Every bet on a craps layout comes down to two things: what it pays, and what it costs you over time. This page covers both, for every bet on the table. If you haven't played a full round yet, start with How to Play first — this page assumes you already know what a come-out roll and a point are, and gets straight into the bets themselves.

House edge is the casino's average cut of every dollar wagered on a bet, over the long run. A 1.41% house edge means that, averaged across a large number of bets, the casino keeps about 1.4 cents of every dollar wagered on the pass line. It says nothing about any single roll — you can win ten pass line bets in a row and lose the next ten — but it tells you how a bet is priced relative to everything else on the table.

Quick Reference Table

Every craps bet at a glance — name, payout, and house edge. Sorted best to worst.

BetPayoutHouse Edge
Free Odds (pass/come)True odds0%
Don't Pass / Don't ComeEven money1.36%
Pass Line / ComeEven money1.41%
Place 6 or 87:61.52%
Buy 4 or 10 (vig on win)2:11.67%
Lay 4 or 101:22.44%
Field (2:1 on 2, 3:1 on 12)Even / 2:1 / 3:12.78%
Lay 5 or 92:33.23%
Place 5 or 97:54.00%
Lay 6 or 85:64.00%
Buy (vig upfront, any number)True odds4.76%
Field (2:1 on both 2 and 12)Even / 2:15.56%
Place 4 or 109:56.67%
Big 6 / Big 8Even money9.09%
Hard 6 or Hard 89:19.09%
Yo (11)15:111.11%
Hard 4 or Hard 107:111.11%
Any Craps (2, 3, or 12)7:111.11%
C&E (Craps & Eleven)3:1 / 7:111.11%
Horn15:1 / 30:112.5%
World / Whirl26:5 / push on 7~13.3%
Aces / Boxcars30:113.89%
High-Low15:111.11%
Hop (easy way)15:111.11%
Hop (hard way)30:113.89%
Any Seven4:116.67%
Put BetEven money + oddsVaries (see section)
Fire BetUp to 999:1~20–25% (varies by casino)

Pass Line

Payout: even money. House edge: 1.41%. This is the bet nearly everyone at the table makes, placed before the come-out roll. Say you put $10 on the pass line. If the come-out roll is a 7 or 11, you win $10 right away. If it's a 2, 3, or 12, you lose the $10 outright. Any other number — say a 6 — becomes the point, and now your $10 just sits there riding on that 6: it wins if the shooter rolls another 6 before a 7 shows up, and loses if the 7 comes first.

Free Odds

Payout: 2:1 on a point of 4 or 10, 3:2 on a point of 5 or 9, 6:5 on a point of 6 or 8. House edge: 0%. Odds is the only bet on the layout with zero house edge — it pays exactly what the true probability says it should. You can only place it after a point is set, and only behind an existing pass line, don't pass, come, or don't come bet; it doesn't exist on its own, and you place it yourself directly behind your original wager. Most casinos cap how much you can add relative to your original bet, commonly stated as "3-4-5X odds" depending on the point.

Don't Pass

Payout: even money. House edge: 1.36%. Don't pass is a bet against the shooter, placed before the come-out roll. Say you put $10 on don't pass. A 2 or 3 on the come-out wins you $10 right away, a 7 or 11 loses it right away, and a 12 just pushes — you get your $10 back, no win or loss. Any other number sets the point, and from there your $10 is rooting for a 7: it wins if a 7 shows up before that point number repeats, and loses if the point comes first.

Come

Payout: even money. House edge: 1.41%. A come bet works exactly like a pass line bet, just placed later — any time after the point is already set instead of before the come-out roll. Say the shooter's point is 6, and you put $10 in the come box. The next roll acts like its own personal come-out just for that bet: a 7 or 11 wins right away, a 2, 3, or 12 loses right away, and anything else becomes that bet's own point. If the next roll is an 8, your $10 now sits on the 8, tracked in its own box by the dealer, completely separate from the shooter's 6.

