Free Odds Bet in Craps: Taking, Laying and Payouts
Taking and laying Odds · Reviewed August 18, 2026
The craps Odds bet pays the true point-versus-seven ratio. Its own house edge is zero before chip rounding, but it requires a live Pass, Come, Don’t Pass, or Don’t Come flat bet and increases the dollars exposed to the decision.
What “free” means
No casino advantage is built into the Odds payout. It does not mean free money, no risk, or a wager that can be made without a qualifying flat contract bet.
When Odds is available
- Pass Line: take Odds after the shooter establishes 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10.
- Come: take Odds after that Come wager travels to its own number.
- Don’t Pass: lay Odds after the shooter establishes a point.
- Don’t Come: lay Odds after that wager travels to its own number.
Seven and 11 are naturals for the Do side on its initial roll; 2, 3, and 12 are craps numbers. Once a point exists, the contest becomes that number versus seven.
Taking versus laying Odds
| Point | Ways point | Ways 7 | Take Odds | Lay Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 or 10 | 3 | 6 | Win $2 per $1 risked | Risk $2 to win $1 |
| 5 or 9 | 4 | 6 | Win $3 per $2 risked | Risk $3 to win $2 |
| 6 or 8 | 5 | 6 | Win $6 per $5 risked | Risk $6 to win $5 |
Taking Odds backs the point. Laying Odds backs seven, so the player risks more than the possible win. An older page incorrectly displayed taking payouts as if they also described lay risk.
Clean wager multiples
| Point | Clean take amount | Take example | Clean lay amount | Lay example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/10 | Any whole unit | $10 wins $20 | Multiple of $2 | $20 wins $10 |
| 5/9 | Multiple of $2 | $10 wins $15 | Multiple of $3 | $15 wins $10 |
| 6/8 | Multiple of $5 | $10 wins $12 | Multiple of $6 | $12 wins $10 |
Where the chips go
- Place Pass Odds in the apron directly behind the Pass Line wager.
- Tell the dealer the Odds amount for a Come wager; the dealer places it offset from the traveled flat chip.
- Don’t Pass and Don’t Come lay Odds are arranged by the dealer using traditional heeled or bridged stacks.
- Do not reach into dealer-controlled number boxes.
A bridge commonly shows lay Odds whose win equals the even-money flat win. A heel or offset stack can show a different payoff. Procedures vary, so let the dealer arrange the chips.
Working on a come-out roll
Pass and Don’t Pass Odds follow the active table point. Come Odds are commonly off on a new come-out unless called working; the flat Come wager may still be working under house procedure. Confirm before the dice move. Odds can normally be added, reduced, removed, or called off between rolls even when the underlying contract flat bet cannot be removed.
Odds limits
Tables may offer 1x, 2x, 3-4-5x, 5x, 10x, 25x, 100x, or another maximum. Under 3-4-5x, the usual maximum take is three times the flat bet on 4/10, four times on 5/9, and five times on 6/8. Each maximum produces an Odds win equal to six times the flat wager.
Check the placard. Don’t-side limits may be stated by the amount risked or the amount that can be won, so ask rather than assuming the Do-side wording transfers directly.
Worked win: $10 Pass with $100 Odds on 6
- $10 Pass establishes point 6.
- At a table allowing at least 10x, place $100 behind the line.
- If 6 repeats before 7, the flat bet wins $10.
- The $100 Odds wins $120 at 6 to 5.
- Total net win is $130; the $110 stake is returned separately.
If seven arrives first, both wagers lose for a $110 loss. The crowd, prior rolls, and how quickly 6 was established do not change the five-versus-six point probability.
Why maximum Odds is not mandatory
Adding true Odds lowers the edge percentage when total combined action is the denominator because the flat bet’s expected dollar loss is spread over more money. It does not erase that loss. It increases variance and worst-case dollars at risk.
Choose an amount that fits the loss limit established before play. “Always take maximum Odds” is incomplete advice if maximum exposure would force you to chase, reload, or end the session after one decision.
Are we allowed to place a don’t pass bet after the come out roll?
Hello,
As explained in our other article “The Don’t Pass Bet” (https://www.crapspit.org/craps-bets/dont-pass-bet/), the Don’t Pass bettor must go through the come-out roll (that’s how the casino maintains it’s slight edge), so you must make the Don’t Pass Flat bet before the come-out roll. Once the come-out roll has been made, you can then take down the Don’t Pass Flat bet anytime you want. As stated in the Don’t Pass bet article, the casino actually WANTS you to take it down because the Don’t Pass Flat bet has a player advantage after the come-out roll. Read more about the don’t pass bet on this page: https://www.crapspit.org/craps-bets/dont-pass-bet/
Thanks for your questions. Let’s address them one at a time.
“If I’m the shooter and I bet the Don’t Pass, and then establish a point, do I lose my shooting privilege? If I lay Odds on the point and win by 7-out, do I keep the dice or does a new shooter come out?” If you establish a point as a Don’t shooter, you continue shooting and hope for a 7-out to win your Don’t Pass. Whether or not you lay Odds against the point has no impact on your shooting privilege. In other words, if you make a flat Don’t Pass bet as the shooter, you continue shooting until you 7-out or until you decide to give up the dice. Even if you make the point and lose your Don’t Pass bet, you continue shooting as long as you make another flat bet. After a 7-out (even if you’re the shooter and win your Don’t Pass bet by rolling a 7-out), the dice move to the next player to the left who wants to shoot. By the way, for the Don’t Pass, the lay Odds amount is not simply your Odds bet amount times your multiplier. Using your example, suppose you want to lay 5x Odds. Remember from our article on the Don’t Pass bet that the Odds multiple is based on the win amount, not the bet amount. So, with a $15 flat Don’t Pass bet, if you want to lay 5x Odds, then you lay enough so you win $75. Therefore, if you want to lay 5x Odds with a $15 flat Don’t Pass bet, then you lay $90, not $75. The true odds for the 6 and 8 are 6:5; therefore, you lay $90 to win $75 (i.e., $90 divided by 6 = $15 x 5 = $75). Remember, as explained in our article on the Don’t Pass bet, you have to lay more Odds to win a lesser amount.
