• Can Craps Be Rigged Games
• Can Craps Be Rigged To Play
• Can Craps Be Rigged Fun
• Can Craps Be Rigged Meaning
• Can Craps Be Rigged Against

The games with the two best odds, Craps and Blackjack, also require the most skill (memorization), but not everyone who throws $100 down on the table has done their homework. If you learn basic strategy for blackjack, and play in perfectly, statistically you have a slight edge over the house. Craps can be an intimidating game for the beginner. The table seems to have about a hundred different kinds of bets, the players are barking out commands in what seems to be a foreign language, and the pace is too fast to ever ask a question. I can sympathize with the beginner, because at one point in time this was how craps appeared to me. Rigging a game of craps used to be a lot easier. Casinos use translucent dice now so that you can see that the dice aren’t weighted. Security keeps a close eye on things, too, to make sure you’re not swapping your own dice out for the casinos’ dice. Casinos use dice that are machine-tooled.

Craps is, without doubt, one of the best casino games to play because it combines complete randomness with one of the lowest house edges. It’s no wonder the casinos don’t have loads of craps tables instead of slot machines because the slots make more money for them.

What Are the Basic Rules of Craps? Craps is a dice game played with two standard 6-side dice. The feeling is that poker tables are rigged to improve profitability, such as when higher-than-natural odds are given to inexperienced players. Alternatively, an advantage can be given to skew all.

Craps has a wild history. Dice games have been popular for thousands of years. Only a couple hundred years ago, the hazard was the dice game of choice among aristocrats in Europe. Many wealthy families lost their fortunes to rigged games.

Modern craps are now played on the street and in casinos. I’ve never played street craps, but I’ve been told it can be as wild and risky as the old hazard games. Casino craps is a milder game compared to its cousins because it’s regulated.

Regulation won’t make you a winner. It only protects you from predatory exploitation.

If you’re still learning how to play craps, you’ve got questions. People who have been playing for a long time have their preferences. When you’re learning from more experienced people, you’ll need to keep your feet on the ground.

One man’s excitement is another man’s foolishness. In that spirit, remember that gambling should be for fun. Be as experimental as you wish, but you should understand how the game works.

1 – Play Basic Craps Strategies

Just because the game allows you to make speculative wagers doesn’t mean you should. Some players love the chance to win more money. But the probabilities change as you move past the basic craps bets.

Everyone makes a Pass or Don’t Pass bet. The Don’t Pass bet has a slightly better return to player than the Pass Bet. If you want to make a smarter bet, then bet Don’t Pass.

By the same token, the probabilities are slightly more in your favor with a Don’t Come bet than with a Come bet. If you’ve bet Don’t Pass, then you’re betting Don’t Come.

When the marker on the table is set to show “OFF,” the next roll is the Come out roll. Pass and Don’t Pass bets are made on the Come out roll.

Can Craps Be Rigged Games

The Pass bet pays even money if the come-out roll is a 7 or 11. The bet loses if the come-out roll is 2, 3, or 12. Any other number sets the Point (or “the point”) for that round.

The Don’t Pass bet pays even money if the come-out roll is a 2 or 3. The bet is a push if the come-out roll is a 12. The Don’t Pass bet loses if the come-out roll is a 7 or 11.

In Reno and Lake Tahoe casinos, the Don’t Pass pushes on 2 and pays even money on 12.

The shooter keeps rolling the dice until getting either a 7 or the point to end the round.

If the round ends on a 7 then the Pass bets win, and the Don’t Pass bets lose. If the round ends on the point, then the Pass bets lose and the Don’t Pass bets win.

2 – Always Place an Odds Bet

After the shooter rolls, a point players can Take or Lay Odds. The Odds bets are wagers on how likely the shooter is to roll certain numbers.

If you bet on Pass/Come, then you’ll want to Take the Odds. Place your Odds bet behind your Pass bet.

Taking the Odds means you’re betting the round ends on the point.

Payouts for Taking the Odds are:

1. Pay 2-to-1 on rolls of 4 or 10
2. Pay 3-to-2 on rolls of 5 or 9
3. Pay 6-to-5 on rolls of 6 or 8

If you bet on, Don’t Pass/Don’t Come, then you’ll want to Lay the Odds. Place your Odds bet behind your Don’t Pass bet.

Laying the Odds means you’re betting the round ends on 7.

Either way, you can bet multiples of your Pass/Don’t Pass bet on the Odds. The house sets a limit, which could be 3X, 4X, and 5X respective on the three-point spreads or some other combination of multiples.

3 – Make a Come/Don’t Come Bet

These bets work just like Pass/Don’t Pass, but they are made after the shooter sets the point. Players who join the round too late for the come-out roll can thus still join the game.

