Trump-Casino: the casino paper that grades the house

A blackjack game can be dealt from a single deck or from as many as eight, and the answer to how many decks in blackjack depends on the game and the state it is dealt in. New Jersey's blackjack card rules set a floor of one deck and lift it to six or eight decks when certain side wagers are offered. Every deck added also moves the odds: with the table rules held fixed, the house edge runs from 0.014% with one deck to 0.577% with eight.

Between one and eight, with the state rulebook setting the minimum for each version of the game. As of October 2026, New Jersey's code requires at least one deck at any blackjack table, then sets a deck count by the type of game:

Pennsylvania starts from the same place. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's deck rule calls for at least one deck of identical cards plus at least one cover card. When a casino deals from a non-continuous automatic shuffler, the minimum rises to at least two decks. Those decks are changed at least once every 24 hours, with a separate schedule for games dealt from the hand.