Craps Information

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Be brilliant, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the right way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. Many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.