House edge – Craps

Craps is a game that offers players with wide variation of house edge ranging from 1% to over 16%. This is the amount that most casinos may take from the players when playing for long run. When playing for high house edge it is always seen as a losing proposition. So before you play you should be aware of various house edge on different bets.

In case you are a new player, then it is important that you locate the bet that has a low house edge and try to stick to it throughout the game. There are also a number of adventurous payers who like playing on higher bets as they have hopes to make a bigger win. So the best option for such players is to try and memorize the house edge for each and every bet. This may still not be a very good option as each and every casino has its own set of rules and so house edge may vary from the same bets in different casinos. There are also a number of expert players who always calculate their house edge.

In order to calculate the house edge it is important to calculate all possible probabilities. In case two dice are rolled the results may vary starting from 2 to 12. Players can get these outcomes in 36 different ways. So if the players needs to get2 he may have to get 1 on each dice. So here the probability is only one. In order to get number 3 the first dice outcome should be 1 and second dice outcome should be 2 or vice versa. And in this case the probability is two. The probability of getting the number 3 on two dice is 2 /36 or even 1/18. In the same way players can always calculate the probability for getting any number between 2 and 12. Here is a table that shows the final probability for any number.

The probability for getting 2 is 1/36
The probability for getting 3 is 1/18
The probability for getting 4 is 1/12
The probability for getting 5 is 1/9
The probability for getting 6 is 1/7.2
The probability for getting 7 is 1/6
The probability for getting 8 is 1/7.2
The probability for getting 9 is 1/9
The probability for getting 10 is 1/12
The probability for getting 11 is 1/18
The probability of getting 12 is 1/36

The house edge for any outcome whose probability is ‘p’ and which payout in the ratio Q:1 is:-

Expectation E = P x Q – (1-P) x 1
House edge = -E x 100

Here is a working example. When placing any 7 bets the payout is 4:1. the probability of getting 7 is 1/6. So, P = 1/6 & Q = 4.

Expectation E = (1/6) x 4 – (1 – 1/6) x 1 = – 0.1667
House edge = – (-0.1667) x 100 = 16.67%

In case any casino is offering a payout of 9:2 or 4.5:1 then the house edge is half = 8.33%.