• The house has a slightly better edge on Come/Don’t Come than on Pass/Don’t Pass.
• You can Take Odds on a Come bet and Lay Odds on a Don’t Come bet.
• If you’ve already made a Pass bet, you could hedge your bet and make a Don’t Come bet. Either way, you’ll win at the end of the round, but you’ll also lose – so you break even. Intuitively this makes no sense unless you bet different amounts.
• Betting different amounts on Pass/Don’t Come or Don’t Pass/Come means that you’ll only lose a smaller amount of money than your basic bet.

If you’re thinking there is a catch, you’re right. You can lose your Pass/Don’t Pass bet on the come-out roll. That gives the house a very slight advantage over the combination bets.

4 – Keep the Place Bets to a Minimum

Not everyone will agree with this strategy, but you have to balance risk against potential reward.

A Place bet is like Taking the Odds. You place a bet on one of the eligible point numbers (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10). The payout odds are slightly less on these bets than if you Take the Odds.

If the shooter rolls your number before rolling a 7 (even if it is not the point for the round), you win the bet.

You can hedge your Odds bet by making Place bets on different numbers, but you won’t win as much if your Place bet comes in. A Place bet is more expensive than an Odds bet.

If you missed Taking the Odds for some reason, you could still make a Place bet.

Place to Lose works the other way. You put a wager down on one of the Place numbers. You’re only paid if the shooter rolls a 7 before rolling that number.

If the round ends on point, then you lose the Place to Lose bet.

5 – Don’t Make Buy or Lay Bets

These are extra bets you can make, similar to Taking or Laying Odds. They cost you more, so it doesn’t make much sense to use them.

You could cover the craps table with bets during a round and win and lose money at several different times before the round ends. Some players love to do this, but they take on a lot of risk for diminishing rewards.

Can Craps Be Rigged To Play

If a wager is “like this other wager with lower payout odds,” ask yourself why you would want to win less on a similar bet.

If you’re playing online craps against a computer, you control when the shooter rolls, you have all the time in the world to make your bets. You don’t need to make higher-risk, lower-payout wagers.

The house wants you to take those more expensive bets. They have less chance of paying off, and they won’t pay as much.

6 – Raise the Stakes on Fewer Bets

As long as you can afford to wager more than the table minimum, you’ll have a better chance of making more money with larger wagers on the Pass/Don’t Pass bets.

The smart strategy plays to the percentages: the percentage chance of winning and the percentage or multiple you’re paid back when you do win.

Instead of spreading yourself thin across the table, concentrate your wagers on the simpler, earlier bets in the round.

7 – Play as Many Free Games as You Can

This is very important when you’re just learning craps. Take advantage of the free online craps options at online casino sites by taking notes.

Compare how you bet against any strategy guide you’re using. Learn to bet by habit. Learn to recognize how the dice affect your wagers quickly.

Some people believe they can practice for live casino craps tables by throwing dice on their own time. You can do this, but if you don’t have a regulation-compatible craps table and dice similar to the casino’s, your training will be for the junior leagues, not the big leagues.

Even though some people swear they can control how the dice land, in craps, you’re required to bounce the dice off the far end of the table. That bounce is all the casino needs to ensure you can’t predict how the dice land.

You need more luck than skill when it comes to throwing the dice, but practicing ensures you won’t embarrass yourself when you are shooting in front of a dozen people for the first time.

Conclusion

If you can only pick one casino game to play for the rest of your life, craps would not be a wrong choice. As long as you keep it simple, the house edge is excellent.

Where players get into trouble is letting their luck go to their heads. You’ll have some runs of good luck, but it only takes one die roll to throw your hubris back in your face.

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Ever since the first dice were handcrafted from bones and stones in Ancient Greece, dishonest players have devised ways to tilt the odds in their favor. Cheating has always been an unfortunate aspect of mankind’s inherent urge to excel.

When immigrants from Europe brought the popular dice game “hazard” with them to America during the early 19th century, the locals soon created a variation known as “craps.”

Early gambling halls and riverboat casinos of the era began running craps tables, and the threat of loaded dice loomed large. But the players weren’t doing the cheating back then. The house actually rigged the game by weighing the dice to ensure they’d land on 2, 3, or 12 more often than not.

In those days, craps was played using only the pass line bet, so a 2, 3, or 12 on the come-out roll always meant a loss for the player. Casino operators had free reign to deploy loaded dice at every available opportunity. This turned craps into a nearly unbeatable game over the long run.

That came to an end in 1907, when a dice maker named John Winn decided to tinker with the standard craps betting structure. By adding an option to bet against the shooter and the pass line, which he dubbed the “don’t pass line,” Winn ensured that loaded dice were no longer a win for unethical casinos.

With the 2 and 3 on the come-out roll turned into winners for don’t pass line bettors, and the 12 coming to a push, casinos had little incentive to use loaded dice rigged to land on those numbers.

