Live Blackjack Early Payout is a Visionary iGaming (VIG) blackjack game that lets you cash out a hand at any point for an offer that rises or falls with your cards and the dealer’s up card. The base rules are six decks with the dealer hitting soft 17, which gives a house edge of about 0.69% with perfect basic strategy, and the Wizard of Odds found the Early Payout offer is usually worth about 98% of the hand’s value, so taking it costs roughly 2%. In October 2026 US players find it at offshore casinos, including Bovada, Ignition and MyBookie.
Updated October 2026. We checked the rules against VIG’s own launch material, the game information Bovada and Ignition publish in their live lobbies and the Wizard of Odds analysis. The old page said Early Payout “pays 50% of profit”, called the game patented and put its house edge at 0.5%; those claims are corrected below.
The casinos below listed Early Payout tables in their live lobbies on 6 October 2026. All three are offshore operators with no US state licence; see the legal section before you sign up.
The shortlist
- 1
Bovada
Crypto: 125% up to $1,250 on each of your first 3 deposits ($3,750). Card: 100% up to $1,000 x3 ($3,000)
- 95 live tables and games: 38 blackjack, 10 VIP blackjack, 16 roulette, 15 baccarat (October 2026)
- Separate welcome offers for crypto and card deposits
- Crypto payouts within hours of approval, no Bovada withdrawal fees
Visit siteRead our review18+. 25x rollover on deposit + bonus. Live dealer games count 0% and bonus funds cannot be used at live tables. Not available in AZ, CO, CT, DE, KS, LA, MD, MA, MI, NV, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TN, VT, WV or DC (Bovada terms, October 2026). - 2
Ignition
Crypto: 300% up to $3,000 on your first deposit ($1,500 casino + $1,500 poker). Card: 200% up to $2,000
- Large live lobby: blackjack (incl. high-stakes tables), roulette, baccarat and game shows
- Large US poker room with Zone and Incognito poker on the same account
- Crypto payouts in about 1 hour after approval for most coins
Visit siteRead our review18+. $20 minimum deposit. Casino part 25x deposit + bonus; live dealer games count 0%. Poker part unlocks via Ignition Miles in 30 days. Not available in DE, MD, NV, NJ or NY. - 3
MyBookie
200% up to $2,000 + 50 free spins (code 200MB, $50 minimum deposit)
- More than 60 live tables: 20+ blackjack, 30+ roulette, 14 baccarat incl. Super 6
- Fee-free Bitcoin payouts, usually within 24 hours
- Sportsbook, racebook and casino on one account
Visit siteRead our review21+. Code 200MB, min deposit $50. Rollover 40x bonus + 1x deposit. Live dealer games excluded from bonus wagering.
What Is Blackjack Early Payout?
Early Payout is a standard blackjack game with one extra button. Each time a new card reaches your hand, the screen shows a cash offer highlighted in green. Accept it and your hand ends there: you are paid the offer and the dealer plays on without you. Decline it and you keep playing normally. VIG’s January 2010 press release put it this way: at every stage of the hand the player chooses between continuing with basic strategy or accepting an Early Payout, and the amount “can be greater than or less than the original wager depending on the hand’s strength”.
| Feature | Blackjack Early Payout |
|---|---|
| Studio | Visionary iGaming (VIG), live dealer supplier established in 2008 |
| Decks | Six, with about four dealt before the shuffle (Wizard of Odds) |
| Dealer on soft 17 | Hits |
| Blackjack pays | 3:2 |
| Doubling and splitting | Double after split allowed; no re-splitting |
| Hands per player | One, two or three seats per round |
| Signature rule | Early Payout offer each time a new card is dealt to you |
| Side bets | Pairs (11:1) and Rummy (9:1) |
| House edge, base game | About 0.69% with perfect basic strategy (Wizard of Odds) |
| Cost of accepting an offer | About 2% of the hand’s value (Wizard of Odds) |
| Where US players find it | Offshore casinos such as Bovada, Ignition and MyBookie (October 2026) |
In effect, Early Payout lets you surrender at any point in the hand, at a sliding price. Ordinary late surrender returns half your bet, and only on your first two cards. Early Payout makes an offer on every card, the offer can be above or below your stake, and it reflects how strong your hand is against the dealer’s up card.
