About the game
Forget roulette, forget slot games and forget about blackjack: whether you’re in Toronto, Montréal, or Vegas, Craps is the best casino game…. ever. The craps table is always a lot of fun and some would say it’s the best place in any casino to make new friends. Category: Evolution’s Live Craps is the highly anticipated live casino version of the famous dice game. Evolution has taken on one of the biggest live dealer challenges by releasing a live version of one of the industry’s most social games. In this Live Craps review you’ll discover whether Evolution has managed to bring the game’s magic to the live dealer studio.
Where to play it
Our mission is to provide the best casino experience to players that are based in Canada. All of the casinos below have a live dealer lobby and offer great bonuses for both new and existing players. Make sure to claim your bonus before you join the Craps Live table.
C$1000
+ 200 cash Free Spins
C$1000
+ 50 Free spins
Welcome Bonus: 100% up to C$500 +Free Spins!
The rules
Compared to other games, craps gives the player very good odds as this is one of the casino games with the lowest house edge and the highest return to player. Only standard baccarat or European roulette have a similar RTP and you won’t find any other games beating this game’s odds.
Higher odds, less practice
That is: craps has a very low house edge if you stick to the standard bets. The only casino games that work with a lower house edge are blackjack and poker with the main difference being that both require a certain amount of skill and strategy. This is less the case with live craps, making it particularly accessible to beginners and making it possible to win big.
The social element
The social aspect of playing craps in a land based casino is unique, everyone who has played craps will agree on this. Live casinos are doing their best to emulate the game’s social aspect by launching Live Craps and all that we can do is praise Evolution for taking on the challenge that was deemed impossible by many.
The basic rules of Live Craps
Craps is quite a complicated game, with a steep learning curve, especially compared to other Live Casino games we have reviewed so far. We therefore stick to a short explanation in this review, only pointing out the basics of the game.
There is one crucial bet you need to know before you make your first move, the “Pass Line” bet. This is the bet almost all players make. You can get by understanding just this bet your first time. A game of craps always starts with the Come Out Roll: this is the first roll of the two dice. Other than you would maybe expect from a live game of craps, it’s a mechanical arm that throws the dice on the table instead of the player. This takes some getting used to. Most players bet on the Pass Line, meaning they’re taking on the casino.
The Pass Bet
The Pass bet is put on the pass line itself on a Come Out roll. You can tell it is a Come Out Roll if there is a market on the craps table that shows “Off.” This will then be taken from “Off” to “On”, after which an area of the table is shown with that number, to help you remember what the point is. If you make a Don’t Pass bet, you’ll automatically play against the table. This is also referred to as “The Dark Side” – and players who make this move are considered the party poopers at any craps table as they play along with the casino.
- If the Come Out Roll is either 2, 3 or 12, the bet loses (also known as”crapping out”).
- If the Come Out Roll is 7 or 11, you win and a new Come Out Roll follows.
- If the Come Out Roll is 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, a “Point” is made and the game starts.
The “Odds”
You now have the chance to bet “Odds”. The Odds is like a side bet in craps made after a point is thrown. The biggest advantage of the Odds bet is that there is no house edge, so this is always a good bet to make. You can also bet on various other outcomes, such as a “Hard Eight” (double four), the Place Bet (a certain amount of fixed numbers), or a Field Bet (a specific number). In case of a Point, you can win the Pass bet and possibly the Odds bet. The round has now ended and a new Come Out roll will be thrown. Please note that you get 15 seconds to make your bet. That seems like a lot, but it’s actually not.
How to win
There aren’t a lot of games that give players more thrills than Live Craps and this is clearly why you want to make a win as soon as possible. There are a few ways to increase your winning chances and decrease your risks. We recommend you to follow the steps below:
- Get your live casino bonus: Live Craps works with many betting options and is one of the most difficult games to learn. Live Craps by Evolution follows the game’s basic rules, but might differ somewhat from the game you’re used to playing in a land based casino. Both experienced and novice players are therefore advised to lower their risk by claiming a welcome bonus. This makes sure you can play with bonus money without risking your own. Always make sure to check the terms and conditions to see whether the promo is valid for your favourite casino game.