In one fell swoop, Winn’s addition to craps gameplay leveled the proverbial playing field, putting players back on even ground with the casino. But the house edge still exists.

While it’s quite reasonable compared to other casino table games, the pass line offers a 1.24% house edge and the don’t pass line clocks in at 1.06%. Players who fight fair still face an uphill climb toward profitability.

As a result, the scourge of cheating in craps afflicts the modern game as well. I’ve already covered the various ways gamblers can try to cheat at poker, and slot machines, along with several serious reasons why nobody should take that risk. Read on to learn about four ways you can cheat at craps and four reasons why you shouldn’t try.

1 – Past Posting to Get Paid After the Results

By far, the most commonly attempted method of cheating at the craps table is a sleight of hand trick called “past posting.” Also known as “late betting,” the concept behind this ruse is deceptively simple. And if you’re being honest with yourself, you’ve likely imagined giving it a go once or twice.

Picture yourself grinding out a fun session, while you stick to a conservative betting strategy of pass line + odds + placing bets on the 6 and 8. A few other players are taking their shot at more exotic wagers, and their excitement attracts your interest.

On a lark, you decide to go for the gusto and slide a $5 chip out on the 12, betting against 35 to 1 odds that you’ll roll a perfect 6 + 6 to nail the sweet 30 to 1 payout.

You let the dice fly and send a prayer up high, then watch the prettiest sight in all of craps as they tumble perfectly to spike a 12. The table whoops it up in celebration on your big win, while the dealer stacks up a hefty $150 payout on your $5 wager.

Now, here’s where the enticement of past posting comes into play… What if you could magically exchange that $5 chip for $25 without the dealer noticing? That would turn the same lucky roll into a $750 payout, upping the ante to produce a session-defining score.

If you’re like most players, this thought exercise is just that, a hypothetical to ponder. For past posting cheaters, however, this bait and switch is the name of their game. Past posters place small wagers using different denominations, then wait to see the result.

When they lose, they chalk up defeat and play the next roll. But when their bets turn a winner, past posters surreptitiously slide additional chips on top of the stack.

Why You Shouldn’t Try Past Posting

Craps tables are hectic. With a dozen players standing around the elongated table, everyone is adding bets to the board while simultaneously calling out verbal wagers. But there’s a reason why craps tables are staffed by four casino employees at all times (two dealers, the stickman, and the boxman).

Past post cheaters try to prey on inexperienced dealers. They pounce on any available distraction. When they spot an opening, a past poster will use lightning-quick movements and deft chip handling to increase their bets after results.
But with all of those dealers on hand observing the action, and surveillance cameras keeping a constant lookout using high-resolution footage, attempting to past post in a modern casino is a losing proposition.

Cases of past posters getting handcuffed for their conduct at the craps table are a dime a dozen. You’ll find incidents ranging from former NFL player Quinton Carter getting arrested in 2013 for adding three $5 chips to winning wagers to “Big Al” Grossman scamming Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut out of thousands before getting caught.

2 – Colluding With a Dealer to Rig the Game

Past posters try to “double down” on their cheating by convincing dealers to betray the casino. When a cheater is able to bring a casino employee onboard, all sorts of schemes become possible.

You might have a dealer turn a blind eye to past posted bets or one who slides you stacks of winning chips even though you didn’t have a bet out to begin with. Other corrupt dealers can let you pull back or reduce losing wagers with no repercussions.

In the case of former craps dealer Mark Branco, his cheating partners were allowed to verbally place high-risk “hop” bets just as the dice were coming to a rest.

Between 2012 and 2014, Branco conspired with two players and a fellow dealer to rig high-stakes craps games at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. With partners Tony Granito wagering an average of $4,400 per bet, and Jeffrey Martin betting $2,200 a pop, Branco oversaw a scheme which stretched out over two years and nearly 4,000 rounds of rolling.

Right before the dice landed, Granito and Martin would mutter a hop bet to Branco that the dice would land in an exact combination. When the dice cooperated by spiking the combo exactly, Branco would slide out sizable stacks of chips to pay off the supposed four-figure bets. But when the hop bet was a swing and miss, Branco pretended he never heard the verbal command or that it was made too late to count.

Can Craps Be Rigged Fun

The hop bet is an exotic that pays out to the tune of 15 to 1, so using Granito’s average bet size of $4,400, the team was clearing $66,000 on a single successful cheat.

Why You Shouldn’t Try Colluding With a Dealer

The casino eventually caught wind of the improbable winning jag, as the team collectively wagered more than $12 million. This amount should produce an expected loss of $712,000 when legitimate craps odds are applied. Instead, the cheaters won $1.08 million during their rigged run, which statistical outlier gaming analysts have calculated as a 452 billion to 1 longshot.