Don't Come

Payout: even money. House edge: 1.36%. Don't come is a bet against a number, placed any time after the come-out roll. Say you put $10 in the don't come box and the next roll is a 5 — that $10 now sits against the 5, tracked in its own box by the dealer. From there, you win if a 7 rolls before the 5 comes back around, and you lose if the 5 hits again first. There's one wrinkle on that very first roll after you place the bet: instead of setting a number, a 2 or 3 wins right away, a 7 or 11 loses right away, and a 12 just pushes.

Place Bets (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)

Place bets let you bet directly on a number hitting before a 7, without needing a pass line bet first. Tell the dealer the number and amount — "place the 6 for twelve dollars" — and they'll set your chips in that number's box. The house edge depends on the number:

Bet size matters here, because these payouts only come out to a whole dollar amount at certain increments. Bet the 6 or 8 in multiples of $6 ($6, $12, $18, $30) so the 7:6 payout lands on a clean number. Bet the 5, 9, 4, or 10 in multiples of $5 so the 7:5 or 9:5 payout does the same. Bet an odd amount like $10 on the 6, and the dealer either has to round the payout or you're leaving fractions of a dollar on the table.

Buy Bets

Payout: true odds — 2:1 on 4 or 10, 3:2 on 5 or 9, 6:5 on 6 or 8 — minus a 5% commission. A buy bet pays true odds instead of the shortened place-bet payout, in exchange for that commission, and you tell the dealer what you want the same way you would for a place bet. The Place vs. Buy page goes deeper on when the commission makes a buy bet worth it over simply placing the number. How the commission is charged changes the math: some casinos take the 5% up front regardless of whether you win, which works out to a flat 4.76% house edge across every number. Others only charge the commission if you win, which lowers the cost and makes it vary by number — roughly 1.7% on 4 or 10, 2% on 5 or 9, and a bit over 2% on 6 or 8. Ask the dealer which convention the table uses before you bet, since it changes whether a buy bet is worth making at all. Buy bets are typically made in $20 or $25 increments so the 5% commission comes out to a clean dollar figure.

Lay Bets

Payout: true odds against the number — 1:2 on 4 or 10, 2:3 on 5 or 9, 5:6 on 6 or 8 — minus a 5% commission on the win. A lay bet is the buy bet's opposite: you're betting a 7 comes before the number, so you risk more to win less, the same tradeoff a don't pass bettor makes. As with buy bets, some tables charge the commission up front and some only on a win, so it's worth asking before you bet. Using the more common "commission on win" convention, the house edge is:

That's the reverse of buy bets — laying against 4 or 10 is the cheapest lay on the layout, while laying against 6 or 8 costs the most, since you're risking a much larger amount to win a small payout on a number that hits often anyway.

Field Bet

Field is a one-roll bet you place yourself, in the field box directly in front of you, on any roll — win if the next roll is a 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, or 12, lose on anything else including 7. The 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11 always pay even money, but the payout on 2 and 12 is where tables differ, and it's the single biggest thing to check before you bet this one. Some tables pay 2:1 on both the 2 and the 12. Others pay double on the 2 (2:1) but triple on the 12 (3:1), which lowers the house edge. At the better 2:1-and-3:1 payout, the house edge is 2.78%. At the flat 2:1-on-both version, it doubles to 5.56%. The rules are printed right on the felt in the field box itself — check them before you bet, since the difference compounds fast over a session.

Hardways (4, 6, 8, 10)

A hardways bet wins if the number rolls as a matching pair — hard 4 is two 2s, hard 10 is two 5s, hard 6 is two 3s, hard 8 is two 4s — before it rolls any other way or a 7 shows up. These are proposition bets, placed by handing chips to a dealer or calling them out to the stickman. The house edge depends on the number:

These stay on the layout as working bets even during the come-out roll, unlike most other proposition bets, but the house edge on all four runs high enough that they're best treated as occasional side action.

