The game of Craps revolves around dice. Wagers are made upon the result of a single roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Craps is a game of probabilities and odds, so any discussion of Craps will benefit by a brief explanation of the probabilities involved. Since the game uses two dice, a shooter (the person rolling the dice) can roll any number between 2 and 12. It is important to understand that some numbers are more likely to appear than others on a single roll of the dice.

The game of craps is the most popular dice game in the United States at the moment there are a few different theories about its origin. Dice games can be traced back to the roman times with shaved pigs knuckles being used as the dice. Craps however was based on the game hazard, which was popular in the 17th and 18th century in England. The name craps is believed to have derived from the English crabs which was the name for the throw of aces or ace-deuce. The game moved over to the United States when the French moved to New Orleans and the French pronounced the game craps and in there version of the game the player throws against the house and not another player like the English version of the game. The game was very popular on the Mississippi river boats and it was a simplified version of modern day craps that was spread about the United States. There are two modern day versions of craps played today. Street craps has more in common with the riverboat game than Bank craps and it is so named as it can be played on the street. A shooter establishes a point, then tries to make that point. Bettors either bet with the shooter or against the shooter. Someone must cover the bet for the shooter in order for the game to progress. Bank craps is the form played in the casinos and has a more complicated form of betting with the house covering the bets.

marked "ON" shows that the point has been set and is located on the craps table over the box for the number rolled as the point: "4, 5, SIX, 8, NINE or 10,". The shooter will keep rolling the dice until he rolls the point or 7 to end the round. If the shooter rolls the point first, a pass line bet wins. If the shooter rolls a 7 first, called seven out, a pass line bet loses.

In Craps, winning or losing depends on a variety of different possible outcomes on any roll of the two dice. The two dice can produce many different number combinations; some can be made several ways, others only one way. For example, two dice can roll the number 6 as follows: 5/1, 4/2, 3/3, 2/4 and 1/5. But the number 2 can only be rolled one way: 1/1.