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Dice and dice based games go back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is just about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the very old English game called Hazard. No one is certain of the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the British man, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers wagered on Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.

Early French settlers imported the dice game Hazard to Canada (the colony of Acadia, which is Nova Scotia today). In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French moved south and found refuge in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Nova Scotia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the dice game and made it more statistically fair. It is stated that the Cajuns amended the name of the game to craps, which was developed from the name of the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, called "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the nation. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps table design. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.

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