Craps History
Walk in to any casino and you'll be dazzled by the lights, the sounds, and of course the show girls.But how did it all start? What are the roots of all this madness?!
When in Rome
All over the ancient world dice were the prefered gambling implements across all the nations. The earliest known dice were found in Egypt and date to 600 BC. For thousands of years, dice have been used in Ancient Europe, South West Asia, and in the Americas. The specific game of craps however has not been around nearly so long. The bets, the rules, the table, the jargon, and all the other factors that makes craps such a unique and exciting game have only been around for a few centuries.
Hazard
In the 1700's, the wealthy Europeans began playing the game hazard. Hazard, like craps, is a dice game but hazard is much more complicated than craps. In the early 1800's Bernard de Mandeville refined hazards and came up with a rough version of craps. He came up with the name from the french word for 'crabs' (based on rolling a 2 in hazard, known as crabs).
Craps Goes International
After Bernard de Mandeville brought his game of craps to Lousianna, the game became popular among African Americans in the Southern United States. As the game was played more and more, it couldn't stay contained in the south. It spread like wildfire up the Mississippi with the rise of the river boat. As craps moved northward John H. Winn, a dice maker, took the game and made it the game we know and love today by assigning only one shooter with many bettors. This opens up the way for players to bet right or wrong, and naturally requires the table layout to make space for the don't pass line.
The Modern Era
Throughout the twentieth century craps easily outpaced all other casino games in terms of total dollars bet anually. As the century neared its close craps started losing ground to the barrage of new slots games. Luckily moving into the new millenium hurled craps into online casinos where it could gain maxmum exposure.
In 2006 Frank Scoblete hosted the first World Championship of craps but it never took off in a major commercial way. TO learn more about this and the first World Craps Champion check out our page on the first craps championship. Looking forward, craps should have a bright and promising future.
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