Single-deck blackjack had been virtually wiped out in Las Vegas when several major casinos on the Strip began to resurrect it more than a year ago. The games have proved popular, as many casual players have been told that playing blackjack with a single deck is more advantageous than playing with a "shoe" -- a device that holds multiple decks of cards that also get shuffled automatically.

People who don't know a thing about counting cards still like to think they can beat the casinos by paying closer attention, the pros say.

But buyer beware: What the casino billboards and promotional materials don't tell you is that the single-deck games have largely worsened their payout to 6-5 from 3-2.

That means a $10 bet would pay $15 for 3-2 on a blackjack hand -- in which the two cards dealt total 21. A 6-5 game would pay about $12, or $3 less per win. For people who don't play blackjack, a $12 payout doesn't sound half bad. Players such as Richard Boston of San Jose, Calif., know better.

Boston, a software developer who travels to Las Vegas several times a year with his wife, noticed during a recent visit that a busy blackjack table at a major Las Vegas casino featured a 6-5 payout.

"Based on how busy the (6-5) tables have been, I'd say the average visitor will play the game," he said. I would imagine more knowledgeable players will avoid it as we do. The knowledgeable player knows how many blackjack hands to expect in a given session and after giving up that edge when playing four-plus hours per day, it's a lot."

If Boston gets dealt a blackjack once every 20 or so hands, or about three blackjacks an hour, that's nine bucks less in his pocket. Over time, that loss will start to catch up with him, increasing the house's already decent edge.

Gamblers such as Al Rogers, who runs gambling book publisher Pi Yee Press in Las Vegas, is crying foul.

"They call it single-deck blackjack like it's something good," said Rogers, who used to count cards as a professional blackjack player. Casinos are "preying upon the public's ignorance."

Over the past several months, Rogers has sent letters to the state Gaming Control Board arguing that 6-5 blackjack should be licensed as a new game and that players are being duped by deceptive advertising.

Rogers points to an article several months ago in the trade publication Indian Gaming Business that noted "players are flocking to (6-5 payout games) because they perceive there is an increased value in the game."

"If there was ever any doubt that casino managers regard their customers as idiots, this proves it," Rogers said. "Never mind that there is decreased value to the customer, so long as the customer 'perceives' increased value."

He is one of several disgruntled gamblers who have complained to Nevada regulators about the issue.

Casinos are allowed to tweak the odds on table games as well as tighten payouts on slot machines, said Keith Copher, the Control Board's enforcement chief. State law requires slots to pay out a minimum of 75 percent of wagers to players over time, though competitive pressure has raised that percentage to around the mid-90s, he said. While no specific regulation requires a minimum payback on table games, the board has applied the slot standard to tables when analyzing new games, Copher said.

The 6-5 games meet that standard, he said. As with all other table games, the casinos are required by law to post the payout, often referred to as odds (as in 6-5 odds), of each game so that players can determine whether to place a bet.

After ensuring that casinos adhere to published odds, the marketing of 6-5 games "becomes a PR matter" to be resolved between gamblers and casinos, he said.

The idea that casinos are somehow at fault for misleading players is laughable, said Andrew Glazer, a California-based professional poker player and syndicated columnist.

"The whole notion of casino gambling is unfair," said Glazer, who switched from blackjack to poker years ago to avoid heat from the casinos. "The casino has an advantage on virtually every bet you can make."

Blackjack remains an appealing game because the house edge is smaller than other games such as craps, roulette and slots, he said. Even a "perfectly played" game of blackjack could have a house edge of about 1 percent.

"Is it unfair that slot machines have an 8 percent house edge?" he said. "Tables take up a lot of room and it's expensive to build casino space. Why not turn them into games with a 2 to 3 percent edge? People will still play it."

Blackjack has been subjected to many variants over the years, though largely retaining the original payout of 3-2 for a blackjack hand. Nearly every casino in Las Vegas has slightly different rules ranging from which cards can be split to side bets on certain hands. The majority favor the house, though some have offered promotions favoring players.

A brief experiment with a 2-1 payout in several Midwest casinos years ago ended badly for the house, Glazer said.

"Wiseguys flew in from all over the country and won hundreds of thousands in a weekend," he said. "They had to shut (the promotion) down. Small percentage changes have a huge impact on how hard or easy it is for people to win."

Casinos already have ways of detecting and throwing out card counters who use single decks to their advantage. Most good counters have either stopped playing to avoid the hassle or are plying their trade abroad, pros say.

The 6-5 payout games -- which remove the edge that allows card counters to win over time -- were devised to win more from average Joes and Janes rather than as a deterrent to card counters, who have already been effectively been turned away from casinos, Glazer said.

Casinos didn't jump at the chance to discuss their payouts, though a few fessed up to converting dozens of 3-2 blackjack tables to single-deck, 6-5 games.

After seeing the games take off on the Strip, Station Casinos Inc. decided to implement the games at its locals' casinos.

"It has been well received. If they were unpopular we'd change the mix," company spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said.

MGM MIRAGE, one of several Strip operators offering 6-5 blackjack, noticed it at many area casinos first.

"We knew it was popular among guests and knew there was a demand for it," company spokeswoman Yvette Monet said.

Others, such as the Palms hotel-casino, haven't changed their odds.

"We're keeping blackjack at 3-2 where it's always been since the game was invented," General Manager Jim Hughes said. "We think it's better for the players and if it's better for the players it's better for us."

It helps that Palms owner and operator George Maloof also plays blackjack, he added.

Some say the move will backfire as tourists realize they are losing more than they did in years past.

"The average person doesn't understand the difference," said Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor gambler newsletter and a blackjack player. "But the mathematics will work itself out. Every person, regardless of their gaming acumen, is going to move away from this game in favor of traditional forms of blackjack."

Some players have already voted with their feet.

Keith Watt, a manager at a credit card company in Phoenix, has gravitated from the Strip to downtown, where "most places still deal what I call an honest game of blackjack."

"I'd rather play a six deck or even an eight deck show game and still get 3-2 payouts on my naturals," said Watt, a casual gambler who travels to Vegas a few times each year with his wife. "I'm skeptical of any variation of the traditional games."

Las Vegas casinos learned a lesson in the 1960s when they "overreacted" to the publishing of some of the first gambling strategy guides by removing several rules favorable to players and in some cases, offering games paying even money, Glazer said.

"The regular players quit and the casinos realized pretty quickly that they should go after (card counters) the way they always had," he said.

In the end, casinos may be steering players toward other games for their own benefit, he said.

"Before the player screams about it too much, they should think about how casinos used to be almost all tables and a few slots," he said. "If (casinos) want to keep this game in and not tear it out, they need to make sure it generates more money."

Liz Benston is a gaming writer for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4077 or by e-mail at benston@lasvegassun.com.