Hacks for Craps Players - 7 Easy Tips for Winning Craps More Often

Craps strategy seems like a straightforward matter on the surface. All you need to do is make the best bets to achieve the lowest house edge.

The top regular bets are pass line, don’t pass line, come, and don’t come. Pass line and come have a 1.41% house edge, while don’t pass line and don’t come have a 1.36% house edge.

Sticking with these four wagers will give you a strong chance to win in any given situation. Of course, many craps players want an even better chance to win.

That said, I’m going to discuss 7 craps hacks that will boost your chances of winning and ensure that you get the best possible loyalty rewards.

1 – The Craps Odds Bet Is the Best in the Casino

I’ve already discussed the four top regular craps bets. But an “odds” wager is even better than these because it doesn’t carry a house edge.

The casino doesn’t offer any other no-house-edge bets on a regular basis. This is what makes odds so special.

You definitely want to take advantage of this bet as a craps player. But you need to know how to place an odds wager first.

Casinos don’t list odds on the table among regular bets. Instead, you need to place this wager behind either a pass line or don’t pass line wager.

You also must wait for the point number to be established before making an odds bet. The reason why is because the point number is crucial to determine if you win or lose.

You should get the dealer’s attention and let them know that you’re backing the original wager with odds. This eliminates any confusion and ensures that you’ll be paid properly for a win.

Backing a pass line bet is called “taking odds.” You need the shooter to roll the point number before a seven to win the pass line and odds bets.

You’ll be paid the following amounts when taking odds:

2:1 on point numbers of 4 and 10
3:2 on points of 5 and 9
6:5 on points of 6 and 8

Laying odds means that you need a shooter to roll a 7 before the point number to win. You can see the payouts for laying odds below:

1:2 for point numbers of 4 and 10
2:3 for points of 5 and 9
5:6 for points of 6 and 8

Every payout for taking and laying odds pays at the true value of your bet. Therefore, this wager doesn’t have a house advantage.

Casinos limit the size of odds that you can bet because they don’t make anything off odds wagers. You can improve your chances of winning by choosing a casino that offers higher odds.

Here’s a look at how much the overall house advantage on your pass line or don’t pass line bets drop when odds are involved:

The one catch to betting larger odds is that you also need the money to back them up. Here’s an example:

You make a $10 pass line bet
The casino allows up to 3x odds
You need to bet 3 times your original wager to achieve this
10 x 3 = $30
$30 + $10 = $40 bet

It’s worth taking/laying the best odds available when you have the bankroll to do so. But the average player will find this expensive.

Also, note that odds bets are susceptible to volatility just like many other table game bets. Just because there’s no house edge doesn’t mean that you can’t suffer a losing streak.

2 – Cromwell and Main Street Station Are the Best Casinos for Craps

It’s worth seeking out casinos that offer the biggest odds bets available when considering that you have a better chance to win with higher odds.

The Cromwell Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas offers the world’s best craps game at the time of this post. They allow up to 100x odds bets, with a $5 minimum pass line or don’t pass line bet.

This means that you can place a $5 minimum wager, then put an additional $500 in the odds behind your bet.

You’ll only be facing a 0.021% house edge in this case with a pass line wager. The house advantage drops even further to 0.014% if you take 100x odds behind a don’t pass line bet.

Of course, not everybody can afford to risk this much on a single wager. But you can always take or lay lower odds and still have a good chance of winning.

The Cromwell opened on the Las Vegas Strip in 2014 and has had the best game in town ever since. My only hope is that they don’t eventually lower their 100x odds.

You can use Main Street Station as a backup plan if they ever do lower their odds wagers.

Main Street Station is located on North Main Street in Downtown Las Vegas. They allow up to 20x odds on pass line or don’t pass line bets.

This means that you can make a $5 minimum bet and put another $100 worth on the odds behind it. While this is 5x less than the Cromwell, it’s still the second-best craps game in Las Vegas and beyond.

You’ll find plenty of other craps tables in Sin City that allow up to 10x odds. Considering that most casinos don’t go above 5x odds, this makes Vegas a craps player’s paradise.

3 – Betsoft and Playtech Offer the Best Online Craps

Online craps doesn’t match the mammoth odds bets found in Las Vegas. In fact, many online gaming providers don’t even allow odds wagers at all.

But Betsoft and Playtech are two online casino software companies that do feature odds. And they currently have the best odds bets in online craps at 3x.

This pales in comparison to what the Cromwell and Main Street Station offer. In fact, 3x odds is only comparable to the average land-based casino.

But this is the best deal that you’ll get in internet craps. Other gaming providers either offer 1x odds, 2x odds, or none.

This means that you should look for online casinos that carry either Betsoft or Playtech software to give yourself the best chance of beating online craps.

