Understand the bets before the dice roll

Updated October 2026

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A rules-first guide to Pass Line, Come and Don’t Pass wagers, point outcomes, house odds, and practice games.

How the Pass Line and Come Bets Work

The Pass Line is the starting point for a shooter in Bank Craps. To take a turn rolling as the shooter, you must have a wager on either the Pass Line or the Don’t Pass Line. These bets take opposite positions on the opening roll, called the come-out roll, and on what happens if that roll establishes a point.

A come-out roll of 7 or 11 is a win for Pass Line wagers and a loss for Don’t Pass wagers. If the shooter rolls 2 or 3, the result reverses: Pass Line wagers lose and Don’t Pass wagers win. A roll of 12 also loses for the Pass Line. Don’t Pass treatment of 12 can vary: some New Zealand online casino rulesets count it as a tie rather than a win. That distinction matters if you are reading the rules for a particular game, because the same opening roll can have a different result for a Don’t Pass wager under those rules.

The remaining relevant come-out results—4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10—establish the point. The number rolled becomes the point that the shooter must make again. The Pass Line wager then wins if the shooter rolls that point before rolling a 7. If a 7 appears first, the Pass Line wager loses. The point therefore changes the question being settled by the Pass Line: after it is set, an immediate win or loss no longer comes from the opening-roll outcomes. The order in which the point and 7 appear determines the result.

For instance, if the come-out roll establishes 6, the shooter needs another 6 before a 7 for the Pass Line to win. The same structure applies when the point is 4, 5, 8, 9 or 10. These numbers are the possible points; 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12 are not points in this sequence. The wager remains tied to the shooter’s roll, rather than to a prediction about how many rolls the turn will last.

A Come bet is a separate wager that becomes available only after a point has been established. It is not another name for the Pass Line bet, and it is not placed on the opening roll. Once a point is on, a Come bet can be made and wins if the point is rolled before 7. This makes its timing important: if you are still on the come-out roll, the condition for placing a Come bet has not yet been met.

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Odds are another additional wager, rather than a replacement for the original Pass Line or Come bet. A specialist review describes taking odds as available only after a Pass or Come bet, with the amount capped at a multiple of the initial wager. That is a description from a review, not a rule to assume applies identically at every table. Check the rules shown for the specific game before relying on it. The key distinction is that the odds wager is attached to an existing bet; it does not remove the need for the underlying Pass or Come wager.

These layers can make a craps layout look more complicated than the basic sequence. Start by identifying whether the shooter is on the come-out roll or whether a point has been established. Then distinguish the required Pass or Don’t Pass wager from any additional Come bet or odds wager. Each has its own placement condition and outcome; a side wager does not change the result of the original line bet.

If you are trying to identify a suitable bet on a craps table, first understand what the bet is asking you to back. Pass Line wagers win on 7 or 11 at the come-out and, once a point is set, on the point arriving before 7. Don’t Pass takes the opposite position on the stated come-out outcomes, with the treatment of 12 dependent on the ruleset. Come bets and odds add wagers after the relevant conditions are met; they do not alter the point sequence itself. Knowing that sequence is more useful than treating every marked area on the table as an interchangeable choice.

Pass Line Process

1. 1

   The Come-out Roll

   You place a wager on the Pass Line. A roll of 7 or 11 results in an immediate win, while 2, 3 or 12 results in a loss.

2. 2

   Establishing the Point

   If the roll is 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, that number becomes the point.

3. 3

   Making the Point

   You win if the shooter rolls the point again before rolling a 7. If a 7 appears first, the wager loses.

What the Odds Say About Each Bet

A house edge is a way to describe the casino’s theoretical advantage over players across repeated wagering. It is expressed as a share of the amount wagered, not as a prediction of what will happen in a particular round. A low edge does not mean a bet is likely to win on any given turn, and a high edge does not mean every player loses. It compares expected cost over time.

