Craps TipsBeginner Craps Tips

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Be smart, play cunning, and learn how to play craps the right way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and across the country. A few acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.