Craps Odds And Payouts Guide

In order to make the best craps bets, you need to first understand your odds of success and what you’ll be paid out when you do. In this guide, which features an easy-to-read craps odds charts, you’ll become familiar with the bets that make sense and those that are not so wise.

Whether playing craps online or in a brick-and-mortar casino, our guide will help you to navigate your way around the craps board with confidence. So, before you go back to the table or open up your casino app, keep reading so that you know you’re making the savviest bets you can.

So, Which Are the Best Craps Odds On the Table?

When you’re at the craps table, any strategy you use should be focused on minimizing the house edge as much as you possibly can. That’s because the casino’s edge can really eat into your winnings - especially when talking about high rollers at the big boys’ table. In some cases, we’re talking about as much as 16-17% which can really add up over time.

The Pass Line Bet

For those new to the game, you should have one thing and one thing only in your mind and that’s making either a Pass Line Bet or a Don’t Pass bet. A Pass bet carries the lowest edge in the house (at around 1.4%) and mathematically, you have the best chance of winning in terms of craps odds.

The Don’t Pass Bet

The Don’t Pass bet, on the other hand, has an even lower edge (just over 1.35%), but because of the fact that 7 is more likely to be thrown than a 2 or a 3, the craps odds  are higher, meaning you have a lower chance of winning overall. If you want a bit of variation as a beginner, you should perhaps consider regularly switching between the two.

The payout for these kinds of bets is 1 to 1, so, as long as you remain sensible with the amount you’re betting, you can keep playing and playing with a small bankroll. You probably won’t get rich this way, but it is a sensible bet and a popular low craps odds bet .

Laying the Odds

When you’ve made a Pass Line bet, there are additional bets you can make and that are referred to as Buy Bets or laying the odds. The great thing about these bets is that the house has zero edge, with the payout odds changing depending on the value of the point bet if one is established.

There are many types of bet you can place which include:

• The Place Bet - A wager on place numbers that requires no Pass Line bet
• The Horn Bet - A bet spread across 2, 3, 11 or 12.
• The Come Bet - Like the Pass Line Bet but made after the Come Out Roll (First Roll)
• A Hardways Bet - Betting on pairs coming up
• A Field Bet - Wagering that 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12 will come up

If you’re having trouble getting your head around this, check out our craps odds chart below for clarification on the payout odds available in the bets we’ve talked about.

Extra Craps Tip: Shooting a 7 comes with odds of 1 in 6 or 6/36, as there are six possible  craps combinations that will add up to that total. However, throwing a 12 or a 2 can only be done one way, meaning the odds are six times worse at 1 in 36.

Which are the Craps Bets You Should Avoid?

So, we’ve covered the best craps bets  for beginners, but what about the worst? Well, to understand this, you need to keep in mind the possible rolls that shooters can make. In total there are 36 different craps combinations that can happen on any given roll using two six-sided dice.

Most numbers on the craps table will be able to be thrown in a number of ways, aside from 2 and 12. The more available combinations for any given number, the higher chance you have of throwing it and the payout odds reflect this. So, in short, the worst best are the least likely to occur and they’re double one and double six.

Check out the table to see what we mean:

So, when making any kind of craps bet, keep these figures in mind. Typically speaking, the middle numbers offer the best chance of success, with those on the periphery offering much longer and less attractive odds. Here’s a complete list of the odds we haven’t mentioned that are offered in craps by most casinos.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the payout odds are lower than the actual or ‘True Odds’. This is because of the House Edge, which all casinos have whether playing in person or online.

So, What Precisely Does the House Edge Mean?

When you’re researching craps combinations  and the best craps bets , you’ll often see the phrase House Edge (we’ve even used it in this article already), but what does it really mean? Well, simply put, it represents the difference between the actual odds that the player gets and what’s known as the True Craps Odds . To explain, let’s take a look at a simpler scenario - a coin toss.

When you flip a coin, there are two possibilities - heads or tails - meaning that you have a 50-50 chance of it landing on either side. In True Odds, that’s an even money bet, however, with casinos not being charities, they work an edge into the situation for a better profit.

So, when a bet that has a 1-1 chance of winning, a casino may charge a small commission and pay out a few percent less as a result. The difference between the actual probability of a certain result happening and what they actually pay you is known as the Edge or Casino odds.

This edge will vary from casino to casino, game to game and even bet to bet. It’s calculated using craps rules, so that when players walk away with a big win, the casino is able to reduce the total amount it loses long-term. It might not seem fair, but it’s how it is and that’s how casinos payout.

Just think of it as casinos wouldn’t exist if they didn’t make money and the edge is how they ensure it. Without it, we’d have nowhere to enjoy gambling.

Extra Craps Tip: One of the lowest house edges in the casino is on the craps table, so you have the better chance of winning more than playing others.

Casino Odds Versus True Craps Odds 

When you’re new to playing at the casino, you could be forgiven for assuming that the true odds are what will dictate your winnings. However, that’s not correct and you’ll end up being disappointed if you hold onto the belief. The payout odds, as we’ve discussed are different and need to be worked out differently.

Without going into specifics, you will invariably get less of a payout than True odds would offer. If you’d like a more detailed explanation from an expert, take a look at this YouTube video that goes through things in an easy-to-understand way.

Does How You Throw the Dice Affect the Odds?

We’d love to tell you that there is a best way to roll dice in craps  that gives you a much better chance of success, but we’d be spinning you a yarn if we did. In truth, very little of what happens on a craps table has anything at all to do with skill and very much to do with luck and probability.

You can improve your chances slightly by being consistent with how you hold the dice, how hard you throw them, how high you throw them etc. This can result in an overall increase in certain numbers coming up, but to do it on a consistent basis, you’d have to have Tiger Woods levels of skill to win money at craps as a result.

Much of the time, you will be trying to avoid certain numbers coming up and setting the dice (usually holding the dice with your desired numbers facing up) can help with this when you get to the stage where your throw is consistent. However, if you’re practicing to throw a specific number each time, don’t be surprised if you just can’t manage it.

Know Your Odds, Play Smart & Walk Away Richer

Understanding your craps odds is key to winning, as otherwise you’re simply trusting luck. Plus if you don’t know the difference between a safe bet and a risky one, it’s almost impossible to make a considered bet, be it online or otherwise.

We hope you have found our guide useful. For more craps information, try reading our Introduction to Craps  and Winning at Craps articles. That’s it from us. All that remains to be said is that we hope you have a happy and profitable time at the craps table.