Late Insurance

I travelled to Vienna last weekend and visited the Casino Vienna.
They had 4 Black Jack tables with automatic shufflers. They played European Style without a hole card.
Now to the interesting part:
If the dealer was showing an ace you could place your insurance bet after all players had played their hands instead of before it is everyone's turn.
Now,I'm pretty sure that mathematically this does not make a difference and the bet remains a sucker bet. However, I do think that it is a clever move by the casino as I think that more players will tend to take the insurance,e.g. when their hand busted so that they can get their money back. Also someone with a starting hand of 2,3 may not take the insurance,but when he drew a 6-card 21 from those cards he may want to "secure" his hand.
So I was wondering why I haven't come across other Casinos which handle it this way.
Any opinions?

Because insurance bets are sucker bets and the average BJ player know that, Unless you have a BJ, then always take insurance,
LOL. Plus with a 4 deck automatic shufflerm betting afterward might occasionally give a counter an advantage.
Are no cards put in discard tray until everyone has played out their hand and losing bets not collected ??

Fantastic question! You really made me think on this one...

My guess is to save time. By offering it at the beginning, it saves time if the dealer checks right then and there, without playing the hands out. It makes it quick, simple and painful (as opposed to painless, because any time the dealer has BJ it's painful.)

The second guess is that very few American casinos DON'T have a mirror or other device to tell the dealer if they have BJ. Casino Queen in E. St Louis, IL doesn't check on 10s, but they do on the Ace. Again, it saves time.

If the game were in a shoe, theoretically, a card counter might be able to gain an advantage, but on an auto-shuffler (or continuous shuffler I'm guessing that you meant), it would be a moot point.

My guess is that the casino does it this way specifically because the dealer has no hole card. The dealer cannot check for blackjack until the second card is dealt (after everyone else plays their hands), so there is no use in having players make the insurance decision early and then wait a while before any insurance bets are resolved. In answer to your question, you probably haven't run across this at other casinos because you don't often play in casinos that don't deal the hole card in the beginning.

Quote: Doc

My guess is that the casino does it this way specifically because the dealer has no hole card. The dealer cannot check for blackjack until the second card is dealt (after everyone else plays their hands), so there is no use in having players make the insurance decision early and then wait a while before any insurance bets are resolved. In answer to your question, you probably haven't run across this at other casinos because you don't often play in casinos that don't deal the hole card in the beginning.

No,actually all the Casinos I know here in Europe do not deal a hole card to the dealer but still accept the insurance bets at the beginning of the hand.

Quote: dr3dd

No,actually all the Casinos I know here in Europe do not deal a hole card to the dealer but still accept the insurance bets at the beginning of the hand.

Then I apologize for my error. I did not understand that you are a resident of Europe and mostly familiar with those games.

I see no particular benefit (or harm) in placing insurance bets early or late in a no-hole-card game.

Actually this is a smart move from the house. The insurance side bet is a bet on the second dealers card being a ten. For the house it doesn't matter when this bet is made, but the player might get tempted to insure his multicard 21, although he wouldn't do it with his initial cards.

There is no advantage (or loss) gained, but more players might want to play it.