China in about 900 AD. Chinese people began to shuffle paper
money into various combinations and in China today the term for
playing cards means paper tickets.
The 52 card deck as we know it was originally called the French
Pack. The origin of Blackjack is somewhat unclear. Some people
believe that Blackjack originated in French casinos in the early
1700s where it was known as "vingt-et-un" ("20 and 1").
The game became known as Blackjack because if a player held a
Jack of Spades and an Ace of Spades as the 1st two cards, the
player was paid out extra. So with a Jack being a vital card and
Spades being black, the game was called Blackjack.
This game has been played in the United States since the 1800's.
Gambling was legal out West from the 1850's to 1910, at which
time Nevada made it a felony to operate a gambling game. In
1931, Nevada re-legalized casino gambling where BlackJack became
one of the primary games of chance offered to gamblers. In 1978, New Jersey became the second state to legalize gambling and
since then casinos have sprouted up in about 20 other states.
Blackjack remains one of the most popular card games in the world. Let’s see why.