Working vs. Off: What Happens on the Come-Out Roll

Pass line, come, and odds bets are always working, every roll. Place, buy, lay, and hardways bets default to "off" during the come-out roll unless you tell the dealer to leave them working — a come-out 7 wins for the pass line but would otherwise lose a place bet on any number besides 7, so the default protects you from that. Tell the dealer "working" if you want a place or buy bet live through the come-out anyway. Don't come odds are the exception — they're always working, since a don't bettor benefits from a 7.

Center Table Proposition Bets

Proposition bets are one-roll wagers handled by the stickman in the center of the layout. You place these by tossing chips toward the stickman and calling the bet, or handing chips to a dealer who relays them across — you never reach into the center yourself. As a group, propositions carry the highest house edges on the table.

Any Seven

Payout: 4:1. House edge: 16.67%. This is a bet that the next roll is a 7 — nothing else. It's also one of the worst bets on the layout, since a number that shows up on 6 of 36 possible rolls only pays 4:1 instead of the fair 5:1.

Horn

Payout: 15:1 on the 3 and 11 portions, 30:1 on the 2 and 12 portions. House edge: 12.5%. A horn bet splits your wager equally across 2, 3, 11, and 12 in one call — a $4 horn puts $1 on each number. Whichever hits, you get paid on that portion and lose the rest.

Yo (Eleven)

Payout: 15:1. House edge: 11.11%. "Yo" is table slang for eleven, called that way so it doesn't get confused with "seven" in a loud room. This wins only if the next roll is an 11 — the single-number version of the bet the horn splits four ways.

Aces and Boxcars

Payout: 30:1 on both. House edge: 13.89% on each. Aces is a bet on a 2, and boxcars is the same bet on a 12 — the two hardest single-roll totals to make, since each has only one dice combination out of 36 possible rolls. Both pay the same and carry the same house edge.

C&E (Craps and Eleven)

Payout: 3:1 if craps (2, 3, or 12), 7:1 if eleven. House edge: 11.11%. A C&E bet splits your wager between "any craps" (2, 3, or 12) and the yo (11) in one call. It's a one-roll bet typically made in even dollar amounts so the split comes out clean — a $2 C&E puts $1 on each side. You'll hear it called out at the table as "C and E" during come-out rolls, often as a way to hedge against losing a pass line bet on a craps number. The hedge logic doesn't hold up mathematically, but that's why the bet exists. House edge is high on both halves.

Hop Bets

Payout: 30:1 for hard hops (pairs), 15:1 for easy hops. House edge: 13.89% on hard hops, 11.11% on easy hops. A hop bet is a one-roll bet on a specific dice combination — you're betting the exact two faces that will land on the next roll. "Hop the 5-2" means you win only if one die shows 5 and the other shows 2 on that specific throw. Because there are two ways to make that combination (die A shows 5, die B shows 2 — or vice versa), it pays 15:1. "Hop the 3-3" (a hard hop) has only one combination, so it pays 30:1. You call these out to the stickman: "hop the hard four" or "hop the six-two." They're not printed on the layout — they exist as verbal bets the stickman tracks. House edge is steep on both, similar to other prop bets.

Any Craps

Payout: 7:1. House edge: 11.11%. Any craps is a one-roll bet that the next roll is a 2, 3, or 12 — the three numbers that lose on a pass line come-out. There are four ways to make those numbers (one 2, two 3s, one 12), which gives you 4 chances out of 36. Fair odds would be 8:1; paying 7:1 gives the casino its edge. You'll sometimes hear players calling "any craps" during a come-out roll as a hedge against losing their pass line bet to a craps number. The hedge doesn't actually help your expected value — the combined edge of both bets is worse than the pass line alone — but the bet itself is straightforward and at least has a label on the layout.

World / Whirl Bet

Payout: 26:5 on the 2 or 12, 11:5 on the 3 or 11, push on 7. House edge: ~13.3%. A world bet (also called a whirl bet) splits your wager equally across five numbers: 2, 3, 7, 11, and 12. It's essentially a horn bet with a fifth unit added on any seven. Made in $5 increments — $1 on each number. If the 7 rolls, the any-seven portion pays 4:1 ($4), but the four horn portions all lose, so the bet breaks even and you get your $5 back as a push. If the 2 or 12 hits, that $1 pays 30:1 ($30) and you lose the other $4, netting +$26. If the 3 or 11 hits, that $1 pays 15:1 ($15) and you lose the other $4, netting +$11. Any other number loses the whole $5. It's popular as a come-out call, since covering the 7 turns what would be a horn loss into a push. The house edge runs higher than the horn alone.

