Craps

A round starts with the come-out roll. Pass Line bets win on a 7 or 11 and lose on 2, 3 or 12 ("craps"). Any other total (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10) becomes the point. The shooter then keeps rolling: Pass Line bets win if the point is rolled again before a 7, and lose if a 7 comes first (a "seven-out"), which also ends the shooter's turn.

Don't Pass is the opposite bet: it wins on 2 or 3 on the come-out, loses on 7 or 11, pushes on 12, and after a point is set wins if a 7 arrives before the point. Come and Don't Come bets work the same way but start on any roll after the point is set.

The Pass Line has a house edge of about 1.41% and Don't Pass about 1.36%. Once a point is set, players can back their bet with an Odds bet, which pays at true odds (2:1 on 4 or 10, 3:2 on 5 or 9, 6:5 on 6 or 8) and so has no house edge at all. Taking odds lowers the overall edge on the money wagered. At the other extreme, one-roll proposition bets such as "any seven" (paying 4:1, with a house edge of about 16.7%) carry the highest margins on the table.

Craps is a major game in US land-based casinos but a niche one online, because the real table's appeal comes from the crowd and the shooter. Live studios have brought it online with physical dice and automated shakers, and RNG developers offer simplified layouts. For operators, the spread of margins across the layout matters: most revenue comes from the proposition and place bets rather than from the low-edge line bets.

A player bets 10 on the Pass Line and the come-out roll is 6, so 6 is the point. The player adds 10 in Odds. If a 6 is rolled before a 7, the Pass Line pays 10 and the Odds pay 12 (6:5). If a 7 comes first, both bets lose.

• Sic Bo — the three-dice game that plays the same role in Asian markets.
• House edge — why the Odds bet is the only zero-edge bet in the casino.
• Live dealer — how physical dice games are streamed online.

Compare the studios that stream dice games in the live casino provider directory, or RNG versions from game developers.