Craps: rules, odds bets and house edge on every bet

Craps looks chaotic, but the bets worth knowing fit on one line. Pass Line has a 1.41% house edge and Don't Pass 1.36%. Add an odds bet behind either one and that extra money is paid at true odds, with no edge at all. The busy centre of the table, the proposition bets, is where the house makes its money.

How craps works

Craps is played with two dice. One player, the shooter, rolls for the table, and everyone bets on the result.

1. Come-out roll. A new round starts with the come-out roll.
   • 7 or 11: Pass Line wins, Don't Pass loses.
   • 2, 3 or 12 ("craps"): Pass Line loses. Don't Pass wins on 2 or 3 and pushes on 12.
   • 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10: that number becomes the point.
2. Point phase. The shooter keeps rolling until either the point or a 7 appears.
   • Point first: Pass wins, Don't Pass loses.
   • 7 first ("seven out"): Pass loses, Don't Pass wins, and the dice pass to the next shooter.

Come and Don't Come work exactly like Pass and Don't Pass, but you can place them after the point is set; the next roll acts as their own come-out roll. They carry the same edges.

The odds bet

Once a point is set, you can add an odds bet behind your Pass or Come bet ("taking the odds"), or behind Don't Pass or Don't Come ("laying the odds"). It is paid at the true probability:

Because the payout matches the odds, the house edge on the odds bet is 0%. The casino limits how much you can put there, often as a multiple of your line bet. The more of your total stake sits in odds, the lower the average edge across both bets. The edge on the line bet itself never changes.

Bets and house edge

These are per bet made, using common US pay tables, from the Wizard of Odds. We checked each by calculation.

Pay tables vary. A 2 or 12 at 29:1 instead of 30:1 raises its edge, while some casinos pay better on certain bets. The Wizard of Odds lists the alternatives; the help screen shows which your game uses.

Proposition bets: why they cost so much

The one-roll bets in the centre of the layout pay big numbers, which makes them look generous. Take Any Seven. Six of the 36 dice combinations make 7, so a fair payout would be 5:1. The casino pays 4:1. Bet £1 on 36 rolls and, on average, 6 of them win, each returning £5 (£4 plus your stake): £30 back for £36 staked, a 16.67% edge.

Hardways (a 6 rolled as 3-3, for example) stay up until the number rolls the "easy" way or a 7 appears. A hard 6 or 8 at 9:1 costs 9.09%; a hard 4 or 10 at 7:1 costs 11.11%. Compare that with Pass Line at 1.41%. If the centre bets are part of the fun, keep them small and count them as entertainment costs.

Strategy basics, honest about limits

• Stick to Pass, Don't Pass, Come and Don't Come, with odds if you can afford them.
• Place 6 and 8 (1.52%) are reasonable extras. Place 4 and 10 are not.
• Don't Pass is fractionally cheaper than Pass. Some players dislike betting against the shooter; the difference is small.
• Dice control, "hot shooters" and betting progressions do not change the probabilities. Each roll is independent, and no system alters the edge. Our roulette guide works through why doubling up fails.

Online craps

Online craps comes as RNG craps, where software rolls the dice and you can usually try a demo, and, at some casinos, live dealer craps streamed from a studio. See our live dealer games guide and Evolution. Availability varies by market and casino. Check the help screen for the odds limits and the payouts on field and proposition bets, because those decide the edge.

If you enjoy dice games, sic bo is the three-dice alternative, though most of its bets carry far higher edges than Pass Line. Our RTP and volatility guide explains how house edge and RTP relate.

Where to play

We list licensed casinos only: UK casinos, Ontario, Alberta, rest of Canada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan. See how we rate casinos.