Craps Tips

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Be brilliant, play cunning, and master craps the correct way!

Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Current craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard during a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French relocated down south and located sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.