Craps

How to Play Online Craps?

If you’ve never played craps before and only know how roulette, blackjack, and other casino games work, be sure to read this section of our ultimate online craps guide. We will explain in great detail how craps and online craps in particular works so that your first dice roll will happen smoothly and the results won’t confuse you. By reading this part of our guide, you will be up and running in no time, playing craps at your favorite online casino.

The goal of craps is that you roll a certain number by throwing two dice, which is called the point and then roll that exact same number again, before rolling a seven. Obviously the eyes of both dice are added together to form a final point score. The aforementioned point is always marked with pucks on a craps table in a land-based casino. After that, the next person or shooter needs to throw the dice and roll the same number again before rolling a seven.

If the shooter succeeds in doing so, this is called making a point. The puck is then removed from the craps table and either the next shooter or a so-called mechanical arm throws or launches the dice on the craps table.

This new dice roll is called the come out roll. A come out roll means that the game resets and that a new combination of added-up dice eyes will determine the next point. Whenever a total of 4, 5, 6, 8 , 9, or 10 is rolled with the dice, this number becomes the new point of the next game round.

The (next) shooter tries to throw the dice and roll the same number again, without rolling a total of seven. If the shooter rolls seven before the next point is rolled, this is called a seven out. When this happens, the shooter, or with online craps the player, will lose his or her bet.

Craps Rules for Throwing Dice

Apart from these basic crap rules, there are some more in-depth craps rules and terms like pass, don’t pass, and come don’t come. Whether you’re playing online craps or craps in a land-based casino, it is important to know these terms and betting types.

As we mentioned before in this ultimate craps guide, the shooter throws two dice to establish a Point. The first dice roll will determine the value of this Point. After that, players can bet on the outcome of the next roll – Will the shooter succeed in rolling the same outcome again before he or she rolls a seven?

Values of 2, 3, 7, 11, or 12 cannot be a Point. The 2, 3, and 12 are called Craps and the 7 and 11 are called Naturals. If the shooter throws the dice and they end up being one of these values, the game round ends immediately and all players lose their bets. If the shooter manages to establish a Point (any of the other outcomes), the game round continues and players can place their regular and side bets.

Now, like we explained before, the shooter has to throw the dice again and reach the value of the Point before a total value of 7 is rolled. All other players bet whether the shooter will succeed in this or not. Some bets only count for a single dice roll, whilst other bets count for the entire game round.

- The shooter starts every game round with a come out roll.

- If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11 he or she wins instantly.

- Whenever the shooter establishes a Point (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10), the shooter must roll this number again before rolling a 7 in order to win.

- Other players bet on what they think the shooter will roll next.

- If the shooter rolls 2, 3, or 12, it is Craps and the shooter loses instantly.

Craps Table Layout and Payouts

Now that you know what the goal of the game is, we’re going to take a look at the different types of bets and side bets you can make at craps and how the layout of the craps table is designed. Let’s start off by saying that the craps table layout looks quite difficult and confusing at first glance and that there are quite some craps strategies.

We already know the basics of craps: the shooter must try to establish a Point, which is called the Come Out roll.

All the other players can bet whether the shooter will succeed to establish a Point in his or her Come Out Roll by placing a Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line bet. A Pass Line bet pays out when the shooter directly rolls a 7 or 11, or makes a Point and rolls the same number before a 7 is rolled.

If you place a Don’t Pass Line bet, you bet on the exact opposite. Betting on the Come Field is similar to placing a Pass the Line bet, but only after the shooter throwed the dice at least once. The dealer, or one of the dealers in the case of New York Craps, will move your bet to the number the shooter must try to roll with the dice. Again, if you place a Don’t Come bet, you’re betting the shooter won’t succeed in doing so.

Craps Side Bets

There are also a couple of side bets whilst playing craps. One of these side bets is called Odds. The Craps table layout features an Odds Pass Line, an Odds Don’t Pass Line, Come Odds, and Don’t Come Odds.

Then there is the so-called Field bet. With a Field bet, you lose whenever the shooter rolls 5, 6, 7, or 8. You will win when any other number is rolled and when 2 or 12 is rolled you even get paid out double the usual amount.

With Big 6 and Big 8 bets, you predict that the shooter will roll either a 6 or an 8 before a 7 is rolled. A Buy bet is similar to Big 6 and Big 8 bets but on the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. Your payout will be lower on this type of side bet because the chance any of these numbers will be rolled is higher compared to just 6 and 8s.

With a Lay bet, you predict that a 7 will be rolled before any of these other numbers and with a Place bet, you bet on the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 only. The opposite of a Place bet is the Place lose bet.

Apart from these types of side bets, there are also Hardway bets. With a Hardway bet, you bet both dice will end up being the same number before a 7 is rolled, so 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, or 5+5, for example.

The final types of craps side bets are the Any 7 or Any Craps bets. With these types of bets, you predict the next dice roll will either be a 7 or a 2, 3, or 12.

Types of Online Craps

As craps isn’t as popular as roulette, blackjack, or baccarat, most online casinos only offer a single or just a few craps variants. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t more versions of the game. In this section of our Online Craps Guide, we will highlight the differences between the most popular craps variants and explain their special game rules.

Open Craps

In Open Craps, other players place bets against a player who accepts these bets. Open Craps is often illegal as one player must pre-finance the game. Players meet at a certain location to play the game and most oftenly bet significantly more than a normal casino would allow. The craps table at this type of craps has a loss line, a payline and squares labeled 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 , and 10.

High Point Craps

The game rules of High Point Craps are the same as those of traditional craps. However, there are some exceptions of course. If the outcome of the first roll is either a 2 or 3, the roll doesn’t count. If the shooter throws the dice and the total outcome ends up being 11 or 12, the shooter wins instantly. This type of online craps is quite rare and is also not that often played at land-based casinos, yet it is quite popular among craps players.