- Register at one of our top casinos: signing up at a trustworthy live dealer casino is one of the most important factors for your overall casino experience. This is why we only stick to casinos that hold licences and are accessible for Canadian players. This will give you the ultimate experience as there’s more to a good casino than only live craps. Some casinos offer up to hundreds of live dealer games, so make sure you check out the complete portfolio before you register at one of our top sites.
- The best strategy: in terms of an optimal strategy, you would need to stick to the Pass Line/Don’t Pass Line or Come/Don’t Come options. If you do this, the house edge will be around 1,40%, which is very low compared with other live dealer casino games. Apart from these options, you can also place bets on Place 6, Place 8 and sometimes Field 2 or 12. These are the next best bets in terms of odds. Make sure you avoid the Proposition betting options, even though the payouts may seem very tempting. In the long run you will lose more money than you win with these bets. High rollers or risk takers might want to consider these bets though.
How to play
The objective of Craps is to predict the outcome of a two dice roll, but the game does have many different betting options as we have mentioned above. Craps basically has 2 phases you will need to understand when it comes to how to play Live Craps. The first phase is the Come Out roll, which is the first roll of the dice. The second phase is the Point roll. There are bets that are valid for only one roll. But there are also bets that are valid for several rolls. This is what makes it such a fun game. What eventually happens in the game clearly depends on the total value of these two dice. In order to get you going you should:
1. Go to the live casino section
Choose the Craps Live game from Evolution. Most live dealer casinos in Canada have listed this game in their live lobby.
2. Select the value of your bet
At the bottom of the screen you’ll find the chips with different values. Choose the stake you want to play with. The minimum chip value is $0,50. The highest total bet you can place per roll is $1,000. Please note that the minimum and maximum values depend on the casino.
3. Place your bets
You get 15 seconds per game to place your bets. As long as the game is “ON”, your bet remains valid and you can add more bets if wanted. You place your bets at the bottom of the screen.
4. The mechanical arm rolls the dice
We hate to remind you, but there is no dealer who rolls the dice. Instead, Evolution works with a special mechanical arm that rolls the dice with a different intensity and speed with each roll. This makes the outcome of each roll completely random. The dealer is there to place the dice. We agree this is sort of boring, especially if compared to real Craps.
5. Fingers crossed
The dice come to rest on the table. If it’s an outcome that you play, you win. If the outcome doesn’t change the game, your bet remains. There is also a chance that you will lose the bet if the game goes “OFF” again. On average, there is a new game every 30 seconds.
The features
Let’s start by saying that Evolution has been very brave with releasing a live casino craps variant. Especially knowing that it is almost impossible to imitate the atmosphere of a real Craps table that most players will be familiar with from their favourite land based casino.
Although we believe that they’ve managed to yet again launch a great game, they haven’t succeeded in bringing the social aspect to the live dealer studio. If you expect to feel the same vibe as at the craps table at Casino Niagara or Casino De Montréal, you’ll be rather disappointed. There is a Craps dealer, but his or her role is very limited. The game studio offers you the best angles and a great table, but it’s the people around the table missing.
RTP
To fully master Live Craps it is important to know the different betting options. In order to determine your winning chances, it is also important to know which payout belongs to which bet. As with all other games that you can play in the live casino, the basic rule of thumb applies here as well: the higher the chances of winning, the lower the payout. The nice thing about live craps is the fact that every bet has a different house edge. Betting on the lowest house edge, and thus the highest RTP, is always recommended as you have the largest theoretical chance of winning. The Return To Player (RTP) of Live Craps is therefore between 98 and 99,17%. The RTP of Live Craps is very high compared to other live games and is certainly one of the reasons why enthusiasts like to play this game.
