Be smart, play clever, and master craps the right way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed south and located safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. Many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.