[ English ]

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

Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps developed from the ancient English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and across the nation. A good many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.