Craps

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Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French headed south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.