To play craps at a casino, buy chips at the table, place a pass line bet before the shooter throws, and follow the roll until the shooter either repeats the point or throws a 7. Before step one you need a buy-in, chips, a working picture of the layout and the posted table minimum. The four steps below cover one full round.
Craps Dice Game How To Play At Casinos: What You Need Before the First Roll
Start with the money. Walk up to an open spot, set your cash on the felt and tell the dealer you’re buying in. Don’t hand it over. The dealer counts it, passes it to the box and slides chips back to you. Those chips are what you bet with. The table minimum is posted on a sign near the dealers, and your line bets must meet it. If you’re new to the floor vocabulary, our casino term guide covers the slang you’ll hear.
The layout looks busy, but a first-time player needs only two areas. The pass line runs around the edge of the table and is where the standard bet goes. The don’t pass area sits next to it and is the opposite wager. Everything in the center belongs to the proposition bets, which you can ignore for now.
Three roles run the table. The stickman stands at the center, calls the roll and uses a stick to move the dice back to the shooter. The dealers on either side handle chips, pay winning bets and collect losing ones. The shooter is the player throwing the dice, and the role moves around the table.
Two rules govern your own behavior. You place chips only on the layout, never in the center area reserved for dealers and never in your hand during a roll. And every bet must be down before the shooter throws. Once the dice leave the shooter’s hand, the table is closed to new line bets.
How Does the Come-Out Roll Work in Craps? (Steps 1 and 2)
The come-out roll is the first roll of each round, where a total of 7 or 11 wins a pass line bet and 2, 3 or 12 loses it, and any other total sets the point. Every round begins this way, and every new shooter starts here.
“Weird New Casino Games (and the men who invent them) Best Online Blackjack Odds in 2026 Online Casinos Bonuses, What’s Playable?”
Step 1: Place a pass line bet and wait for the shooter. Put your chips on the pass line, at or above the posted minimum. Place them yourself, or ask the dealer to place them if you can’t reach. Then stop. You don’t touch the bet again until the round resolves. The stickman pushes out a set of dice, and the shooter chooses two. The shooter then throws them so they hit the far end of the table.
Step 2: Read the come-out result. Three outcomes are possible:
- 7 or 11: your pass line bet wins and is paid even money. This is called a natural.
- 2, 3 or 12: your pass line bet loses. This is called craps.
- 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10: that number becomes the point, and the round continues.
The numbers explain why the come-out favors the pass line so heavily, even though the bet still carries a house edge overall. Two dice produce 36 combinations. Six of them add up to 7, so a 7 lands one time in six on any given throw. Eight combinations make a 7 or 11, four make a 2, 3 or 12, and the remaining 24 set a point.
The dice are physical objects thrown by a person, and the table doesn’t choose what they show. Casinos require the dice to hit the back wall to keep the throw honest, and the stickman and boxman watch every roll. A throw that leaves the table is called off and replaced with a new set of dice.
What Happens After a Point Is Set? (Steps 3 and 4)
Once a point of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 is set, the shooter keeps rolling until that point repeats, which wins the pass line bet, or a 7 appears first, which loses it. Other totals during this phase don’t settle your pass line bet. They only matter to players with additional bets working.
Step 3: Find the puck and the point number. A dealer flips a round marker, the puck, to its white “ON” side and places it on the point number. When the puck is black and “OFF,” the table is on a come-out roll. When it is white and sitting on a number, a point is live. Glance at the puck before you bet. It tells you which phase you’re in.
Step 4: Know what you do next. For a basic pass line player, the answer is nothing. You can’t remove or reduce a pass line bet once a point is set, and you wait for one of two endings:
- The point repeats. The pass line pays even money. If you bet $10, you receive $10 on top of your original stake. The puck turns off and a new come-out begins.
- A 7 appears first. This is the seven-out. The pass line loses, the shooter’s turn ends and the dice pass clockwise to the next player.
If the shooter makes the point, the same shooter keeps the dice and throws again. A single shooter can hold the dice through many rounds, or lose them on the first seven-out. Neither outcome tells you anything about the next roll, since the dice carry no memory.
Which Craps Bets Have the Lowest House Edge?
The pass line bet carries a house edge of about 1.41 percent and taking odds carries none, making them the most common low-edge choices. The don’t pass bet is slightly lower at about 1.36 percent. It wins on a come-out 2 or 3, loses on 7 or 11, and treats a 12 as a push, so no money changes hands. After a point is set, don’t pass wins if a 7 arrives before the point.
Free odds are the unusual part. After a point is set, you can add an odds bet behind your pass line bet, up to the multiple the table allows. It’s paid at true odds: 2 to 1 on a 4 or 10, 3 to 2 on a 5 or 9, and 6 to 5 on a 6 or 8. Because the payout matches the real probability, the odds portion has no built-in edge. It lowers your blended edge across the total amount wagered, though it also raises the amount at risk.
| Bet | Approximate house edge |
|---|---|
| Free odds behind a line bet | 0 percent |
| Don’t pass | 1.36 percent |
| Pass line | 1.41 percent |
| Come bet | 1.41 percent |
| Place 6 or 8 | 1.52 percent |
| Big 6 or big 8 | 9.09 percent |
| Proposition bets (center of layout) | Often above 9 percent |
A come bet works like a pass line bet placed after a point is set, creating a second point of its own. Place bets let you back a specific number to roll before a 7, and their edge varies by number. The 6 and 8 are the cheapest. Place bets on 4 and 10 cost considerably more.
Avoid the big 6 and big 8 and the proposition bets in the center. They pay less than true odds by a wide margin, and they sit where the dealers can reach them, not you.
The house edge is fixed for each bet. It doesn’t shrink with experience, and a hot streak doesn’t change it. For the underlying math, see our explainer on RTP and house edge, and for how payouts relate to probability, our guide to odds and vig terminology. For figures worked out separately, see independent craps house edge calculations. Our piece on what strategy can and cannot change makes the same point about slots: betting patterns choose your risk, not your edge.
How Should a Player Manage Money and Table Etiquette at Craps?
Set a session budget before the first bet and stop when it is reached, since every bet carries a built-in house edge. Decide the amount at home, buy in for that amount or less, and treat it as the cost of the session. Craps moves quickly, and a table with several active bettors can resolve a round every minute or so.
Match your bet size to the table minimum. A $15 minimum with a $100 session budget leaves you very few rounds, and odds bets on top need extra chips. Look for a table whose minimum fits your budget, and ask the dealers for the odds limit if it isn’t posted. Chips come in standard denominations. Ask for smaller chips if you want to place odds bets that pay in exact amounts, because payouts on a 5 or 9 odds bet don’t always divide evenly into a $5 chip.
Etiquette is mostly about keeping the game orderly:
- Leave chips in place until the roll is complete and the dealers have settled the table. Don’t pull a bet mid-roll.
- Don’t touch the dice unless you are the shooter, and use one hand to throw them.
- Don’t reach across the layout. Ask the dealer to place or move bets in the center.
- Keep your hands clear of the table once the dice are in play.
- Tip if you wish. Tipping dealers, called a toke, is customary but optional. Many players place a small bet for the crew, or hand over a chip after a good run.
Craps is a game of chance, and the posted rules are the same for every player at the table. The shooter, the newcomer and the regular all face the same odds on the same bets. For general guidance on odds and player protection, see UK Gambling Commission guidance on gambling odds and player protection. If gambling stops being fun, stop playing and use the self-exclusion and support options your casino offers.
