- The free odds bet is the only wager in the casino with no house edge, paying true odds of 2 to 1, 3 to 2 or 6 to 5 depending on the point.
- It is not printed anywhere on the craps layout, so you have to know to place it behind your pass line bet, which is a big reason most players never use it.
- Backing a pass line bet with odds lowers the combined house edge from 1.41 percent to about 0.37 percent at a common 3-4-5 times table, and lower still at 10 times or 100 times tables.
- The catch is that a zero-edge bet does not make craps a winning game. It lowers your average cost per dollar wagered but increases your swings and the bankroll you need.
- The flashy wagers the table does advertise, the props in the center, are the worst bets on the felt.
There is exactly one bet in a casino that the house holds no edge on, where you are paid the true mathematical odds with no cut taken. It lives at the craps table, it is called the free odds bet, and here is the strange part. It is the only major wager in craps that is not printed anywhere on the layout. The worst bets on the table are spelled out in bold. The single fair one you have to know to ask for.
What the free odds bet actually is
The odds bet is a wager you can add only after you have made a pass line, don’t pass, come or don’t come bet and a point has been set. It pays true odds, meaning the payout exactly matches the real probability of the point coming before a 7. On the pass side you are paid 2 to 1 on a point of 4 or 10, 3 to 2 on a 5 or 9 and 6 to 5 on a 6 or 8. Those ratios are not shaved down the way every other payout on the table is, which is why the bet carries a house edge of zero. It is, in the plainest terms, the only fair bet in the building.
Why it’s not on the table
So why is the fairest bet in the house the one you cannot find on the felt? Part of it is practical. The odds bet has no single fixed payout, since the ratio changes with the point, and the amount is a multiple of your line bet, so there is no tidy box to print it in. You place it just behind your pass line chips, in the unmarked space closer to you. But the effect is the same whether it is by design or by convention. The one bet with no house edge is the one the casino does not display and does not advertise, while the center of the table is crowded with the props it wants you to notice. New players see the big numbers, the hardways and the Any Seven, and never learn that the best value on the table has no label at all.
What taking odds does to your edge
The reason this matters is math. A pass line bet by itself carries a house edge of 1.41 percent. Because the odds bet placed behind it has an edge of zero, it drags down the average edge across everything you have wagered. At a common 3-4-5 times table, where you can take three times your line bet in odds on the 4 or 10, four times on the 5 or 9 and five times on the 6 or 8, backing your pass line with full odds pulls the combined edge down to roughly 0.37 percent. At a 10 times table it falls to about 0.18 percent, and at the rare 100 times tables it is close to nothing. Some Las Vegas casinos spread higher-odds tables, so it pays to check the placard, and our guide to legal craps in Nevada is a good place to start. Nothing else on the floor comes close.
The catch nobody mentions
Here is the honest part, because zero house edge is easy to misread. Taking odds does not make you more likely to win, and it does not turn craps into a winning game. You still have to make the pass line bet, with its 1.41 percent edge, to be allowed to take odds at all. What maxing your odds does is lower your average cost per dollar you put at risk while increasing your swings. More money is in action, so a hot streak is bigger and a cold one is too, and you need a larger bankroll to ride out the variance. The odds bet is the smartest way to bet more at the table, not a way to beat it.
How to actually use it
The practical move is simple. Bet the pass line, or the don’t pass if you prefer its slightly lower edge, wait for the point, then take as much in odds as your bankroll comfortably allows, up to the table maximum. Add come bets with odds if you want more numbers working. Skip the loud one-roll props in the center, which run double-digit house edges. And know that the online game is different, since virtual and live-dealer online craps often cap odds far lower than a live pit, sometimes at just one times, so the benefit of maxing odds shrinks when you play online craps. Whether you are at a table or on your phone, the principle holds. Put your money on the one bet the house cannot beat you on, and treat the rest as entertainment.
None of this changes the basic truth that the house keeps its edge over time, so set a budget you can afford to lose and treat craps as entertainment rather than a way to make money. For more on the game and where to play, start with our guide to legal craps online.