fixed pay tables for three side bets on electronic blackjack terminals:
| Bet | Pays on | Pay table | House edge, 6 decks | 8 decks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings Bounty | First two cards total 20 | Two kings of spades with dealer blackjack 1,000 to 1; two kings of spades 100; two suited kings 30; two suited queens, jacks or tens 20; suited 20 10; two unsuited kings 8; unsuited 20 6 | 5.06% | 4.38% |
| Royal Match 21 | First two cards suited | Suited king and queen 50 to 1; any suited pair of cards 2 to 1 | 11.48% | 11.31% |
| Bet the Set 21 | First two cards a pair | Suited pair 15 to 1; unsuited pair 10 to 1 | 10.61% | 9.40% |
The 1,000 to 1 headline on Kings Bounty lands about 15 times in a million hands in our calculation. The 6 to 1 for any unsuited 20 is what you actually collect, on about 7.6% of hands.
Buster Blackjack: betting the dealer busts
Buster Blackjack wins when the dealer's finished hand goes over 21, and pays more the more cards the dealer used. Crown Melbourne's approved rules have six pay tables. With 6 decks and the dealer standing on soft 17, our calculation of the dealer's busts by card count:
| Dealer busts with | Chance | Table A pays | Table F pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 cards | 17.30% | 2 to 1 | 1 to 1 |
| 4 cards | 8.73% | 2 to 1 | 2 to 1 |
| 5 cards | 1.91% | 4 to 1 | 8 to 1 |
| 6 cards | 0.23% | 15 to 1 | 20 to 1 |
| 7 cards | 0.017% | 50 to 1 | 50 to 1 |
| 8 or more | 0.0008% | 250 to 1 | 250 to 1 |
That gives house edges of 7.55% for table A, 7.59% for B, 8.25% for C, 8.29% for D, 10.16% for E and 16.05% for F. If the dealer hits soft 17 the dealer busts a little more and the edges fall, to 5.42% on table A and 13.22% on F. Table F's bigger five and six card payouts look generous but the cut from 2 to 1 to 1 to 1 on the most common bust costs far more.
Insurance, Pot of Gold and Super Match
Insurance pays 2 to 1 when the dealer's ace turns into blackjack. With 6 decks a ten follows the ace 30.87% of the time, so it loses 7.40% of the insurance bet. It is the one side bet a card counter can sometimes take; see blackjack odds for the full numbers.
Pot of Gold is the side bet the VGCCC approved alongside Free Bet blackjack in March 2024. It pays on how many free bet tokens you use in a round, from 3 to 1 for one token to 100 to 1 for five. Its edge depends on how you play the hand, so it belongs with Free Bet Blackjack.
Super Match pays on pairs within your four starting cards in Blackjack Switch: 1 to 1 for a pair, 5 to 1 for three of a kind, 8 to 1 for two pairs and 40 to 1 for four of a kind. With 8 decks it was the cheapest side bet we calculated.
What side bets cost in dollars
Say you bet $25 on the main hand and $5 on Buster table A for 100 hands. The main bets average a loss of about $13.75 at 0.55%. The $500 of side bets average a loss of about $37.75. The small bet costs nearly three times as much as the big one.
Pundit tip: if a side bet is the fun part of your night, keep it as small as the table allows and price it honestly: that is the cost, the house edge never changes in your favour.
Evolution's live tables also list Any Pair, Hot 3, Bust It and Lucky Ladies bets. We could not find their pay tables on the maker's website, so we have not priced them. The formula above works on any of them once you have the table.
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Frequently asked questions
Are blackjack side bets worth it?
Not for value. In our calculations most blackjack side bets keep 4% to 16% of each bet, about ten to thirty times the house edge on the main bet. They are entertainment you pay extra for.
What are the odds of getting a perfect pair in blackjack?
With 6 standard decks, your first two cards are a perfect (same suit) pair about 1.61% of the time, a coloured pair 1.93% and a mixed pair 3.86%. Any pair comes about once in 13.5 hands.
What is the 21+3 side bet?
21+3 treats your first two cards plus the dealer's first card as a three card poker hand and pays on flushes, straights, three of a kind, straight flushes and suited three of a kind. With 6 decks one of those lands about 9.7% of the time.
Which blackjack side bet has the best odds?
Of the ones we calculated, the Super Match bet in Blackjack Switch had the lowest edge, 1.46% with 8 decks and 2.55% with 6. Among standard table bets, the best Crown Pairs tables and the 8 deck Kings Bounty bet are around 4%.
Should you take insurance in blackjack?
No, unless you are counting cards. Insurance pays 2 to 1 but the dealer has a ten under an ace only about 30.9% of the time with 6 decks, so it loses 7.40% of every insurance bet in our calculation.
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