Live Blackjack Early Payout Rules
The game information Bovada and Ignition publish for the table describes a three-seat layout. You can bet on one, two or all three seats, and any hand that is not yours is played by basic strategy, so another player’s choices never change the cards you receive. A hand runs like this:
- Place your main bets. Pick a chip value and click the centre bet box on one, two or three seats while the betting timer runs.
- Add side bets if you want them. The Pairs box sits to the left of each main bet and the Rummy box to the right.
- The deal. After “no more bets”, each seat gets two cards and the dealer takes two, one face up.
- Insurance. If the dealer’s up card is an Ace you are offered insurance. The dealer peeks for blackjack.
- Your decisions. You choose to hit, stand, double or split. The basic-strategy play is highlighted in blue, and alternatives appear in silver.
- The offer. Each time you receive a card, an Early Payout offer appears in green. Take it or play on.
- The dealer completes the hand by the house rules, hitting soft 17, and remaining bets are settled.
One rule surprises many players. According to the game information, you can always take fewer cards than basic strategy suggests, but you cannot hit when basic strategy says stand. The reason given is that the dealer and the non-player hands follow basic strategy, so the game limits how far you can deviate in one direction. Doubling and splitting follow the usual rules: you may double after a split, but you cannot split again.
Your hand is always played to the end on screen, even after you take the offer, so you can see whether accepting was a good call. That is useful feedback while you learn how the offers behave.
Each table also comes in several limit levels. Bovada’s lobby, for example, lists “ViG Blackjack Early Payout” as tables T1 and T2, each at limit levels L1, L2 and L3. The casino sets the minimum and maximum for each level, so open the table to see them before you sit down.
How the Early Payout Offer Works
The offer is a price for your hand as it stands. A strong total against a weak dealer card earns an offer above your stake; a weak total against a strong dealer card earns less than your stake. Bovada’s game information gives one example: a 20 against a dealer 10 brings an offer above your bet, which it calls a smart one to take. Because the offer is recalculated every time your hand changes, it can move a lot after a single card.
What matters is how the offer compares with the value of playing on. The Wizard of Odds studied the offers and found that “most of the time” they were worth about 98% of the hand’s expected value. In plain terms, accepting carries a house edge of about 2% on that hand, compared with about 0.69% for the game as a whole.
Worked example
The numbers below are illustrative, to show how the 98% figure works. Suppose you bet $10 and your hand, played on with basic strategy, is worth $14.00 on average: your $10 back plus $4 of expected profit. An offer at 98% of that value is about $13.72. Taking it locks in $3.72 of profit for certain, but on average you give up about 28 cents compared with playing the hand out.
The same logic applies to bad hands. If a hand is worth $4.50 on average (you expect to lose $5.50 of your $10), an offer at 98% is about $4.41. You lose $5.59 for certain instead of $5.50 on average. Either way, the offer trades a small cost for a guaranteed result.
| Option | When available | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Play on with basic strategy | Always | The full value of the hand on average, with normal swings |
| Early Payout | Every time a new card is dealt to you | About 98% of the hand’s value, with no further risk |
| Late surrender (standard tables) | First two cards only, where offered | Exactly half your bet |
| Insurance | Dealer shows an Ace | A separate side bet; pays 2:1 only if the dealer has blackjack |
When does taking the offer make sense?
On expected value alone, almost never: each acceptance hands the house about 2% of the hand’s value. The case for using it is about swings, not profit. If you have doubled or split and have a lot of money on one round, an offer can lock in a result and smooth your session. Some players also use it at the end of a session when they want to leave on a fixed result.
