When Bad Craps Bets Help

When it comes to craps strategy, players are strongly advised to stick with the best wagers and bets such as the pass line, don’t pass line, come and don’t come bets. Assuming you do this the entire time, you’ll only be facing a 1.41% house edge, which is pretty small compared to some casino games.

But it’s worth noting that these four wagers only represent a small portion of the different craps bets you can make. Furthermore, some of the craps bets feature terrible house edges, and can cost you a lot of money.

For example, the “Big Red” wager, which sees you bet that a 7 will be thrown next, features a 16.67% house edge; this is not only a bad craps bet, but also one of the worst in all of gambling! Another poor craps wager worth discussing is the hop bet, where you bet that a shooter will roll an exact dice combination (e.g. 6 and 3). Assuming the shooter rolls this number, you win a 15:1 payout, but you’re also facing an 11.1% house edge. This really only scratches the surface of all the perils you’ll be facing in craps.

That said, it would be wise to avoid bad craps bets from a strategy standpoint. However, if you can’t resist the thrill of chasing the huge payouts offered with these wagers, keep in mind that land-based casinos are far more likely to give generous comps to those making poor craps bets.

Many craps players don’t realize this, but it’s actually true because casinos like to reward those who make them the most money. For example, if someone were betting $25 every time on pass line, and another player was betting $25 on Big Red during every throw, who do you think is going to get better comps? Obviously the player who’s making the Big Red wager since they’re losing more money to the casino over the long-term.

Now this isn’t to say that you should run out and make the worst craps bets possible just to get comped, but if you enjoy going after big payouts, the high house edge will be lowered somewhat due to all the comps you’ll be getting.