Like any cheaters who don’t know when to quit while they’re ahead, this high-rolling collusion team wound up ensnared by surveillance cameras and astute casino employees.

In the end, Branco was sentenced to four to 10 years behind bars, while Granito and Martin each received 8.3-year sentences. Those sentences came after all three pleaded guilty.

Chief Deputy District Attorney J.P. Raman explained to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that casino cheats in the Silver State will always be penalized to the full extent of the law.

“This is not about sending a message.
It’s about punishing appropriately, and it’s about preventing anarchy.”

District Judge Valerie Adair told the newspaper that her harsh sentencing was based on the obscene sums of money the trio of cheats stole from the Bellagio.

“It seems to me that when these offenders concocted this scheme and executed it time and time again, they had to realize that if apprehended, the likely outcome was prison.
I’m not aware of any other offenders receiving probation for like amounts.”

3 – Stealing Chips From Other Players at the Table

Speaking of stealing, a surprisingly frequent form of cheating at the craps table involves nothing more complicated than a simple snatch and grab.

At the craps table, players keep their chips in grooves that line the armrest or the “rail.” Preying on fellow players who are either too trustworthy, too drunk, or too focused on the dice “rail thieves” work craps tables by keeping an eye out for folks who aren’t watching their chips.

From there, all it takes is a quick hand and a poker face to reach for a few chips from your neighbor. Because craps is such a fast-paced game, players are moving chips back and forth from the table to their rail in rapid succession. Even experienced craps enthusiasts seldom have time to count their stack after every bet or payout.

Knowing this, rail thieves hope their marks never notice their stack is light, making their move quickly and cashing out before anyone catches on.

Why You Shouldn’t Try Stealing Chips

As you might suspect, this crude and cowardly form of cheating is only utilized by the lowest of the low. Thankfully, awareness campaigns by craps-focused media outlets are teaching players to keep a close eye on their chips by using a hand to cover them during the roll or asking a dealer to cover them with a napkin while taking a bathroom break.

As with most casino cheating schemes, the best reason to avoid stealing chips at the craps table is the cameras. Whether it’s the victim noticing their shortened stacks and asking for a camera check, or the surveillance team spotting something amiss and alerting security, you can only get away with pickpocketing from the rail so many times until you’re caught on tape.

4 – “Sliding” or “Scooting” the Dice to Nail Numbers Automatically

As a craps player, you’ll find all sorts of advice from supposed “dice controllers” on how to make certain numbers appear more often than the odds dictate.

Some players “set” the dice before rolling, others try to go for a specific launch and bounce angle, and a few even attempt to control the spin rate and rotation. By and large, this craps strategy is fool’s gold for recreational players.

But what if you didn’t roll the dice at all?

A wickedly inventive form of cheating in craps is known as “sliding” or “scooting,” which describes a player arranging the dice with preferred numbers face up, then pushing them across the felt rather than tossing them through the air. If you’re looking for a hard 8, for example, setting the dice on 4+4 face up before sliding them to the other end of the table is an easy way to guarantee yourself a sweet payout.

Why You Shouldn’t Try Dice Sliding

Dice sliding might seem too crazy for even the most courageous cheater to try, but as Las Vegas-based casino surveillance specialist Willy Allison told the Review-Journal two years ago, the old ruse is enjoying a renaissance of late.

Can Craps Be Rigged Meaning

“It is the scam of 2017. Dice sliders never used to be common but seemed to have made a comeback in recent years. Dice sliding isn’t that difficult to master with a bit of practice. The key is finding weak or corrupt floor staff and supervisors. Casinos are so desperate to keep players who bet big they’re willing to turn a blind eye to questionable rolls.”

Allison was commenting on the case of Badri Tsertsvadze, a dice slider caught at the Flamingo casino and charged with 18 criminal counts.

Can Craps Be Rigged Against

Tsertsvadze was far from alone though, as the Wynn casino suffered a $700,000 loss in 2011 before a team of dice-sliders was taken down.

Craps dealers are trained to watch the dice at every turn from the stickman’s push to the shooter, to the shooter’s handling, and at every point in the roll. You might be able to fool them once or twice using the slide trick, but cheaters never prosper, so expect this scam to be spotted eventually.

Conclusion

Craps holds a well-deserved reputation as the most exciting table game on any casino floor. There’s a low house edge on the base bets, huge payouts on high risk exotics, and an entire table celebrating pass line winners as a group. What’s not to love, right?

Well, cheaters love how craps’ complexity and commotion provides the perfect cover for deception. With so many players placing so many bets, and a lot of chips moving to and fro after every roll, the craps table is a casino cheater’s home away from home. But as you just learned, when you try to rig a game of craps in your favor using these four cheating methods, jail time and huge fines are the only outcome.

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