The House Edge in the Casino Game of Craps

It’s not especially constructive to talk about a "house edge" per se in craps as compared with roulette. You see, in roulette, almost all of the bets you can make afford have the same advantage to the house. In craps, the advantage the house has depends on the kind of bet that is made. This pertains not just to the brick and mortar setting but online craps games as well.

If you are looking for the best bet, on a pure percentage basis, then you are talking about betting the Pass Line plus 100x odds, which constitutes a .02% edge for the casino. Other pass line bets where you take odds offer a wager that means less than a 1% edge for the house, down to the Pass Line with 1x odds (.85%).

Whether you're putting down a Pass or Come bet, you'll be giving up 1.41% to the house, and the percentages on the Don't Pass and Don't Come are essentially the same (-1.4%). You can make "field" bets, but they generally are not some of the best. In the case where you are being paid 3-to-1 odds on 12, you are at a 2.78% disadvantage, and when it pays 2-to-1 it's a 5.56% to the house.

In exploring the "Place" bets, placing to win or lose on the 6 or 8 would appear to be the best way to go. To win on the 6 or 8 offers a 1.52% edge for the house, while it's a 1.82% disadvantage on the place bet to lose. A place bet on the 4 or 10 to win is your worst bet in this category, with a 6.67% disadvantage for the player.

One of the worst bets for you, anywhere on the layout, is "any craps", a one-off bet where you are wagering that the next number to be rolled is either 2, 3 or 12. That bet affords the house an edge of 11.11%, so you might as well keep your money in your pocket.

Hardway bets are just that - a hard way to make a buck. Make a bet on the Hard 4 or Hard 10 and you are giving up 11.11% to the house, and that almost doesn't sound fair. Bet on the Hard 6 or Hard 8 yields a negative 9.09% to you.

As for wagering on one of the proposition bets, located in the center of the layout, well, you might as well just stay home. You can bet the 2, 3, 7, 11 or 12. These are one-roll bets that the next number rolled will be what you bet on, and they have different payouts. For example, hitting the 2 or 12 on the next roll pays off at 30-to-1 odds, while the 3 or 11 pays out at 15-to-1 odds.

Yeah, those are big odds, and those bets naturally carry a big house edge. In fact, the 3 and 11 give the house an 11.11% edge, which the same as the Hard 4 or 10, while the 2 or 12 constitutes a 13.89% advantage for the casino. The whopper, however, is the "Any Seven" wager that is among the proposition bets in the center of the table, because the house has a huge 16.67% advantage there, and that makes it the worst single bet of all of them!

When thinking about playing craps or craps strategy in general, now you have the bad news and the good news. Bad, because you know that you are not going to derive a long-term edge over the house in craps. Good, because you at least know which are the better bets to make and those to avoid entirely.