The Don't Come Bet in Craps

A don't come bet is a don't pass bet you make after a point has already been established. You put your chips in the don't come box, a small box on the layout right next to the come box, usually labeled "Don't Come Bar" with the same bar 12 or bar 2 notation as the don't pass.

The initial placement is self-service; after the next roll, the dealer takes over and moves the chips, just like with come bets. You can only make a don't come bet during a point cycle, when the puck is on. If a new come out roll happens, you'd make a don't pass bet instead, since the timing for that bet has come back around.

The don't come bet treats the next roll as its own come out roll, with the wins and losses flipped from a come bet. If the next roll is a 7 or 11, the don't come loses and the dealer sweeps the chips. If it's a 2 or 3, the don't come wins. The 12 is a push, just like on don't pass. If it's a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10, that becomes the don't come bet's number, and the dealer moves your chips to a small spot above the corresponding place number box (a separate area from where come bets sit, so the dealer can keep them straight). From there, your don't come bet wins if a 7 hits before that number, and loses if the number hits before a 7.

Here's the part that confuses new players. When a 7 hits during the point cycle, several things happen at once. Your don't pass bet wins, since the 7 came before the point. Any existing don't come bets that have already established numbers also win, since the 7 came before their numbers too. But a brand new don't come bet you just placed in the box loses, because for that bet the 7 was its come out roll, and the 7 is a loser on the come out for don't bets. So the same 7 wins your old don't come bets and loses your new one. The math is consistent; it just looks strange the first time, with the dealer moving chips in different directions across the table.

You can lay odds on a don't come bet just like a don't pass bet, once it has established a number. Same math, zero house edge. You hand chips to the dealer and tell them you want to lay odds, and they set the chips on top of your don't come bet, slightly offset. The amount you can lay is governed by the same odds structure as the rest of the table, usually 3x-4x-5x, with the maximum calculated based on what your underlying don't come bet would win.

As with all odds, you should always lay them; skipping odds is the same mistake whether you're on the right side or the wrong side of the table. Our free odds article covers both sides.

The don't come bet has the same house edge as the don't pass: about 1.36 percent on a flat bet, dropping well below 1 percent when you lay odds. Identical structure, identical math, identical payouts. The only difference is when you can place the bet. Like with come bets, some players assume don't come must be different because it sits in a different spot, but it's just a don't pass bet on a delay.

And like all dark-side bets, the math during the point cycle is in your favor. If your don't come number is 4 or 10, you win on a 7 (6 ways) and lose on the number (3 ways), twice as many wins as losses. If it's 5 or 9, it's 6 wins versus 4 losses; if it's 6 or 8, it's 6 versus 5. So once a don't come bet has its number, you're favored to win it. This is why the same pull-down rule applies: you can take a don't come bet down any time after it establishes a number, but doing so strips out the part of the bet that's in your favor. Don't do it. Let the math work.

A dedicated don't bettor uses this much like pass line bettors use come bets, with the math flipped. You start with a don't pass bet. The shooter sets a point of 8, and you lay odds, betting a 7 hits before the 8. The shooter throws a 5, so you drop a chip in the don't come box, the dealer moves it above the 5, and you lay odds on it. Now you have two bets working, both rooting for a 7. The shooter throws a 9, you drop another chip, the dealer moves it above the 9, and you lay odds. Now three bets are working, all rooting for the 7 over their respective numbers, and a 7 wins all three at once.

This is the dark-side equivalent of running three numbers with come bets, except a 7 is a sweep win for you where it's a sweep loss for the right-side bettor. The variance is reversed: long rolls hurt you, while short rolls and quick sevens are gold. One thing to know: as more numbers get covered, the chance that any single number hits before a 7 goes up, so you're more likely to lose individual don't come bets to point hits, and the wins from a 7 have to make up for it. The math works out the same in the long run, but the short-term swings feel different from running come bets.

The big payoff moment is when the shooter sevens out. Every dark-side bet on the table wins: don't pass, all your don't come bets, all your laid odds, collected in one roll. The same 7 that ruins everyone else's day pays you on every bet you have, with the dealers paying you out three or four bets while taking chips from everyone else.

The flip side is that long rolls are brutal. Every made point loses your don't pass, and every number that hits before a 7 loses the don't come bet on it. A hot shooter can drain a don't come bettor faster than a cold table drains a pass line bettor, because the don't come bettor is set up for many small wins and one big loss when dice run cold, but during a hot streak they get many small losses without the big payoff. Most don't-side play is a slow grind toward the long-run math advantage, with punishing variance in either direction. This is part of why most craps players never go full dark side, even though the math says they could.

Why use don't come bets when you can lay bets directly on individual numbers? The answer is similar to come vs place. Don't come bets have a lower house edge than lay bets in most casinos, because lay bets carry a 5 percent commission on every winning bet, a kind of stealth house edge that adds up. Don't come bets have no commission.

The downside is that you can't pick your number with don't come bets; the next roll establishes whatever it happens to be. If you want to specifically lay against the 6 or 8, the lay bet lets you do that. For most beginner-friendly play, the don't come bet is the better choice over lay bets, just like the come bet beats the place bet: lower edge, simpler to track, no commissions.

• Don't skip lay odds. Same rule as don't pass. The odds are the whole point of the structure, the part with zero house edge.
• Don't place a don't come bet right before a come out roll. If the round resolves on the next roll, your don't come ends up in a weird state. Wait until you're deep into a point cycle.
• Don't stack too many at once. Two or three is plenty. Most experienced dark-side bettors run two numbers at most.
• Don't pull a don't come bet down once it has a number. The math is in your favor at that point, and pulling it costs you that advantage.
• Don't get loud or smug when you win on a 7. The other players just lost. Smile to yourself, collect, and stay quiet. Loud don't bettors are the most disliked players in the room.

The don't come is the don't pass with the timing changed. It lets dark-side bettors run multiple bets against the shooter at once, just as come bets let right-side bettors run multiple bets with the shooter. The math is identical to don't pass, with the same low house edge and the same option to lay zero-edge odds. Most beginners don't need this bet, and for most readers the right approach is to stick with pass line and come bets for your first hundred sessions, trying don't pass once or twice on a quiet table just to feel it. The next article gets into place bets, a different structure that lets you bet directly on specific numbers without going through the come process.