Craps

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the ideal way!

Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the origin of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he designed the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.