Choose Craps Bets That Cost You Least

Every round of craps starts with the come-out roll, and the pass line is the bet most players put down before it. A 7 or 11 on that first roll wins at even money, while a 2, 3 or 12 loses immediately.

Any other total — 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 — becomes the point. From then on only two numbers matter to the pass line: the point, which wins, and a 7, which loses. Everything rolled in between is noise for this bet, although it may settle other wagers on the layout.

Across all those outcomes the pass line wins about 49.29% of decisions, which works out to a house edge of 1.41%. In plain terms, the casino keeps around $1.41 of every $100 wagered on it over the long run, not on any single roll.

That small edge is why the pass line anchors almost every sound craps approach.

The come bet follows identical rules but is placed after a point is already set, so the next roll acts as its own come-out. On Evolution’s Live Craps, where a mechanical arm throws the dice instead of a player-shooter, both bets sit in the same spots as on a land-based felt. The provider also offers an optional Easy Mode that trims the layout to simpler bets, which makes the line bets far easier to find among the clutter of a full table.

Don’t pass is the mirror bet, often called betting the dark side. It wins on a come-out 2 or 3, loses on 7 or 11, and treats 12 as a push rather than a win.

That push on 12 is the whole reason the edge drops to 1.36%. Without it, don’t pass would beat the house, so the casino bars one number to keep its margin.

The trade-off sits in the come-out. Pass line players have eight winning combinations out of 36 on that first roll, while don’t pass bettors have only three, so the dark side loses more often early and wins more often once a point is set.

At a land-based table the social side matters too, since you are rooting against everyone else.

Online, and on live dealer streams where other players appear only as chat handles, that pressure mostly disappears. The real question becomes temperament: whether you prefer a bet that wins slightly more decisions, or one that costs a fraction less but asks you to lay more than you can win once you add odds. The gap between the two is five-hundredths of a percentage point, small enough that the side you can play calmly matters more than the lower number.

Once a point is set, you can add a second wager behind your pass line called the odds. It pays true odds, so the casino holds no edge on it at all.

The payouts track the dice. A 4 or 10 can be rolled three ways against six ways for a 7, so odds on those points pay 2:1. Points 5 and 9 pay 3:2, and 6 and 8 pay 6:5.

Because the odds dilute the 1.41% already paid on the line bet, the combined edge falls as the multiple rises: about 0.85% with 1x odds, 0.61% with 2x and 0.47% with 3x. At a table allowing 10x, published tables put it near 0.18%.

The cap is set by the casino, not by the rules of craps.

Land-based tables often use a 3-4-5x structure, meaning three times the line bet on 4 and 10, four times on 5 and 9 and five times on 6 and 8, so that every maximum odds win equals six times the line bet. Online limits vary by game and operator, which makes the info panel of the specific table the place to confirm the multiple before you plan a session. Don’t pass players lay odds instead, risking more to win less, at the same zero edge.

The centre of the craps layout holds the proposition bets, and nearly all of them are priced well above the line bets. Their payouts look generous only until you set them against the true odds.

Any seven is the clearest case. A 7 comes up six times in 36, so a fair payout would be 5:1, but the table pays 4:1, which leaves a 16.67% house edge.

Hardways follow the same pattern at a lower price: 9.09% on hard 6 or 8 and 11.11% on hard 4 or 10. Any craps, the 3 and the 11 each run at 11.11%, while the 2 and 12 at 30:1 sit at 13.89%.

Big 6 and Big 8 deserve a separate warning.

They win when a 6 or 8 arrives before a 7, exactly like a place bet on those numbers, yet they pay only even money and carry a 9.09% edge against 1.52% for placing the same number at 7:6. The field is a borderline case rather than a clear avoid: it costs 2.78% when one of the 2 or 12 pays triple and 5.56% when both pay double. Listings of Evolution’s Live Craps that we compared disagree on its field payout, so read the paytable inside the game rather than trusting a summary. Operators carrying that game publish a return range of 83.33% to 99.17% depending on the bet, and the bottom of that range is the any seven wager.