The odds bet is the best wager you can make in the game of craps, because the house has no built-in advantage. Some casinos permit players to make double odds, and even greater odds wagers. The odds bet not only has no house edge associated with it, but has no official designated space on the craps table. to take the odds, you must place the appropriate amount of chips behind your pass line bet in the open area of the craps layout.

The progress of a game of Craps is marked with a plastic "puck", which is black on one side (OFF) and white on the other (ON) The first roll of the dice in a round of Craps is called the come-out roll. The puck is turned black side up (OFF) during the come-out roll. The basic opening bet in Craps, placed just before the come-out roll, is called a Pass Line bet. The Pass Line bet wins immediately if the come-out roll is 7 or 11 (natural), and loses when the come-out roll is "Craps" (2, 3, or 12) If a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10 is rolled on the come-out roll, that number becomes the point. The puck is placed on the Craps layout over the box displaying the numbered rolled as the point with the white side up (ON) The shooter now keeps rolling the dice until either the point is repeated or a 7 is rolled to end the round. If the point repeats first, the Pass Line bet wins. If a 7 is rolled first (seven out), the pass line bet loses.

The shooter, or anyone wishing to bet that the shooter will win, places his bet "on the line" (in the area marked "Does Pass," "Line," or "Win" on various layouts) Anyone betting against the shooter places his bet in the area marked "Don't Pass." Anyone wishing to bet on a special contingency, such as that craps (2, 3, or 12) will or will not be thrown on the next roll, places his bet in the appropriate space on the layout; such bets are called proposition bets. The house maintains a mathematical advantage on all bets of about 1.4 percent, higher on certain layouts and special bets.