Most gaming providers feature a $1 minimum craps wager. This lets you make a minimum wager along with 3x odds for just $4.

The fact that you can make this bet for only $4 helps make up for how online craps doesn’t compare to Vegas casinos regarding the size of odds. Many low rollers will appreciate how cheaply they can play Playtech and Betsoft craps.

4 – Land-Based Loyalty Rewards Are Better Than Online Casinos

If you love picking up craps comps, then note that you’ll find the best deals in brick-and-mortar casinos.

The exact craps comp rate that you receive varies based on the type of bets you’re making. Placing risky prop bets with a high house edge will earn you more rewards.

Meanwhile, making wagers with a low house edge like pass line and don’t pass line don’t deliver as many comps. But your overall chances of winning are still better because loyalty rewards don’t make up for a high house edge.

You can still look forward to a 0.1% craps comp rate, even when you’re placing the best wagers. The only exception is the odds bet, which doesn’t offer any rewards since the casino doesn’t theoretically make money on it.

But you’ll still get comps on the minimum bets that you make before backing them with odds. Here’s an example of what you can expect in terms of land-based craps comps:

You bet $2,000 on a combination of pass line and come bets
The casino offers a 0.1% comp rate to players who make these bets
2,000 x 0.001 = $2 in rewards

This doesn’t seem like much based on how much you’re wagering. But it’s actually a good deal in comparison to what you’ll receive with online craps.

Internet slots are used as the standard to determine internet casino rewards. And online craps normally only generate 30% to 50% the same amount of loyalty rewards – if any at all.

Here’s an example:

An internet casino offers 1 comp point for every $10 wagered on slots
100 comp points = $1 cashback
This means that you must wager $1,000 on slots to get $1 in rewards
Internet craps only generates points at 30% the same rate
1,000 / 0.3 = $3,333
You must wager $3,333 to earn $1 in craps rewards.

The online slots example above offers a 0.1% rate, which is the same as many land-based craps games.

The problem is that internet craps only generates rewards at 30% the rate of online slots. Therefore, your comp rate is 0.03%, which is terribly low.

What’s worse is that some online casinos don’t even include craps in their rewards scheme because it has a low house edge. This means you won’t get any craps loyalty rewards when playing at these casinos.

Long story short, land-based casinos are normally the best when it comes to earning VIP rewards.

5 – Online Deposit Bonuses Offer the Best Value Among Craps Rewards

You may not get great comps through internet craps. But the deposit bonuses that online casinos offer craps players are the best rewards in the game.

Many casinos offer deposit bonuses to entice players into making more deposits. These rewards are usually expressed in match percentage form, such as a 100% match bonus up to $500.

This means that if you deposit $200, you’ll be eligible to earn a $200 bonus. I mention the word “eligible” here because you have to earn the money before withdrawing.

You do this by meeting wagering requirements, which are either expressed as a multiple of the bonus or a multiple of the deposit plus bonus.

Here’s an example:

You’re playing for a $100 bonus
Wagering requirements are 20 x the bonus plus deposit
Your formula is 20 x (100 + 100)
This leaves you wagering $4,000 to unlock the bonus

The catch here is that slots, keno, and scratch cards are the only games that contribute 100% towards meeting online wagering requirements. Games with smaller house edges like craps contribute a lower amount.

Here’s an example of what to expect at the average online casino:

Slots, keno, and scratch cards = 100% contribution to wagering requirements
Caribbean Stud, Casino Hold’em, and Let ‘Em Ride = 35%
Tri-Card Poker = 20%
Craps = 10%
Pai Gow and video poker = 10%
American and European roulette = 0%

Notice that craps wagers only contribute 10% of the amount that slots do towards unlocking your bonus.

This might seem unfair. And it is when considering that you’ll lose about 5 times as much trying to unlock a deposit bonus through craps versus slots.

But it’s still the best deal that you’ll find in either land-based or internet craps.

I’ll explain in the example below:

You play at a land-based casino with a 0.1% comp rate
You bet $1,000
This earns you $1 in rewards
You deposit $1,000 at an online casino
You’re eligible for a $1,000 bonus
Wagering requirements are 20x the bonus plus deposit amount
But craps only contributes 10% of this amount
Your craps formula is 200 x the bonus plus deposit amount
200 x (1,000 + 1,000) = $400,000 to unlock bonus

You need to bet a fortune to earn your entire $1k bonus. But I’ll break this down further and explain why it’s a better deal than land-based rewards:

$400,000 bets / $1,000 bonus = $400 wagered per bonus dollar
You must bet $1,000 to earn each bonus dollar (0.1% comp rate) at a land-based casino
1,000 / 400 = 2.5x the rewards

The math shows that online craps deposit bonuses reward you at 2.5x the rate as land-based casino rewards programs.

