Is Card Counting Allowed in Casino Blackjack?

Dear Mark, Is card counting illegal? Frank K.
Frank, is using your brain illegal? No. Unfortunately, when it comes to card counting, the casino would prefer you check your brain at the front door. So though not illegal, what the casino can and will do is bar the counter from playing and back you off the game.
If you're going to play this cat and mouse game to gain a one percent plus advantage, expect a pit bull (boss) to come and pleasantly say, "Frank, we appreciate your patronage but we¹re going to ask you to stop playing blackjack here. Feel free to play any of the other table games we offer." (Yeah, like games that have a house advantage higher than the interest rate you pay on your Visa card.)
Fortunately, Frank, not all casinos bar counters. Some, by law, cannot run you off. Instead, they impose tougher blackjack rules, multi-deck games and limit deck penetration to keep the skilled counter at bay. Though many in the industry believe the casino has every right to back off proficient players, I personally feel the minuscule amounts lost to card counters are trivial compared to the money made from the uninformed masses of poor players, not to mention bad counters.

Gambling thought of the week: "Treat people with courtesy, feed'em good. Cheap. Good whiskey cheap. And give'em a good gamble. That's all there is to it son." ‹Benny Binion, deceased owner of Binion¹s Horseshoe, downtown Las Vegas