Craps has a reputation for being the most intimidating table in the casino — a felt covered in bet types, a dealer calling numbers, a crowd reacting to a single roll. Underneath the noise, the core of the game is one simple bet with genuinely good odds, surrounded by many worse optional ones.
The Table Layout and the Basic Flow
Craps is played with two six-sided dice; play moves around the table as each player takes a turn as “shooter.” A come-out roll starts each round — depending on the result, the game ends immediately or moves into a second phase built around a number called “the point.” The layout looks dense, but a player never needs to touch most of it.
The Pass Line Bet and the Come-Out Roll
The pass line is the fundamental bet in craps, placed before the come-out roll and resolved as follows:
- A roll of 7 or 11 on the come-out wins the pass line bet immediately.
- A roll of 2, 3, or 12 (“craps”) loses the pass line bet immediately.
- Any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10) becomes “the point” — the shooter keeps rolling until that number repeats (pass line wins) or a 7 comes first (pass line loses).
This gives the pass line bet a house edge of about 1.41%, among the lowest of any standard bet on the casino floor.
Odds Bets: The Best Bet in the Casino
Once a point is established, most tables allow a separate “odds” bet behind the pass line wager, paying true mathematical odds with no house edge — the only bet on a standard floor with a genuine 0% edge. It can only be added to an existing pass line (or don’t-pass) wager, and tables cap its size, commonly “3x-4x-5x odds”; taking the max lowers the blended edge well below 1.41%, so experienced players treat it as close to mandatory.
Other Craps Bets and Why Most Carry a Higher Edge
Beyond the pass line and odds, almost every other bet on the layout carries a noticeably worse house edge:
| Bet | House Edge | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pass Line | 1.41% | The core bet; wins on 7/11, loses on 2/3/12 come-out |
| Pass Line Odds | 0% | True odds, no edge, but only as an add-on to pass line |
| Don’t Pass | ~1.36% | Betting against the shooter; slightly better edge, socially unpopular at live tables |
| Place Bet on 6 or 8 | ~1.5% | A standalone bet the point-equivalent numbers will hit before a 7 |
| Field Bet | ~2.7%–5.5% | One-roll bet on a set of numbers; edge depends on the specific payout table |
| Any 7 | ~16.7% | One of the worst bets on the entire craps table |
| Hardways | ~9%–11% | Betting a specific pair combination before any other way of making that number, or a 7 |
Bets resolved over many rolls with favourable odds sit at the low end; single-roll bets with big payouts sit at the punishing end.
Why the Odds Fall Where They Do
Every number above traces back to one shape: the 36 ways two dice can land, grouped by total. Click a number to see how it plays into the pass line bet.
Craps Etiquette and Playing Online
At a physical table, craps has more social etiquette than most games — dice are thrown one-handed and expected to hit the back wall. Online, none of that applies: digital craps resolves each roll instantly, and live dealer craps streams a real table without requiring a player to handle anything.
The math doesn’t change — every bet carries the same house edge whether physical or RNG-generated, since the edge comes from payout and probability, not delivery. Confirming the platform is licensed for your province matters more than format; see the casino guide, and for how craps compares to other games, how RTP and house edge work. Craps is favourable played close to the pass-line-plus-odds core, but it’s still chance — play within a budget, and the responsible gambling page has tools worth bookmarking.