blackjack tables in finland
Blackjack in Finland

Finland is officially the blackjack capital of the world with an amazing 82% of all table games in the country reserved exclusively for blackjack.

Like most people around the world, I bet you didn’t know a single thing about Finland except that they make Nokia mobile phones (which one of my colleagues uses to cheat at blackjack card games online), and it’s very, very cold all year around.

You know its a cold country when the snowman you made when your kids were 8, is still in the backyard when they graduate college. Now there is something else Finland is famous for, that’s sure to raise eyebrows.

It turns out that out of all the countries in the world, Finland has the highest percentage of blackjack tables. An amazing 82% of all casino card tables in the entire country are exclusively dedicated to blackjack, according to Matti Hokkanen, the communications manager of the country’s casino monopoly Rahaautomaattiyhdistys (try saying that name three times real fast).

In late November of 2010, the government monopoly began to offering Playtech casino games online, which pretty much destroyed the entire traditional casino industry. Let’s face it, if it’s -50 degrees outside and you hear the hungry bears growling next to your igloo, would you drive your snowmobile for an hour to a local casino table or rather play online blackjack? It turns out that the Finns will risk getting mauled by a starving bear rather than miss a quality blackjack table game.

While some parts of the country no longer have a single roulette, craps, baccarat or Caribbean poker table, the total number of blackjack tables remained stable. According to Mr. Hookanen, the state gambling monopoly closed 28% of Finland’s roulette tables, but not a single blackjack table. I guess it’s hard to spin the roulette wheel when you have frostbite on your fingers. So the next time you meet a Finn, thank them for keeping the proud blackjack tradition alive.