How the Craps Bet Works Craps sees you win when a 2, 3, or 12 is rolled, and you lose with any other number combination. These three numbers combine to offer you four out of 36 dice combinations that’ll result in a win, or 8:1 true odds. Casino Craps Winning Strategy – Slot machines: the odds of winning the jackpot Slot machine odds But the situation gets a little trickier if side bets are required to activate game features such as pick’em bonuses or free spins, hotel stays. Prior to Amendment 50, craps was not allowed at Colorado casinos. 4, 2008, Colorado voters passed sweeping changes to the “limited gaming act” that not only raised the maximum betting limits on a given hand from $5 to $100, but allowed for additional games including craps. Black Hawk Casinos with Craps tables:. Your odds of winning are better than this, as you can hit five bells, five whistles or five of any other set of symbols, so on this machine your odds of any set of five are actually 5 x 0.032%, or 0.16%. So once in every 625 spins of this hypothetical machine, you’ll hit your set of five identical symbols for the jackpot.
Since craps is a game of chance, you need to understand why you have a greater or lesser chance of rolling different numbers. Because you're rolling two dice, your chances of rolling a specific number in craps are determined by the number of die combinations that can add up to that number. For example, 2 can only be rolled with two 1s, but 4 can be rolled with either a 1 and a 3 or two 2s. That means you have twice the chance of rolling a 3 as you do a 2. Because the 7 has the greatest number of combinations (six), it is the number that has the potential to come up most often, which is why 7 is the magic number in craps.
There are 36 possible number combinations in craps. Here is a chart showing the possible combinations for each number using two die.
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From the chart, you can see that the most likely number you'll roll is a 7, followed by the 6 and the 8, then 5 and 9, then 4 and 10, then 3 and 11, and finally (and least likely) the 2 and the 12. This means you'll roll a 7 once out of every six rolls, a 6 or an 8 once out of every 7 to 8 rolls, and so on.
By looking at the possible combinations, the 'true odds' for each number can be established. Knowing the odds in craps is good so you have a feel for the likelihood of one number being rolled before another one (e.g., is the 4 going to be rolled before the 7?).
Now, true odds are not what the casino pays you unless you're also betting 'free odds' on top of your main bet. Free odds, which is an additional wager you place with your original line bet, pay true odds so the casino's edge is reduced. (We'll talk more about free odds in Strategies the Winners Use.)
To better explain how the casino edge works, let's take the example of flipping a coin. You have a 50/50 chance of the coin landing on heads, and a 50/50 chance of it landing on tails. If that were a bet on which you were being paid true odds, you would be paid even money. The casino, however, has to have an edge in order to make a profit on the game. So, the payoff for any given bet is less than what true mathematical odds would dictate. For example, on a bet that had true odds of 1:1, you would think that if you bet $1 and win, you would be paid $1 in winnings. But in a casino, depending on the bet, you might only be paid $.96. The difference between the true odds and what they pay you is how they make money -- it's called casino odds.
Another way to better understand casino odds versus true odds is to look at the definition of the casino (or house) edge. WizardOfOdds.com defines it as, 'The ratio of the average loss to the initial bet,' going on to explain that it's based on the original wager rather than the average wager so that players can have an idea of how much they are going to lose when they place a bet. For example, by knowing that the casino has a 1.41 percent edge in craps, you can know that you'll be losing 14.1 cents for every $10 bet.
For charts of odds for all types of bets, visit the Wizard of Odds.com.
On the next page, we'll talk about types of craps bets, their odds and what the casino pays for each.
This page is a guide to craps conditions in Las Vegas. We've included sections for lowest and highest betting limits, and sections for which casinos offer the best table odds. The section about table odds is possibly the most important, because the amount you can bet on the 'Free Odds' bet in craps is always a multiple of what you bet on the 'Pass Line' bet. The higher that multiple is, the lower the house edge becomes. (Although the house edge is never 0% or negative, you can get the house edge pretty low if you can get a high enough multiple.)
Here are some examples of the house edge for Pass Line bets followed by Free Odds bets at various available multiples:
Table Odds | House Edge on Pass Line Bet + Free Odds |
1X | 0.85% |
2X | 0.61% |
3X | 0.47% |
5X | 0.33% |
10X | 0.18% |
20X | 0.10% |
100X | 0.02% |
The house edge on the 'Don't Pass' bet + free odds is about 0.15% lower than the Pass Line bet + free odds, but a lot of people don't like to bet against the shooter. The house edge on the Don't Pass bet + free odds is only 0.01%, which makes it the best bet in just about every casino if you're not counting cards at blackjack or something like that.
The Casino Royale on the Las Vegas Strip offers 100X odds on their two craps tables. Their betting limits at the craps table range from a minimum bet of $3 to a maximum bet of $500, and the maximum odds bet you can place is $2500 per bet. The Casino Royale is located in the center of the Las Vegas Strip, next to Harrahs and across the street from the Mirage.
The best casino at which to play craps on the Boulder Highway is Sam's Town, where they offer 20X odds. That makes the house edge on the pass line bet + odds bet only 0.1%, which is as close to an even money bet as you will likely find at any Vegas casino game. Their minimum bet is $5 and the maximum bet is $3000, but they have a maximum odds bet of $5000. Sam's Town has four craps tables.
In downtown Vegas, the best odds craps can be found at Main Street Station, who offer 20X odds. The minimum bet there is $5, and the maximum bet is $1000. Main Street Station has three craps tables.
$5000 is the practical maximum betting limit at the craps tables in Vegas. Several casinos offer a maximum bet of $5000, and we've listed them below, along with what kind of multiple the free odds bets offer.
Casino | Table Odds |
Golden Nugget | 6X, 8X, and 10X |
Wynn Resort | 3-4-5X |
Mirage | 3-4-5X |
Treasure Island | 3-4-5X |
Caesar's Palace | 3-4-5X |
Venetian | 3-4-5X |
Paris | 3-4-5X |
Aladdin | 3-4-5X |
Bally's | 3-4-5X |
Bellagio | 3-4-5X |
MGM | 3-4-5X |
3-4-5X odds is something a little different from what was discussed earlier. The house edge for casinos offering this is 0.37%, which makes it a respectable bet. When you make the maximum odds bet at one of these casinos, the payout is always seven times the bet no matter the result, instead of true odds. But the maximum amount you're allowed to bet is based on the point:
If the point is 4 or 10, then the max odds bet is 3X.
If the point is 5 or 9, then the max odds bet is 4X.
If the point is 6 or 8, the max odds bet is 5X.
If you're just looking for the cheapest place to play craps in Las Vegas, then you're looking for the lowest betting limits. Slots a Fun, the Orleans, Sunset Station, Boulder Station, and both Arizona Charlies all offer minimum bets of $2. But Vegas has an even lower minimum craps game available at Nevada Palace, which is a neighborhood casino with only one craps table.
The best place to play craps in Vegas is the place where you're most comfortable with the table odds and betting limits. We've tried to provide a lot of information about casinos to choose from in order to play craps in Las Vegas, but there are other factors which might go into your playing decision, like whether or not the casino is someplace you'd actually be willing to stay, what the cocktail waitresses look like, or how friendly and active the craps games are. We hope this section has gotten you started in terms of places to think about playing though.