- Deadwood blackjack revenue rose 19.3% to $598,084 in September 2026 on 34 tables, two fewer than a year earlier.
- More drop supplied about 59% of the $96,700 gain, and the firmer 15.83% hold supplied the other 41%.
- Each table kept an average $17,591, up 26.3% from $13,928 a year ago, as drop per table rose 17.8%.
- September win fell 28.0% from August’s $830,757, a shallower slide than the 31.5% decline between the same months last year.
DEADWOOD, S.D. – Deadwood’s blackjack tables won $598,084 in September, up 19.3% from $501,407 a year earlier, as hold rose to 15.83% on 34 tables, according to the South Dakota Department of Revenue’s September gaming statistics. Players put more through the tables, with handle up 11.3% to $3,777,783, even though Deadwood dealt blackjack on two fewer tables than in September 2025.
More Drop And A Firmer Hold Split The $96,700 Gain
Handle, effectively the drop at the tables, grew $383,305, or 11.3%, from $3,394,478 in September 2025. Hold, the share of that money the tables kept, climbed 1.06 points to 15.83% from 14.77%, which is the other side of the 84.17% average payout the department lists against 85.23% a year ago.
At last September’s hold, this September’s drop would have produced about $558,000. The extra play accounts for roughly $56,600 of the gain, or 59%, and the firmer hold for the remaining $40,100, or 41%. The hold-driven share is the less durable half, since hold stood at 17.51% in August and 15.83% in September on the same 34 tables, and the report does not say why it moved.
Deadwood Blackjack Results
| Metric | September 2026 | September 2025 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tables | 34 | 36 | 34 |
| Handle | $3,777,783 | $3,394,478 | $4,744,146 |
| Statistical win | $598,084 | $501,407 | $830,757 |
| Hold | 15.83% | 14.77% | 17.51% |
Source: South Dakota Department of Revenue monthly gaming statistics
Hold Is Not The House Edge
A 15.83% hold does not mean blackjack costs 15.83% of every bet. Basic strategy at a 3:2 table gives up roughly 0.5% of each wager, far too small to produce a hold this large, so the figure can only be measured against the cash players brought to the table, with the same chips bet many times on the way to being lost.
Hold on drop moves with luck, session length and betting patterns, which is why a 1.06-point rise does not mean any single hand got more expensive.
That also makes hold the measure that lets one state’s blackjack results be read against another’s on USA blackjack sites, because it strips out how many tables a casino happens to run.
Each Table Kept 26% More With Two Fewer Tables
The department counted 34 blackjack tables in Deadwood’s casinos, two fewer than the 36 of September 2025 and the same number as August. Dividing the report’s totals by its table counts, drop per table rose 17.8% to $111,111 from $94,291, and win per table rose 26.3% to $17,591 from $13,928. The gain came from busier tables, not from added capacity.
The report counts only the casinos in Deadwood, so the tribal casinos that also deal South Dakota blackjack are not part of these numbers.
House-Banked Poker Matched Blackjack’s Gain, Other Games Slipped
House-banked poker won $576,336 on $2,705,923 of handle, up from $479,244 on $2,225,588, a gain of about $97,100 that nearly equals blackjack’s. Poker’s gain came entirely from play, with handle up 21.6% and hold slipping to 21.30% from 21.53%, while blackjack needed the firmer hold for 41% of its rise.
Craps, roulette and player-banked poker together won about $58,000 less than a year earlier, which held total table-game win to $1,422,512, up 10.5% from $1,286,782 on handle of $8,350,145, up 8.81%. Blackjack produced 42.0% of that win, against 39.0% in September 2025.
September Slid 28% From August, Less Than A Year Ago
August’s 34 tables won $830,757 on $4,744,146 of handle for a 17.51% hold. September’s win fell 28.0% from that level as handle fell 20.4% and hold gave back 1.68 points.
The slide between those months was steeper last year, according to the department’s August and September 2025 reports. Win fell 31.5%, from $731,560 to $501,407, as handle dropped 28.9%. August 2026 itself was 13.6% above August 2025 on handle that was 0.6% lower and with 34 tables against 38, which makes September’s 19.3% gain the second straight month ahead of a year earlier.
