Craps

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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. Later, he designed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.