Use it sparingly. A player who accepts every offer pays roughly 2% on every hand instead of 0.69%, close to three times the cost of the base game. At $25 a hand and 60 hands an hour, that is the difference between about $10 and about $30 of expected loss per hour.
House Edge and RTP
Two figures circulate for this game, and they measure different things. The game information shown in the Bovada and Ignition lobbies says the game has an expected return of 99.50%. Working from the actual rules (six decks, dealer hits soft 17, double after split, no re-split), the Wizard of Odds puts the house edge at 0.69%, an RTP of about 99.31%.
Most of the gap comes from the soft 17 rule. Our live blackjack hub uses the Wizard of Odds rule tables, which put the cost of a dealer hitting soft 17 at about 0.22 percentage points against the usual eight-deck baseline. A classic table where the dealer stands on soft 17 is about 0.5%. Here is what the difference means in money:
| Table | House edge | Wagered per hour ($25 x 60 hands) | Expected loss per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Payout, playing every hand out | 0.69% | $1,500 | About $10.35 |
| Classic table, dealer stands on soft 17 | About 0.5% | $1,500 | About $7.50 |
| Early Payout, accepting every offer | About 2% | $1,500 | About $30.00 |
All three rows assume perfect basic strategy. Real players lose more through mistakes, which is where the game’s highlighted strategy prompts help: following them closes most of the gap between a guessing player and the 0.69% figure. Sixty hands an hour is an illustrative pace; three seats at once triples both your action and your expected loss.
Side Bets: Pairs and Rummy
Each seat offers two optional side bets, placed in the same betting window as the main bet:
| Side bet | Wins when | Payout | House edge (Wizard of Odds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pairs | Your first two cards are a pair of the same rank, such as 4-4 or Q-Q | 11:1 | 11.25% |
| Rummy | Your first two cards plus the dealer’s up card form three of a kind, a straight or a flush | 9:1 | 3.24% |
The Pairs bet is the costlier of the two. In a six-deck shoe, the chance that your second card matches the rank of your first is 23 in 311, about 7.4%. At 11:1 that returns about 88.7% of what you stake, the 11.25% edge. Rummy works like the 21+3 side bet found at other studios, with a single 9:1 payout for any qualifying hand; our 21+3 guide compares the pay tables. Both side bets cost far more than the main game’s 0.69%, so keep them small if you play them at all.
Insurance is the third extra wager. When the dealer shows an Ace, it pays 2:1 if the dealer has blackjack. With six decks, 96 of the 311 unseen cards are ten-value, so the bet returns about 92.6% of the stake, an edge of roughly 7.4%. Our blackjack insurance guide shows the maths.
Strategy for Early Payout Blackjack
The basic-strategy prompts do the hard work: the recommended play is highlighted in blue on every decision. A few points are specific to this game:
- Use the six-deck, dealer-hits-soft-17 chart. It differs from the eight-deck stand-on-17 chart on a handful of hands, for example doubling 11 against an Ace. The on-screen prompt already uses the correct chart.
- Treat the offer as surrender with a fee. On hands where basic strategy would surrender at a normal table (such as 16 against a 10), the offer is the closest equivalent, but you are still paying about 2% of the hand’s value.
- Do not take a good offer just because it shows a profit. A 20 against a 6 earns an offer above your stake, but playing on is worth slightly more.
- Remember you cannot hit past basic strategy. If the chart says stand, the game will not let you take another card.
- Size your bets for doubles and splits. With three seats in play, one round can call for six times your base bet. Keep that in your balance.
No betting system changes the house edge here or at any other blackjack table. Our surrender guide covers the hands where giving up part of your stake is correct, which is a good guide to when an Early Payout offer is worth a look.
