Craps Information

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.

Early French colonists imported 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 were driven out of Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and across the country. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.