High-Low

Payout: 15:1. House edge: 11.11%. A high-low covers both the 2 and the 12 in one call — if either rolls, the whole bet wins at 15:1. Made in $2 increments so the split comes out clean. There are two ways to win (one combination that makes a 2, one that makes a 12) out of 36 total, which is why the payout is 15:1 rather than 30:1. It's a shorthand way to cover both extremes without placing them separately.

Put Bet

Payout: Even money on the flat portion, true odds on the odds portion. A put bet is a pass line bet placed directly on a specific point number after the come-out roll has already happened — bypassing the come-out entirely. Unlike a regular pass line, a put bet skips the favorable 7 and 11 outcomes and goes straight to the point-or-seven phase. You tell the dealer the number and amount, and the bet is treated exactly like an established pass line bet from that moment on: you win if the number hits, lose if the 7 comes first.

The house edge on a put bet with no odds is significantly worse than a regular pass line bet, because you've given up the come-out advantage. That makes it a poor straight bet. Where put bets get interesting is when a table allows very high odds — because you can add free odds directly on top of a put bet just like any pass line bet. At tables with 10x or 20x odds, some players use put bets to target a specific number and pile on odds immediately, achieving a blended edge that becomes competitive. At standard 3-4-5x odds tables, a put bet is not worth making over a regular come bet. Ask the table maximum before you try it.

Fire Bet

Payout: Varies by casino — commonly 24:1 for 4 different points, 249:1 for 5 points, 999:1 for all 6. House edge: Roughly 20–25%, depending on the paytable. A fire bet is a side bet placed before the shooter's come-out roll. You're betting that the shooter will make at least four different point numbers (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) before sevening out. Each time the shooter makes a distinct point — one they haven't made yet this hand — a light or marker on the layout tracks the progress. The bet pays nothing for 1, 2, or 3 different points. Four different points triggers a partial payout, and five or six pays the big numbers on the board.

The fire bet is usually capped at $5–$10, and the minimum is often $1. The house edge is high because the full payout — all six points — happens rarely enough that no paytable has ever been generous enough to make this bet cheap. It exists as a long-shot entertainment bet and nothing more. The 999:1 payout gets attention; the probability of hitting it does not.

Big 6 and Big 8

Payout: even money. House edge: 9.09% on each. Big 6 and Big 8 bet that the 6 or 8 rolls before a 7 — the same premise as a place bet on those numbers, except this one pays only even money instead of 7:6. That difference alone more than quadruples the house edge compared to placing the number directly, which is why experienced players skip Big 6 and Big 8 and place the number instead. You place this one yourself, directly in its labeled box, without needing the dealer.

Which Bets Are Actually Worth Making?

Every bet covered on this page is available at a real craps table, but most isn't worth touching regularly. In practice, the bets worth building a session around come down to a short list:

Everything below place 6/8 on the house edge list is a meaningful step up in cost. Place 5 and 9 at 4% are tolerable as occasional bets. Place 4 and 10 at 6.67% are better handled as buy bets if the table charges vig only on wins. Hardways, props, any seven, and hops are entertainment bets — fine as small side action if you enjoy them, not worth making a habit of.

Cross-reference this page against the Odds & Math page for deeper house edge analysis, or check the Craps Glossary if a term above didn't make sense. When you're ready to see how any of these bets play out over a full session, the simulator lets you test them with no money on the line.

Related pages
Place vs. Buy BetsWhen does paying the vig on a buy bet actually beat placing the number? The full breakdown.Craps Payout ChartQuick-reference payout chart for every number and bet type at the table.Craps StrategyHow these bets combine into a bankroll-friendly session, from beginner to advanced.