GAMING SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED BLACKJACK DETECTION AND ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION

A system includes one or more elements (e.g., a processor) configured to determine, via a smart card-handling device in response to an initial deal for a playing round of a blackjack game, that an upward-facing card of a dealer's initial hand indicates a first required rank value of a natural hand. The system further automatically detects, based on electronic analysis of card-draw timestamp data, card-draw image data, and game settings, whether a rank value of a downward-facing card of the dealer's initial hand indicates a second required rank value of the natural hand. The automatic detection occurs without exposing the downward-facing card and prior to another card being drawn, for the playing round, after the initial deal. Furthermore, the system indicates, via one or more electronic indicators, whether the dealer's initial hand either equates to the natural hand or does not equate to the natural hand.