An equidistant spectrum of the horizon area of a quantized black hole does not follow from the correspondence principle or from general statistical arguments. On the other hand, such a spectrum obtained in loop quantum gravity (LQG) either does not comply with the holographic bound or requires a special choice of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter for the horizon surface, distinct from its value for other quantized surfaces. The problem of distinguishability of the edges in LQG is discussed, with the following conclusion: Only under the assumption of partial distinguishability of the edges can the microcanonical entropy of a black hole be made both proportional to the horizon area and satisfying the holographic bound.