For the Pass Line, the stated house edge is 1.41%. In practical terms, that figure describes the theoretical casino advantage as a proportion of the total Pass Line wagers made over many plays. It is not a fee charged separately, nor does it mean that a fixed share of every individual stake disappears immediately. Short-term results can differ sharply from the long-run expectation.

Bank Craps figures put the Pass Line edge at approximately 1.41%, while the Any 7 bet is listed at approximately 16.67%. The difference is substantial: the Any 7 figure indicates a much larger theoretical cost relative to the amount wagered. That is a comparison of expected cost, not a promise of better results.

What the percentage can—and cannot—tell you

The house edge is useful because it gives you a common measure for comparing bets. The lower the edge, the smaller the casino’s theoretical share of the amount wagered over time. But the number does not tell you how long a session will last, whether you will finish ahead, or how much you might win or lose in a particular stretch. Those outcomes are uncertain.

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It also does not mean that a bet with a lower edge is automatically the right choice for every player. A comparison based on edge answers a limited question: how costly is the wager in theoretical terms? It does not measure enjoyment, explain the feel of a game, or guarantee that choosing the lower figure will produce a winning session.

The distinction matters when people look for the best odds in craps. If “best” means the most likely way to leave a session ahead, the house-edge figures cannot answer that. A bet’s long-run cost and a player’s short-run result are not the same thing.

Why a high edge deserves attention

The Any 7 figure is a reminder that bets within the same game can have very different theoretical costs. A familiar table or shared dice does not make every wager equally favourable. Looking only at the name of the game—or assuming that all bets on one table carry similar odds—can hide an important difference.

Side bets and bonus bets typically carry a higher house edge than regular bets. That makes their cost worth considering separately from the main wagers. A bonus or side bet may add a different feature to play, but its presence does not make its odds more favourable. Read the stated edge where it is provided, and do not assume that a bet is inexpensive simply because it is presented as an extra option.

Where no house-edge figure is stated, there is no sound basis for treating that bet as equivalent to one with a known lower edge. The safest comparison is between figures that actually describe the same measure. Promotional language, the possibility of a large prize, or an appealing bet name cannot substitute for an edge calculation.

Can craps be said to have the best odds?

The Pass Line’s stated edge is lower than the stated edge for Any 7, so it is the less costly of those two on that measure. That alone cannot establish whether craps has the best odds in a casino, or whether it beats every bet in another game. Such a claim would require comparable figures across those games and bets.

For the same reason, “best craps bet” is not a single answer unless the measure is clear. That is narrower than saying it is the best bet for every purpose or that it will produce the best outcome. The percentage describes expected cost over repeated wagering, not a personal forecast.

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A useful way to read any craps odds claim is to ask what is being compared. Is it the casino’s theoretical advantage, the chance of a particular result, or the possibility of a large payout? These are different measures. A wager can offer an appealing possible return while still carrying a high house edge; a low edge, meanwhile, does not promise a win.

That difference can help you understand relative cost, while leaving individual results uncertain. Treat the edge as a comparison tool, not as a prediction of what the dice will do.

A Strategy Built Around the Rules, Not a Dice System

A useful craps strategy starts with what the rules let you control: which wagers you make, how much of your budget you expose, and when you stop. It cannot make the dice favour you. A system that claims to predict a roll or guarantee a result is promising more than a betting plan can deliver.

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If you are the shooter, you must place a Pass Line or Don’t Pass Line bet. For a rules-based approach, decide which line you are prepared to bet before play begins, and keep that choice consistent rather than changing it in reaction to a win or loss. Consistency does not improve the odds; it simply makes your decisions easier to follow and review.

The Pass Line rule gives the wager its shape. Once a point is set, the shooter needs to roll that same number again before a seven for the pass bet to win. That makes the sequence easier to understand than a dice system built around supposed hot or cold rolls: you are waiting for one of the stated outcomes, not reading a pattern into previous throws.

