Become Versed in Craps – Tricks and Strategies: The History of Craps

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Be clever, play smart, and pickup craps the correct way!

Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French headed down south and located sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.