Blackjack Tournaments in Chicago

Main Event Charity Games is holding Blackjack Tournaments at most of their events in the Chicago area. These are legal games hosted by licensed non-profits.

In Illinois there is legislature called the Illinois Charitable Games Act which gives non-profits a license to basically be a casino 4 times a year. Players win cash. Main Event Charity Games works with them to put these events on. Up to now the events have all been poker, but are now expanding out to offer Blackjack Tournaments.

Every event is hosted by a different charity organization. Usually 80% of the money paid by a Player goes back to the Players in the form of prize money, and 20% goes to the charity. The split may be more or less depending on the amount of money the entrance fee is. The split is always posted clearly on the website.

Tournaments usually consist of 3 or more rounds of 30 hands.

The next scheduled Blackjack Tournament is September 11 in Chicago.

Go to http://www.MainEventCharityGames.com for more info.

Stay away. I have firsthand information that these are corrupt.

moo321, maybe you ran into corrupt events in the past claiming to be for charity, but that doesn't mean they all are corrupt.

If anyone wants to know what charities are hosting all of our events I'll be happy to share this. If anyone wants to see a State issued license, I'd be happy to do that too.

Making these untrue statements is doing nothing but hurting legitimate charities who are in real need of the funds that these legitimate, legal tournaments bring them.

It's entirely possible that I'm just a cynical SOB about this, but let me ask what seems an obvious, if dumb, question.

Why would a charity seeking funds via BJ tournaments advertise on a site where the reading population consists entirely of people whose particular skill is walking away from a BJ table with more than they had when they arrived? Does this not represent exactly the kind of audience (participants) that should be avoided?

I'm glad you asked that plainplayer... the answer is that in Blackjack Tournaments players are really playing against each other and not the House (Charity). Sure, the players play their hand against the Dealer's hand, but that's as far as the House (Charity) involvement goes. The Charity makes their money from the Entry fee portion of the total Buy In, just like in Poker Tournaments. Players are playing for the Prize Money portion of the total buy in.

We structure the Blackjack Tournaments as you would see in a casino, with Dealers who know what they're doing. I know that some casinos give all the money back to the Players and use the Blackjack Tournament just to get players in the door. This we don't do. Approximately 20% of the total buy in is kept for the charity (Entry Fee). It may be a little higher for low stakes tournaments, but ordinarily around 80% goes back to the players (Prize Money portion). The exact percentages are well documented prior to anyone putting up their buy in money.

Blackjack Tournament on Sat, Sept 11

East Village Youth Program will be running a Blackjack Tournament on Sat Sept 11 beginning at 5:00 pm at Cy's Crab House 3819 N. Ashland Ave, Chicago

$60 + $5 Optional Add On for 1,000 extra chips. Maximum number of players will be 21. Top 2 will be paid. $48 goes to prize pool. Rounds of 30 hands. Number of rounds will depend on the number of players.

Go to MainEventCharityGames.com and scroll to tournament #3 to pre-register. Pre-registration is FREE. You don't have to pre-pay, but pre-registering will hold a seat for you.

I' d expect better from you. If you have real info, you should share it. If not, why try to hurt a charity event.