Early Payout vs Other Live Blackjack Games
Early Payout competes with several other formats in a typical live lobby. The base-game figures below assume perfect basic strategy and come from our blackjack hub:
| Game | Studio | Key rule | House edge or RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack Early Payout | VIG | Cash-out offer on every card; six decks, dealer hits soft 17 | About 0.69% (about 2% on any offer you accept) |
| Classic blackjack | Evolution | Eight decks, dealer stands on all 17s, seven seats plus Bet Behind | About 0.5% |
| Infinite Blackjack | Evolution | Unlimited players share the first two cards; Six Card Charlie | RTP 99.47% |
| Free Bet Blackjack | Evolution | Free doubles and splits; dealer 22 pushes | About 1.04% (six decks, Wizard of Odds) |
The comparison shows the trade-off. Early Payout costs a little more than a classic stand-on-17 table, but it is the only one of these games where you can take money off the table in the middle of a hand. If your casino also carries Evolution’s Infinite Blackjack, that is the cheaper choice on paper; at the US-facing offshore sites, though, Evolution tables are not available, which leaves Early Payout and the casinos’ classic tables as the main options.
About Live Blackjack Early Payout
Early Payout is the game Visionary iGaming built its name on. VIG’s founder and then CEO Martin Reiner, formerly CEO of Vuetec, the company behind DublinBet.com, was credited as its creator. A press release dated 19 January 2010 announced Live Blackjack Early Payout version 2.0 and described Reiner as “a former MIT card counter”. VIG opened a 1,100 square metre studio in San José, Costa Rica, in 2011; its website now says its games are dealt from multiple studios without naming them.
The game is marked as a trademark (“Live Blackjack Early Payout™”) in VIG’s own material. We found no patent for the game itself. VIG also publishes no gaming licence or owner on its website, a point covered in our Visionary iGaming review.
Key Features
- Cash-out at any card. A variable cash-out offer on every card is unusual among live blackjack games.
- Built-in strategy prompts. Beginners can follow the highlighted play and get close to the best result.
- Up to three hands at once. Faster action, but also three times the stake and expected loss per round.
- No waiting on other players. Non-player hands are played by basic strategy, so nobody “takes the dealer’s bust card”.
- US-style rules. Dealer hits soft 17 and there is no re-splitting, which costs a little more than a classic Evolution table.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Unique cash-out option on every card | Offers cost about 2% of the hand’s value |
| Strategy prompts on every decision | Base house edge 0.69%, above the 0.5% of a stand-on-17 table |
| One to three seats per round | Only at offshore casinos for US players |
| Hand played out after a cash-out, so you can review it | VIG publishes no licence or lab certificate |
What Happens if Your Connection Drops?
The game information covers interruptions directly. If a misdeal or a technical problem other than your connection occurs, all hands are void and bets are returned. If your own internet drops, your bets stay in play until they win, lose or push; if you do not respond in time, the software plays your hand by basic strategy. After the hand ends you are logged out of the game until you place a new bet.
Where to Play Blackjack Early Payout in the US
We checked the live lobbies of the four US-facing offshore casinos we review on 6 October 2026:
- Bovada had six “ViG Blackjack Early Payout” entries: tables T1 and T2, each at three limit levels. See our Bovada review.
- Ignition showed “ViG Blackjack Early Payout” tables alongside its classic blackjack. See our Ignition review.
- MyBookie included a Blackjack Early Payout table among more than 20 live blackjack tables. See our MyBookie review.
- BetOnline runs a VIG lobby, but we did not find an Early Payout table on its public pages, so it is not in the list above.
Limits depend on the casino and the table level; our blackjack minimum bet guide lists live blackjack ranges at each site. Bonus money will not help here: Bovada and Ignition count live dealer games at 0% towards wagering, and MyBookie excludes live dealer games from bonus wagering.
The legal picture matters more than the table. Eight states have legalised online casinos, and seven markets are live: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Maine legalised a tribal-only market (LD 1164 became law without the governor’s signature in January 2026 and took effect on 29 July 2026), but it had not launched as of October 2026. We found no state-licensed US casino offering Early Payout; licensed lobbies in those states stream tables from studios such as Evolution, which runs classic and Infinite Blackjack instead.