Make each decision before the roll

A practical plan can specify when you will make a wager, whether you will add to it, and when you will leave the table. Set those conditions in advance and treat them as boundaries, not targets that must be chased. A losing run does not mean a win is due, and a winning run does not establish that a method is working.

You can also decide whether additional wagers belong in your plan at all. Odds can be taken only after a Pass or Come bet. A specialist review describes these wagers as capped at a multiple of the original bet; that is a source-specific description, not a rule to assume applies everywhere. Check the rules of the game you are actually playing before relying on it.

A plan that excludes extra wagers is still a plan. If you choose to add odds, make that decision before the relevant opportunity arises and keep it within an amount you can afford to lose. Neither choice changes the roll or turns a losing wager into a predictable one.

Keep the maths in view

The Pass Line house edge is 1.41%. In plain terms, that figure describes the casino’s mathematical advantage on that bet over repeated play; it is not a forecast of what will happen in your next hand. A short session can end in a win, but no staking pattern can remove the edge or ensure that a session will finish ahead.

That distinction matters when considering a “best” mathematical strategy. The sensible aim is not to beat the dice with a progression, a sequence of bets, or a theory about momentum. It is to understand what each choice commits you to and avoid increasing stakes simply because earlier results were disappointing. A larger wager can make a result matter more to your balance, but it cannot make the outcome more likely.

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Choose a plan you can follow

Before playing, decide on a spending limit and a stopping point, then do not borrow from other expenses or extend the session to recover losses. Keep the plan simple enough that you can follow it while the game is moving. If you find yourself changing rules for yourself after each throw, pause rather than treating that impulse as strategy.

A craps trainer or practice tool may help you learn the sequence of decisions, but familiarity is not predictive power. The useful test of any system is whether it describes the rules accurately and helps you make deliberate choices—not whether it claims to have found a way around chance.

What a Craps App Can Teach You About the Rules

A craps app on an iPad or iPhone can make the rules easier to follow by showing each result alongside what it means. For someone learning the simplified version, the key is whether the app makes the winning and losing outcomes clear, rather than simply animating dice and moving on.

In this version, a roll of 7 or 11 wins, while 2, 3 or 12 loses. Look for an explanation that labels these outcomes plainly and keeps the result visible long enough to understand it. If the app shows a win or loss without saying why, it may be entertaining, but it is doing little to teach the rules.

Check what the app is teaching

Craps has variants, and an app’s rules should be understandable before you begin. Look for an accessible rules screen or tutorial that identifies the version being played and explains how its outcomes work. That distinction matters: a familiar name on a screen does not, by itself, tell you which rules are in use.

A useful learning interface connects a result to its consequence. You should be able to tell which rolls count as wins and which count as losses without relying on colour, sound or animation alone. Clear text helps, especially if you are learning on a smaller phone screen or returning to a lesson after a break.

It is also worth checking whether the app lets you review the rules while playing. A short explanation beside the result can help you remember the relationship between the roll and its outcome. If the rules are buried in a menu, or the app expects you to infer them from the animation, the learning experience may be less clear.

Treat the interface as a lesson, not a verdict

An app can show how a stated rule applies to a roll; it cannot establish that a particular app is the best choice for every learner. Ease of reading, the clarity of its instructions and how directly it connects rolls to outcomes are more useful things to assess than polished graphics alone.

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Pay attention to whether the app explains a loss as well as a win. Seeing that 2, 3 and 12 lose, and that 7 and 11 win, is more instructive when the rule is stated in words rather than left for you to work out from a changing score. That gives you a simple check on whether the displayed result matches the explanation.

A tablet’s larger display may leave more room for rules and result labels; a phone app can still be useful if those elements remain easy to read. In either case, avoid assuming that a tutorial for one version applies to every craps game. The rules shown on screen are what you should follow.

When comparing craps apps for an iPad or iPhone, focus on whether the teaching is explicit, consistent and easy to revisit. No product needs to be singled out for that test: an app earns its place as a learning aid by making the rules clearer, not by promising a winning approach.

