European blackjack and American blackjack primarily differ in their game structure and rules. In European blackjack, the dealer reveals only one card initially, waiting to show the hole card until after players act, while American blackjack has the dealer showing two cards—one face up and one face down. Payouts for a natural blackjack, consisting of an ace and a ten-value card, generally remain at 3:2 in both versions, but European blackjack imposes more restrictions on splitting and doubling down. Furthermore, in European rules, the dealer does not hit on soft 17, in contrast to American rules, where the dealer typically must hit. These differences influence the strategies employed and overall gameplay experience in each variant.