Craps History

Like many traditional casino games the origins of craps are somewhat of a debate. A commonly shared opinion is that craps developed from an English dice game called Hazard, a 12 th century dice pastime allegedly played by English knights. In fact it is stated that the name hazard is a corruption of the name Hazarth; a castle laid siege by English knights in the 12 th century crusades.

Whether or not this is true, it is certain that the game hazard was hugely popular in England ; the game is mentioned frequently in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The name change to 'craps' supposedly was due to the French adopting the dice game and preferring the use of the term 'crabs'; the term for throwing a losing pair of ones. The name crabs apparently evolved into 'craps' once arriving in the U.S.A, growing in popularity from the French settlers in southern areas, namely New Orleans. The reason for the change from 'crabs' to 'craps' is not set in stone but it is alleged it may have been influenced by either African-American slang or derogatory terms for French people in early southern America.

What is known is that the game, as we know it today, was revised by dice maker John H Winn who invented the concept of betting with or against the shooter. The layouts and tables further evolved once gambling became legalised in Las Vegas and encouraged craps to go on to be one of the most popular casino games today. Indeed the game of craps is one of Littlewoods most popular online casino games