Good Craps Bets Ranked by Exact House Edge

The good craps bets are the ones that cost you least, and the arithmetic is not close. By the Wizard of Odds derivation of the pass line, the shooter's side loses 7/495 of every unit wagered, about 1.414%. A one-roll Any Seven, the bet that sits in the middle of the layout, gives the house about 16.667%.

What follows ranks the common bets on craps by house edge, worked from the 36 ways two dice can land, with payouts taken from state gaming rules as of October 2026.

Craps betting, ranked by house edge

Lower is better for the player. The edge is the share of each wager the house keeps over the long run.

Pass line and don't pass: the cheapest bets on craps

The pass line and don't pass are the two bets the game is built on, and both give the house less than a penny and a half per dollar.

A pass bet loses on a come-out 2, 3 or 12 under New Jersey's rules. Across every way a pass decision can end, the bet wins 244 times out of 495 and loses 251 times, which is where the 1.414% comes from.

Don't pass is the mirror image, with one change: on the come-out, one roll that would win for the don't bettor is barred and played as a standoff. That standoff is why the don't pass edge has two published figures, 1.364% and 1.403%. Count the tie as money bet and the edge is 1.364%; leave ties out of the denominator and it is 1.403%. Either way the don't side is fractionally cheaper than pass.

Odds behind the line: the best betting in craps

The odds bet placed behind a pass or don't pass wager pays at true odds, so it adds money to the table without adding to the house's take.

That is why the combined figure drops as odds grow. With full double odds, the pass line's expected loss stays the same while the average amount in action rises, and the combined edge with double odds comes to 0.572%.

Place bets and buy bets

Place and buy bets let a player back a single number without waiting for a point, and their price depends on the payout and the commission.

Pennsylvania's code sets place bets on 6 and 8 at 7 to 6. On buy bets, the same rule says an operator may collect vigorish of up to 5%, as set in its own rules submission. That commission comes out of the player's win, so a buy bet is only as good as the house's posted charge. The derivation used for this story does not price place or buy bets, so they are left out of the ranking table.

The field: betting on craps one roll at a time

The field is a one-roll bet on a group of totals, and its edge turns on what it pays for a 2 and a 12.

Where one of those totals pays 3 to 1, the house edge is 2.778%. Pennsylvania's regulated field payout of 2 to 1 on a 2 or 12 pays less on that roll, which by the same arithmetic leaves the house a larger cut. Check the felt before you bet the field.

Proposition bets: Any Seven, Any Craps, horn and hardways

The center of the table pays the biggest odds and charges the steepest price.

Any Seven pays 4 to 1 and Any Craps 7 to 1 under Pennsylvania's rules. A seven shows on 6 of the 36 dice combinations, and paying 4 to 1 on it leaves the house about 16.667%.

The horn is four one-roll bets in a single wager. The horn bet's 12.5% edge comes from a net loss of 18 units in 36 rolls spread across the 4 units bet.

Hardways pay more the rarer they are: New Jersey sets hard 6 and hard 8 at 9 to 1 and hard 4 and hard 10 at 7 to 1. The source pack for this story does not give their edges, so they sit outside the ranking.

None of these numbers makes any bet a winner. Every wager on a craps layout carries a house edge; the ranking only shows which ones cost less to play.

Letters: your questions

What is the best thing to bet on at a craps table?

The pass line or don't pass, with the free odds bet behind it. With double odds the combined house edge on the pass side falls to 0.572%, the lowest figure in this story.

Who has the best chance of winning, the pass or the don't pass bettor?

Neither beats the house, but the don't side is slightly cheaper: 1.364% against 1.414% for the pass line, before any odds are added.

What is the most effective way to win money at a casino craps game?

No wager here wins over time, since every one carries a house edge. The math only says which bets cost the least to play, and the line bets with odds lead that list.

Sources for this story

• Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (via Cornell LII), 58 Pa. Code 623a.5 - Payout odds, accessed October 2026
• New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, N.J.A.C. 13:69F Rules of the Games, Subchapter 1 Craps, accessed October 2026
• Wizard of Odds, Craps Appendix 1: How the House Edge for Each Bet is Derived, accessed October 2026