# Gambling in Atlantic City **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878 "2003-03-17T00:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/1 "2003-03-17T00:06:01Z")
What are the rules for gambling in Atlantic City, and what games are legal in Atlantic City casinos? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/2 "2003-03-17T00:36:36Z")
Blackjack, craps, roulette, pai gow, baccarat, and keno are all played. Are you looking for an exhaustive list of the rules of all these games, and an exhaustive list of all games permitted? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/3 "2003-03-17T00:38:41Z")
All sorts of poker, slots, etc. Can you be more specific in your question? ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/4 "2003-03-17T00:54:39Z")
From the [Trump Taj Mahal’s website](http://www.trumptaj.com/casino/TableGames.asp), where you can find the rules of each of the following as well. Table games include: - Baccarat - Big Six Wheel - BlackJack - Caribbean Stud Poker - Craps - Double Exposure BlackJack - Let It Ride - Mini Baccarat - Multi Action Blackjack - Pai Gow Poker - Pai Gow Tiles - Roulette - Sic Bo - Spanish 21 - Three Card Poker And then there’s keno and the ubiquitous slot machines. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/5 "2003-03-17T13:42:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > \*\*Can you be more specific in your question? \*\* Sorry. With “the rules for gambling”, I was thinking of age requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/6 "2003-03-17T13:46:18Z")
21 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/7 "2003-03-17T14:17:08Z")
And here I was all set to discuss how you don’t have a surrender option in blackjack in Atlantic City. But yes, you must be 21 to gamble in AC. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/8 "2003-03-17T14:55:39Z")
You can’t surrender in an Ontario casino, either. I think that’s a Vegas thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/9 "2003-03-17T16:07:01Z")
Some Carribean cruise ship casinos permit surrender, as do casinos in the Dominican Republic. The riverboat casinos in Illinois and Lousiana did not, if I recall correctly. It’s a key question, because the rule changes the basic strategy plays considerably. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/10 "2003-03-18T05:42:21Z")
Gambling is only legal in Atlantic City, right? Not anywhere else in New Jersey? Why is it that AC has this exemption? Is the 21 age limit mandated by any law or is that the casino’s choice? Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY has an 18 limit (but they also don’t serve alcohol). Does AC have a sports book? I don’t think they do, is that forbidden by law or do they think there’s no market for it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/11 "2003-03-18T13:55:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Gambling is only legal in Atlantic City, right? Not anywhere else in New Jersey? Why is it that AC has this exemption? There was a special vote about whether to legalize gambling in Atlantic City in the early 1970s. At the time, gambling was legal in Nevada and, IIRC, nowhere else in the US. The other states and Indian reservations came later. The theory was that gambling would bring in much-needed money to revitalize the failing NJ resort town. If you want to see how well it worked out, go to AC sometime and walk a block away from the ocean. For some strange reason, the money and prosperity just don’t seem to be able to travel inland even as far as a block. Even after a quarter of a century. Best argument against legalizing gambling I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gambling-in-atlantic-city/161878/12 "2003-03-18T14:17:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*Is the 21 age limit mandated by any law or is that the casino’s choice? Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY has an 18 limit (but they also don’t serve alcohol). > > Does AC have a sports book? I don’t think they do, is that forbidden by law or do they think there’s no market for it? \*\* Only Nevada (and Oregon sort of) have legal sports betting. The casinos have an age 21 limit because of the free alcohol served on the floor. If that were to go away, I suspect 18 would be the legal age.