Dice Kingdom

The Place, Buy and Lay Bets in Craps

Who would have thought a game so complicated could be so fun to play. I'm talking about the famous casino dice game called craps. The game of craps was said to have originated from the English game of hazard played even during the time of the Crusades. The French called hazard as craps and introduced it in the United States. The game of craps became popular in New Orleans in the 1800 and later spread to the Mississippi River. From then on, many changes and developments happened to craps. One such significant development included the introduction of the Don't pass bet that enabled craps players to bet with the casino. This change was made by John H. Winn making him the Father of Modern Craps.

Even if craps is a difficult game to understand, it offers a variety of payouts and odds for the craps player. This included bets such as the Pass line and Don't pass bets, the Come and Don't Come bets, the odds bet and the various Proposition bets. There are also so-called place, buy and lay craps bets.

Craps players can buy or place single numbers ranging from 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 by simply wagering on the come bet and saying "place the 4" or "buy the 9". Both place bets and buy bets in craps wager that the number they wagered on would come out before the number 7.

The payoff for a buy bet in craps is the same as its true odds, or the odds of rolling that number. However, casinos require a 5% commission with the buy bet. In recent years casinos decided only to collect the commission if the player wins the buy bet. This reduced the house advantage to only 1. 67%. The buy-4 and the buy-10 is one of the games more favorable bets. The commission for the buy bets in craps range from $1 for every $20 bet, but some casinos only ask for $1 in $25 bets or $2 for every $50 bets.

The lay bet in craps is the reverse of the buy bet. The craps player wagers that the number 7 will roll first before the other numbers is 'laid.' Bets are wagered in increments of $40 when betting for the 4 or 10, $30 for the 5 or 9 and $24 for the 6 or 8. A traditional $1 casino commission is deducted from the increments, although, some casinos opt to charge only when the craps player wins. The usual lay bet is placed in the 4 or 10.