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Dice Sets, Rolls, and What the Rules Actually Depend On

A dice set describes how a shooter positions the faces of the dice before throwing them. People may look for a particular arrangement in the hope of influencing which numbers appear. But the rules of Bank Craps do not give any set a special status: the game is decided by the numbers shown after the two dice are rolled.

In Bank Craps, one player throws two dice. The relevant sequence is whether a point number appears before a seven. The point numbers are 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10. If one of these has been established, rolling it again before a seven determines the outcome for the shooter’s Pass bet. A seven appearing first ends that attempt. The position of the dice before the throw does not change these conditions.

That is why no particular dice arrangement can be treated as a reliable way to produce a preferred roll. A set may affect how the dice look in the shooter’s hand, but it does not change which totals count as points or the order required by the rules. Claims that a particular grip, alignment, or release can consistently deliver a chosen result should be treated cautiously; the rules themselves provide no such guarantee.

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There is also no single best roll in craps apart from the result that meets the rule applying at that moment. A point number matters when it is the established target; a seven matters differently in relation to that target. The same total can therefore have a different significance depending on where the game is in its sequence. Looking only for a favourable number, without accounting for the point-before-seven structure, leaves out the part that determines the result.

For a new player, the useful distinction is between the dice’s appearance before a throw and the outcome that the rules recognise afterward. Watching the two dice and identifying their total can help you follow a round, but a preferred set should not be mistaken for control over it. The mechanics depend on the totals rolled and, once a point is in play, on whether that point appears before seven—not on a named arrangement of the dice.

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If you see advice presenting a dice set as a dependable route to a particular result, separate the claim from the game’s actual conditions. Bank Craps still turns on two dice, the relevant point, and the order in which the point and seven appear. That is the structure to understand; a setup cannot rewrite it.

Craps Sites and the New Zealand Licensing Transition

For anyone considering online craps in New Zealand, the legal position depends on when a provider began operating and where the country is in its licensing transition. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 created New Zealand’s first domestic licensing system for online casino gambling. It took effect on 1 May 2026, beginning a transition that is due to run until 1 December 2026.

The previous framework did not permit online casinos to be based in New Zealand. Before the new Act, offshore online casino services were not licensed or supervised by a New Zealand regulator. People could access offshore sites, but a customer who wagered with one had no domestic government recourse if a dispute arose. The legal change concerns the regulation of providers; it does not mean that every site available to a New Zealand resident is already locally licensed.

Who oversees the framework

The Department of Internal Affairs is New Zealand’s primary gambling regulator and oversees regulation of the online casino licensing framework. The Gambling Commission has a distinct role: it considers and determines casino licensing applications, issues online casino licences, and approves changes to licence conditions. These responsibilities should not be confused with a general endorsement of any particular casino site.

The transition does not open the market to newly arriving providers. Only online casinos that were already serving people in New Zealand before 1 May 2026 may continue operating during the transitional period, and their continued operation is subject to the Act’s transitional provisions. This is a temporary arrangement, not evidence that a provider has already secured a licence under the new system.

Providers that have not applied for a licence must stop conducting online casino gambling in New Zealand by 1 December 2026. A provider whose application is declined must cease all online casino operations in the country and leave the market. The full licensed regime is not expected to be operational until 2027, so the transition period and the eventual licensing system should not be treated as the same stage.

What the change means for players

The new system is intended to bring online casino providers under domestic licensing and oversight. Licensed operators will have to use stricter age and identity checks. Those checks may make account opening or verification less immediate, but their purpose is to confirm who is using the service and to apply the requirements attached to a licence.

Providers operating without a licence may face enforcement action and fines of up to NZ$5 million. Unlicensed operation is expected to become an offence around mid-2027. These provisions concern providers; they do not make a player liable to a fine or criminal prosecution simply for using an offshore casino without a New Zealand licence.