New York Craps

The difference between traditional craps and New York Craps is that players aren’t allowed to place come and don’t come bets. Players can only bet on the numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 with this type of craps. If the number you placed your bet on gets thrown, you win. If this is not the case, you lose. The craps table is a bit different than a regular craps table with this type of craps because two dealers are being used to host the game, the so-called stickman and lookman.

Simplified Craps

Simplified Craps is a craps variant that is designed especially for players new to the game. The craps rules are a bit different compared to traditional craps and no side bets are allowed. You win Simplified Craps by rolling 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, or 12. Whenever you throw the dice and the combined eyes end up being 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, you lose. The house edge with this type of craps is only 2,8%, which is just a little bit more than European Roulette.

Die Rich Craps

This version of craps has a whole lot of special rules. The craps table almost looks like a blackjack table and only a single dice is being used instead of two. In Die Rich Craps, you instantly win whenever you roll 6 and you instantly lose when you throw the dice and it ends up being a 1. Each game round, players can place come bets and field bets and the pass line and don’t pass line are present on the craps table.

Diceless Craps

Like it says on the tin, this type of craps is played without dice. Instead, two decks of 44 cards are used, containing only the cards from ace to 6. The other cards are removed from the deck. One card of each deck is dealt and represents the result of a dice roll. This type of craps is most often played at people’s homes as casinos don’t really like the fact that players can count cards with this type of craps.

Most Popular Online Craps Games

As we mentioned before in this ultimate online craps guide, craps isn’t as popular as blackjack or roulette. Most casinos only have two versions of craps available, both developed by Evolution Gaming, the #1 casino software provider when it comes to live casino gaming.

There are also other casino software providers that have developed live craps games such as Ezugi and Pragmatic Play, but they aren’t nearly as popular as the craps games released by Evolution Gaming.

Basically you can play First Person Craps, which you will find at most online casinos under their table game section. This is a random number generator-based craps game with a big ‘GO LIVE’ button you can press at any time to move over to Live Craps.

When you play Live Craps, a live dealer or live dealers in the case of New York Craps, will present the game, directly live streamed from a casino studio or actual casino. Underneath the live stream, you will find a betting interface which you can use to place your regular and side bets each game round.

If you want to check up on the rules whilst playing, simply press the i button to the left of the betting interface to make an entire tutorial pop-up show up that tells you all the rules and possible payouts.

Live Craps by Evolution Gaming also has an Easy Mode available, which is designed for new players and replaces the regular betting interface with a more easy-to-understand betting interface with fewer betting options.

For experienced craps players, Live Craps by Evolution Gaming contains Dynamic Statistics, which are boards on the studio wall which are constantly being updated with the latest dice roll information.

One of the coolest things of playing live online craps, is that you can communicate with both the dealers and other players via the built-in chat feature. Just be sure to keep polite and not become angry or insult others in the case you’re losing as the casino might (temporarily) ban you for doing so.

Craps Casino Bonuses

Although our casino experts have been searching for hours, they couldn’t find any reputable and licensed online casino that offers bonuses specifically meant for online craps. However, you can use most welcome bonuses and reload bonuses offered by casinos on craps.

Just note that every casino bonus has wagering requirements attached to it and that the wagering contribution of games like craps is often only 10% to 25%. This means that only a small percentage of your total wagers on craps will count towards the playthrough of any bonus.

Luckily, there are some online casinos and gambling websites that offer live casino bonuses, which are a bit more easy to playthrough as live casino games contribute a higher percentage towards the playthrough of these bonuses compared to regular casino bonuses.

Check out our toplist on top of this page.

Real Money Craps or Free Craps?

At most online casinos, you have the choice to play either real money craps or free craps in demo mode. This only counts for RNG-based craps, though, and not for live craps as live dealer games cannot be played in demo mode at any online casino.

We highly recommend new craps players to play craps for free first before wagering any real money. By playing demo versions of online craps you can get to know the rules, payouts, table layout, and familiarize yourself with the inner workings of the game in general.

Helpful Online Craps Tips

To end this craps guide, we have some tips and tricks for both new and experienced craps players. By applying these tips and tricks, you keep playing online craps as fun as possible and increase your chances of winning.

Online Craps Tips for Beginners

We recommend beginner craps players to take the time and read through all the rules of the game before playing it for real money. We also highly recommend beginner craps players to practice the game in free demo mode before wagering any money so that they can familiarize themselves with the game and how it works at online casinos. Last but not least, we suggest trying out different types of online craps to find out which one you like the most.

Online Craps Tips for Experts

As an expert craps player it is very easy to let yourself go and get totally lost in the game. For this reason, we highly recommend setting yourself a budget or loss limit and keeping yourself to it. Never gamble more than you’re willing to lose. If you have any problems with this, be sure to seek help and check out the responsible gaming page(s) available at the casino you’re playing at.

The second tip we want to give to expert craps players, is to only place bets with high returns. This means that you should avoid silly side bets that have horrible payouts and way too high house edges. The safest bets at online craps are Pass Line bets covered by a Free Odds bet and Come Line bets covered by a Free Odds bet.

Online Craps - Bottom Line

Online craps can be played at most online casinos as RNG software-based game or as live casino game. Most gambling websites only offer a single type of craps, but there are casinos that offer variants like New York Craps, Die Rich Craps, and High Point Craps as well.

The game is quite difficult to get a grasp of in the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll know why it is such a fun and exciting casino game many players across the globe love to play.

We highly recommend playing online craps for free first to familiarize yourself with the game rules and the inner workings of each betting round. Playing craps at our best online craps casinos will get you a nice welcome bonus which will increase your chance of successfully withdrawing a sweet profit from the casino.