Bovada, Ignition and MyBookie are offshore. None holds a US state licence, each excludes some states (Bovada lists 19 states plus DC, and MyBookie requires players to be 21 or older), there is no state regulator to complain to, and your balance is not protected if a payout is refused or the operator closes.
Play Responsibly
The Early Payout button makes it easy to feel in control of every hand, but the house keeps its edge whether you cash out or play on. Set a budget and a time limit before you sit down, avoid playing three seats at a stake you would not play on one, and stop when the budget is gone. For free, confidential help, call, text or chat with the National Problem Gambling Helpline on 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), 24 hours a day.
Blackjack Early Payout FAQ
What is Blackjack Early Payout?
It is a live blackjack game from Visionary iGaming that offers you a cash-out each time a new card is dealt to your hand. The offer can be more or less than your stake depending on your cards and the dealer’s up card. Accept it and the hand ends for you; decline it and you play on normally.
Is it worth taking the Early Payout offer?
Rarely, on value alone. The Wizard of Odds found the offer is usually worth about 98% of the hand’s expected value, so each acceptance costs about 2%, against a 0.69% house edge for the base game. It can make sense when you want to lock in a result on a big doubled or split hand.
What is the house edge of Blackjack Early Payout?
With perfect basic strategy the Wizard of Odds puts it at about 0.69%, based on six decks, the dealer hitting soft 17, double after split and no re-splitting. The game information at Bovada and Ignition quotes a 99.50% expected return. Accepting offers and playing side bets raise the cost.
Who makes Blackjack Early Payout?
Visionary iGaming (VIG), a live dealer studio established in 2008. Its founder Martin Reiner was credited as the game’s creator, and VIG announced version 2.0 of Live Blackjack Early Payout in January 2010. The name is a trademark; we found no patent.
Where can I play Blackjack Early Payout in the US?
In October 2026 Bovada, Ignition and MyBookie listed Early Payout tables in their live lobbies. All three are offshore with no US state licence. We found no state-licensed US casino offering the game; licensed casinos in the seven live states use studios such as Evolution.
What side bets does Blackjack Early Payout have?
Pairs pays 11:1 when your first two cards are a pair, with a house edge of about 11.25%. Rummy pays 9:1 when your two cards plus the dealer’s up card form three of a kind, a straight or a flush, with an edge of about 3.24% (Wizard of Odds).
Sources
- Wizard of Odds: Visionary iGaming (Early Payout ~98% of EV, 2% cost; six decks, H17, DAS, no resplit, 0.69%; Pairs 11:1 11.25%; Rummy 9:1 3.24%; updated 15 Dec 2023)
- PR.com: Visionary iGaming releases Live Blackjack Early Payout 2.0, Martin Reiner CEO (19 Jan 2010)
- PR.com: Martin Reiner, former CEO of Vuetec (17 Aug 2010)
- PR.com: VIG new Costa Rica studio, 1,100 m2 (2011)
- Visionary iGaming: official website (established 2008; multiple studios)
- Bovada: live casino lobby and Live Blackjack Early Payout game information (99.50% expected return, three seats, Pairs 11:1, Rummy 9:1, interruptions policy), via US proxy 6 Oct 2026
- Bovada: ViG Blackjack Early Payout Table 1 L1 game page, via US proxy 6 Oct 2026
- Ignition: live dealer lobby (ViG Blackjack Early Payout tables), via US proxy 6 Oct 2026
- LiveDealers.com: Visionary iGaming review (hands dealt to completion after Early Payout)
- Wizard of Odds: blackjack rule variations
- Bovada: bonus terms and conditions (live dealer 0%)
- Ignition: bonus terms and conditions (live dealer 0%)
- Bovada: restricted states
- Gambling Insider: Maine tribal online casinos, LD 1164
- NCPG: National Problem Gambling Helpline 1-800-MY-RESET
Spotted an error? Email [email protected] with the page address. Verified corrections are made with a dated note.