Advertising is also constrained. Online casino operators are prohibited from advertising to people in New Zealand during the transition period. Under the licensed framework, advertising is permitted only within tight rules, and sponsorships are prohibited. A site’s promotional claims should therefore not be mistaken for proof of its licensing status or for independent assurance about its services.

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Assessing a site without mistaking access for approval

A site being reachable from New Zealand does not establish that it is licensed locally. Nor does the transition mean that every provider currently accessible will remain available after the deadline: eligibility to continue during the transition is limited to providers already operating before the Act took effect, and continued operation is conditional.

For a reader looking for an online craps site, the practical point is that a list of available services cannot by itself answer the licensing question. The key distinction is between temporary permission to continue under transitional provisions and a licence issued under the new regime. The framework is overseen by the Department of Internal Affairs, while applications and licence decisions sit with the Gambling Commission. Those are institutional roles, not a recommendation to use any provider.

The transition is a substantial change from the earlier position, when offshore gambling had no New Zealand licensing or supervision. It does not remove the need to distinguish an offshore service from a locally licensed one, and it does not make access equivalent to approval. Until the full regime is operating, readers should understand that the market is in transition rather than assume that the licensing position is already settled.

Playing Against the House or Against Other Players

Craps can describe different arrangements, and the distinction matters when you are trying to understand who is taking the opposing side of a wager. In Bank Craps, one player rolls two dice, while the casino is the house. The shooter’s task is to roll a point number before a seven appears. Other players may also wager on the outcome, but the game remains played against the house rather than as a contest between those players.

Street Craps has a different relationship between participants: players bet against one another, not against a casino. The dice are still central, but the opposing side of a wager is another person. That changes the social and practical setting. A player’s result depends on the roll and on the terms agreed between participants, rather than on a casino acting as the house.

This distinction also helps put claims about the “best” craps player in perspective. In Bank Craps, rolling the dice does not make someone able to control what they show. A skilled or familiar shooter may know the rules, but that is not evidence that they can produce a preferred result. In Street Craps, players may compete over wagers, yet that still does not establish a universally best player. The answer would depend on what “best” means, and no single title follows from the game structure alone.

If you are deciding how to play, first identify whether the game is Bank Craps or Street Craps. That tells you whether the casino or another player is on the opposite side. Then consider whether you want a casino game with a defined house, or a player-to-player arrangement whose terms involve the participants themselves. These are different formats, not simply different names for the same table.

There is no dice technique that can guarantee a winning result. Understanding who you are betting against is a more useful starting point than looking for a celebrated shooter or a supposedly unbeatable way to play.

Free Craps Games as a Way to Learn the Outcomes

A free version of craps can give you room to follow the result of each roll without placing a cash wager. Its value is modest but practical: you can become familiar with the outcome labels and see whether you understand what the rules say happens next. Free play is not evidence that a particular game is available to New Zealand players, nor does it tell you how a cash version is regulated.

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The described Simplified Craps version has a short set of outcomes to learn. A roll of 7 or 11 wins; a roll of 2, 3 or 12 loses. When you practise, pause after each result and identify which group it belongs to before moving on. That simple check can make the rules easier to recall when the pace picks up.

A free game is most useful when it presents the result clearly and lets you keep attention on the stated outcomes. Treat it as a way to become comfortable with the rules, not as proof that you have learned every form of craps. Bank Craps uses a point-before-seven structure, which is different from the simplified outcomes described here. A free format that does not explain which rules it follows may therefore teach less than its label suggests.

There is also a limit to what practice can do. Repeated play may make the outcomes familiar, but it cannot show what a future roll will be or make one result more likely through skill. Nor does a free session establish the cost of playing for money. Those are separate questions from learning what the listed results mean.

If you are comparing options described as free craps games, focus on whether the rules are stated plainly and whether the play stays in a no-cash format. Do not assume a free title is an app, that it is offered in your location, or that its rules match every other version. The useful outcome is a clearer grasp of the rules—not a prediction, a recommendation, or a reason to wager.

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