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Casinos> Gambling Articles > Craps: The King of American Gambling
Craps: The King of American Gambling
Despite having perhaps the most unfortunate name in all of
gambling, craps is unquestionably the most popular form of gambling in American
history. More money has been wagered,
won and lost playing craps by Americans than all the many forms of poker combined,
as well as blackjack, roulette or and even horseracing. As far as gambling in America is
concerned, craps is king.
The reason, of course, is that it is the easiest game of
chance to set up. It doesn’t require a
table, a club, or fancy equipment. It
can be played with nothing other than a pair of dice and a wall to toss them up
against. Craps has traditionally been
the gambling game of choice in the military, especially aboard ships. It has a long tradition of being played in
dark alleys by both big time gamblers and kids alike. The popularity of the game is so great that
most experts agree there is no adequate way to truly measure just how much
money per year is wagered on a throw of
the dice. Recent estimates, however,
judge that at the very least well over 200 billion dollars a year is bet
playing craps.
Craps had its beginnings in the game of Hazard, a dice game
played in England and
brought to the New World sometime in the 18th
century. Over time, the game became a
favorite of slaves in New Orleans who over time changed the rules to make it easier to play. In changing the rules of Hazard, they created
a game that was also much more fair. The
name of the game was changed to craps—it is believed, at least—in honor of
French gambler Bernard Marigny, who was known as Johnny Crapaud when he was
gambling. Crapaud became so associated
with the game that for at first it was known as Johnny Crapaud’s game before
finally being shorted to just craps.
For a long time the American game of choice was Faro, but
eventually craps overtook that mainstay of the gambling house. Today craps is one of the most popular games
in casinos, in part because it is a game with a smaller edge for the house than
most others. Regardless, playing craps
can be dangerous for the newcomer because it does still provide the possibility
of making some absolutely sucker bets.
In addition, the casino stickman can almost always be depended upon to
boost the attractiveness of the field bet whenever women show up at the table. The psychology behind targeting women for the
field bet is because it can be sold as a bargain bet and the theory goes that
all women love a bargain. There is as
much truth in that statement as there is in the idea that the field bet really
does provide a bargain however. Do your research and you will find that field
bet offers up a potential bargain only for the casino itself.
Yes, craps is definitely the king of America when it
comes to gambling.
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