These rewards obviously work differently than each other. After all, you’re depositing at an online casino and playing craps to unlock your bonus.

But it still doesn’t change the fact that online craps bonuses are the best offer in the game. The one catch, though, is that you must make sure that craps contributes towards bonus wagering requirements at your casino.

6 – Land-Based Craps Is Your Ticket to Winning

I’ve covered how land-based casinos offer the largest odds bets. And I also discussed how online casino deposit bonuses are the best rewards that players can get.

But where does this leave us in terms of which type of craps gives you the best chance of winning?

Land-based craps is still your best shot to beat the game, even when considering how you don’t get lucrative deposit bonuses. The fact that you can play such high odds bets really increases your odds of winning.

Remember that craps deposit bonuses don’t add much to your bottom line when compared to the effect of the house edge.

You can see this as an example below:

You bet $1,000 on don’t pass line in a land-based casino
You lay 10x odds
House edge is 0.124% in this scenario
1,000 x 0.00124 = $1.24 in theoretical losses
Comp rate is 0.1%
$100 (don’t pass line bets) x 0.001 = $0.10 in comps
You’ll theoretically lose $1.14 at a land-based casino
You bet $1,000 on don’t pass line in an online casino
You lay 3x odds
House edge is 0.341% in this scenario
1,000 x 0.00341 = $3.41 in theoretical losses
Deposit bonus pays 0.25%
$100 (don’t pass line bets) x 0.0025 = $0.25 in comps
You’ll theoretically lose $3.16 at an online casino

This of course assumes that you can have access to a land-based casino with 10x craps odds. Many players won’t find odds above 2x or 3x at their local casino.

But my point is that the absolute best chances of beating craps are found in land-based casinos.

If you can’t make it to Vegas or find a local casino with high odds bets, then internet craps isn’t a bad backup plan. You can wager 3x odds at either Playtech or Betsoft casinos and also look forward to getting deposit bonuses.

7 – Forget About Systems and Just Play

The final hack is the simplest of them all: don’t worry about systems when playing craps.

Many players try to find complicated ways to beat what’s really a simple game. This includes doing everything from hedging bets to devising complicated systems with multiple wagers.

Craps has been played in casinos for decades. And nobody has found a way to beat the game through betting manipulation.

This is exactly what craps systems are, because they merely involve combining bets or changing wager sizes to beat the house.

Here’s an example of a craps betting system called the Iron Cross:

You make Place bets on 5, 6, and 8
You make a Field wager
A Field bet pays 1:1 on 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11. And it pays 2:1 on 2 or 12
Some casinos pay 3:1 on the 12
Every number is covered except for 7

This seems like a winning strategy on the surface because you have so many different numbers covered in each round. In fact, you can look forward to winning at least one of your bets over 80% of the time with the strategy.

The downside, though, is that you have four wagers on the table simultaneously.

You lose all four of these bets if a 7 is rolled. You also lose three place bets when the shooter doesn’t produce a 5, 6, or 8.

This adds up to the Iron Cross featuring a 3.87% house edge. While not the worst craps betting system, it still doesn’t come close to the house edge on a simple pass line or don’t pass line wager.

Another strategy that some players try involves the alleged advantage-play technique called dice control. This method involves holding the dice in a specific way (i.e., V-set) and throwing them with the same motion.

Also called controlled shooting, this technique is supposed to help you control the results occasionally. And it only takes controlling the results on one roll out of every 40-50 to swing the house edge in your favor.

Therefore, some gamblers have devoted hours to controlled shooting. I liken this to a professional athlete who practices their technique again and again to perfect it.

The only problem is that I’ve never seen any true evidence that dice control works. Casinos don’t ban controlled shooters, nor is there anyone besides those selling dice control books and seminars claiming to be a big winner with this technique.

Compare this to card counting, which is a legitimate and widely-known advantage-play method. Casinos will ban successful card counters because they can overcome the house advantage and win long-term profits.

In summary, ignore both controlled shooting and craps systems, unless you’re trying these strategies out for fun.

Conclusion

The 7 hacks presented in this post won’t suddenly give you a long-term edge over the casino. But they will improve your chances of winning quite a bit.

This is especially the case with odds bets. Even laying just 2x odds will cut the house edge down to 0.61% (pass line) or 0.46% (don’t pass line).

Other actions that you want to take include looking for the best rewards and playing at casinos that offer the highest odds bets.

Also, note that the best way to beat craps involves taking the simple route. This means ignoring complicated systems and sketchy advantage-play techniques like dice control.

Your best option for beating craps involves betting the highest odds available and picking up good rewards. Beyond this, you only need a little luck to overcome the slim house advantage.