Blackjack at the Casino de Monte-Carlo

In Blackjack World Tour

Monaco is one of the game’s eight destinations.

The artwork on this page comes from the game’s Monaco table: its dealer, crest and chip set. The guide below is about real casinos in Monaco, which play for real money under local law.

The Casino de Monte-Carlo plays a classic European game: two cards to you, one to the bank, the bank draws to 16 and stands on 17, and a natural pays 3:2. Getting to the table costs €20, a passport or EU identity card, smart clothes and an age of at least 18, and if you are a Monaco resident you cannot gamble at all. The rules below come from Société des Bains de Mer’s own documents, checked on 12 October 2026, with the gaps marked.

The published blackjack rules

SBM’s French-language rule sheet for blackjack, linked from its games page, describes the game as follows.

The sheet ends with a note that it is explanatory and not an exhaustive regulation, so treat it as a strong lead rather than a contract.

Two things the sheet does not say. It does not give the number of decks, and it does not distinguish a soft 17 from a hard 17; “stands with 17 or more” reads as S17, but ask the dealer. It also does not say whether a doubled or split bet is lost in full or only to the original stake when the bank completes a blackjack; under “all bets” the no-hole-card rule costs about 0.10% (Wizard of Odds), under “original bets only” nothing. Until you have the answer, play the conservative no-hole-card chart, which avoids doubling or splitting against a ten or ace.

Limits and where the tables are

SBM’s blackjack page lists four limit bands at the Casino de Monte-Carlo: €10 to €500, €25 to €1,250, €50 to €2,500 and €100 to €5,000, and the first three of those bands at the Casino Café de Paris across the square. The page does not say how many tables run at each band or at what hours, so a €10 seat is not guaranteed. The games rooms and bars open at 2pm for adults only; the building admits sightseers from 10am to 1pm with last entry at 12.15pm.

A €10 minimum makes the arithmetic gentle. A €20 bet that wins a natural returns the €20 stake and €30 profit. A doubled €10 hand risks €20 for one card. Hold at least 40 minimum bets for a session and read bankroll and variance for why.

Entry: fee, ID, age and clothes

SBM’s conditions page is explicit:

• Fee: €20 for the games rooms and tables from 2pm. Monaco Tribune’s April 2024 guide quoted €18, or €15 for groups of more than ten, including a €10 voucher, so the price has moved and may move again.
• ID: a national identity card for EU nationals or a valid passport with photo; photocopies and digital IDs are refused and driving licences are not accepted.
• Age: at least one day older than your 18th birthday for the games rooms.
• Dress: no shorts including bermudas, no ripped or cut-out jeans, no sportswear, no trainers; T-shirts and sweatshirts are not permitted after 7pm. Wikipedia notes that themed rooms set their own entry and dress criteria and that codes tighten from 19:00.

Monaco Tribune adds that the Salle Renaissance is a slot-machine room and that casino tables carry a €5 minimum bet in its account; SBM’s own blackjack page gives €10 as the lowest blackjack band, so the lower figure most likely refers to other games.

Who may not gamble

The conditions page lists categories of people “not permitted to gamble in the games rooms, including through a third party”: Monaco residents, and public servants and agents of the state, region or national public bodies. Wikipedia states the rule more bluntly, that “citizens of Monaco are forbidden to enter the gaming rooms of the casino”, and credits Princess Caroline, de facto regent in the nineteenth century, with introducing it on moral grounds. Monaco Tribune repeats that Monégasque citizens may not enter or play. The two formulations differ, citizens versus residents, and SBM’s current wording is the one enforced at the door; a foreign national living in Monaco should expect to be refused.

A short history of the house

Wikipedia dates the first casino to 14 December 1856 in the Villa Bellevu, with the Spelugues building completed in 1863 and the present casino opening in July 1865. Charles Garnier, architect of the Paris opera house, worked with Jules Dutrou on the 1878 to 1879 transformation and designed the Salle Garnier concert hall and the Trente-et-Quarante gaming room in 1880 to 1881. The operating company, Société des Bains de Mer, remains majority-owned by the government and the princely family, which is why a casino that bars its own citizens from playing is nevertheless a public institution. Today’s floor offers several kinds of roulette, Texas hold’em, blackjack, trente et quarante, craps, baccarat, video poker and slots.

How the Monte-Carlo game compares

Against the six-deck, S17, double-any-two, double-after-split, US-peek profile used by this site’s strategy chart, the Monte-Carlo game is close on most counts. Doubling on any two cards and splitting to three hands are standard; 3:2 on a natural is the big one. The open questions, deck count, soft 17 and the treatment of doubled bets against a bank blackjack, together move the house edge by at most a few tenths of a percent. A reasonable expectation for a 3:2 European shoe game played with basic strategy is a house edge in the 0.5% to 0.8% range; Wizard of Odds models a stricter German-style game at 0.62%. The casino is open to adults aged 18 and over for real money, and no amount of dress code changes the fact that the house keeps its edge.

Related reading

• European no-hole-card rules
• Blackjack rules around the world
• Paris
• Casino etiquette