Craps Tips

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Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps evolved from the old English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he established the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.