Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps come about from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French moved down south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and all over the country. A few acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.