Be smart, play smart, and discover how to play craps the proper way!

Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated down south and located safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was gotten from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he invented the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.