Evolution Gaming Launches Speed Blackjack and Lightning Baccarat

Evolution Gaming has what seems to be a busy year ahead and for the first launch this decade they’ve picked Speed Blackjack: a super-fast Live Blackjack variant, complementing Speed Baccarat and Speed Roulette. Players who are into their Lightning series will also be thrilled to try out their third game in the series: Lightning Baccarat!

First things first, Evolution's Speed Blackjack is based on a regular Live Blackjack, but like with their other Speed games, it’s all about decreasing player wait time to the minimum. In fact, the new blackjack is 30-40% faster than normal as the dealing order is anything but common. The player’s first two cards are dealt as normal, after which all players are simultaneously offered the opportunity to Hit, Double Down or Split. The player who makes the fastest decision will get their next card dealt first. Only when everyone has finished their game will the next round begin.

The rules of the game are standard: the dealer must stand on 17 and must draw to 16. Although there are limited seats at the table, the game includes traditional side bets like Perfect Pairs, 21+3 and Bet Behind.

Todd Haushalter, Chief Product Officer at Evolution, commented: “For the last hundred years or so, Blackjack players have made decisions from the dealer’s left to right, in order, and everyone has had to wait for the deciding player because that is how it’s always been done in casinos. We asked ourselves, ‘Why should players have to wait?’. With Speed Blackjack, players make their decision when they are ready and whoever is fastest gets the next hit card, giving the player more control. This has no impact on the maths of the game, it just reduces waiting time.”

In addition to that, Evolution’s third Lightning game that was announced in December 2019 is being rolled out across casinos as well. Complementing Lightning Roulette and Lightning Dice, the all-new Lightning Baccarat comes with a unique but familiar Art Deco design and more thrill to the Asian card game thanks to the special Lightning Multipliers.

Players can win up to 512x betting on Player or Banker, instead of the usual 1:1, by getting a score closest to 9 to win. Wins of up to €500,000 are possible as 1-5 cards from a virtual 52-card deck gets allocated 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 8x Lightning Multiplier before the start of each round. If you win with any of these special cards, which you’ll see in the bottom left, the payout will be multiplier by that amount. If there’s more than one multiplier in your win then they will be combined for one mega multiplier of up to 512x. What’s more, the multiplier also applies to the Tie and Pair side bets, which pay 5:1 and 9:1, respectively, by default. To compensate for the multipliers, however, Evolution is adding a 20% Lightning Fee to each bet, while keeping the overall RTP within reasonable range for this game.

That in mind, see our curated list of Evolution Gaming casinos to pick your favourite spot to give both games a try for yourself.