“Do I position my lay Odds chips to the left or right of my Don’t Pass flat bet?” When heeling your Odds bet, your Don’t Pass lay Odds go on the side “closest” to the dealer. So, if you’re at the table to the right of the stickman (i.e., the stickman is to your left), then your heeled lay Odds chips go to the right of your flat Don’t Pass chip(s); and if you’re to the left of the stickman (i.e., the stickman is to your right), then your heeled lay Odds chips go to the left of your flat Don’t Pass chip(s). The reason is that the dealer pays your Don’t Pass Odds bet first and then pays your flat Don’t Pass bet. For example, suppose you stand in player position #8 with the dealer to your right and the stickman to your left. Your heeled Odds bet is positioned to the right of your flat Don’t Pass bet (i.e., your Odds chips are “closer” to the dealer than your flat bet chips). When your Don’t Pass bet wins, the dealer wants to pay your Odds bet first and then pay your flat bet, so the first stack of chips he comes to should be your heeled Odds bet, which means it must be to the right of your flat bet. If that’s confusing, then draw it on a piece of paper to help make sense of it. NOTE: When bridging your Odds bet, the position of your chips doesn’t matter for obvious reasons (we invite you to review our material on bridging and heeling the Don’t Pass lay Odds).
“It seemed that my dealer was constantly moving my lay Odds bet, checking if amounts were divisible.” Our experience is, no matter how correctly or neatly you stack your heeled Don’t Pass Odds chips, the dealer is going to fiddle with them in some manner. Even if they’re on the correct side of your flat-bet chips, he’ll move them closer to or farther away from the flat bet; or he’ll change the angle at which they’re heeled; or something. He does this for various reasons, some of which include: personal preference (e.g., spacing, angle of the heel), check to ensure the correct bet amount in the correct multiple is laid, and check to ensure the higher denominations are on the bottom. If you know your chips are positioned correctly, don’t fret about the dealer fiddling with them. 9 times out of 10 he’s going to touch them no matter what, so just let him have his fun.
“Is there a vig for laying odds through the Don’t Come? Is it 5%? And is it taken after win or lose?” The Odds bet related Don’t Pass, Don’t Come, Pass, and Come bets are all “free Odds” bets. There is no vig associated with these free Odds bets. The casino pays true odds without taking any vig. We invite you to review our material on the free Odds. NOTE: When laying Odds for a Don’t Come bet, the dealer positions your Odds chips (i.e., you don’t position them). Simply drop the chips for your lay bet in the Come box and the dealer will then pick them up and move them to the Don’t Come box adjacent to your flat Don’t Come chip(s). Good luck, and have fun at the tables!
If a casino had 25x odds and you bet say 5 on pass line, and the max odds of 125 what would the house edge be on that? The pass is 1.4 percent, but how much lower does it go by maxing out the odds bet? Never down to zero, but how much better does it get
As noted in other responses to various other posts, we don’t do math problems for our readers because, if we did, we’d be spending all of our spare time calculating house advantages for every “what if” scenario our readers can dream up, including house advantages for wacky systems that involve multiple combinations of bets and bet amounts. The article shows the house advantages for Pass Line only, with 1x Odds, and with 2x Odds, so you can see that the reduction is not linear. We provide the basics for calculating house advantage in other articles and we leave it up to the reader to take it from there. In this case, the calculation isn’t worth the time because the result won’t reveal any earth-shattering information that would influence your play. You can deduce that the house advantage would be a little lower, but remember, it will never get to zero. Besides, do you honestly have the bankroll to play 125x Odds at a $5 table? A reasonable rule of thumb for a bankroll per session is, let’s say, 10x your planned Odds bet. For example, if you play a $5 table and plan to make 2x Odds bets, then a reasonable bankroll for that session is $100 (i.e., $10 Odds bet x 10 = $100). So, if you plan on playing 25x Odds, then a reasonable bankroll for that session is, let’s say, $1,250 (i.e., $125 x 10 = $1,250). My off-the-top-of-my-head guess is, on average, only 1 out of every 500 craps players has and plays that kind of bankroll. Decreasing the house advantage by a few tenths or hundredths of a percent probably wouldn’t make you decide to change from playing 2x Odds to 125x Odds, unless you have the bankroll (if you have that kind of bankroll, then you can probably stomach making $125 Odds bets). But if you don’t have the bankroll, it’s seriously unwise to mortgage the house just so you can slightly reduce the house advantage. Good luck and have fun at the tables!
yeah I see your point. I just wondered roughly do the odds go up or down drastically, but I guess the answer is not at all. Its still practically the -1.4 percent in house favor. I thought higher odds might lower the house edge a lot closer to 0
I apologize if the answer or discussion of this question is located elsewhere. I have looked as best I could.
Overall, would it be better to take winnings from placed points (e.g. 6,8) and increase my odds until I reach the max odds? Or do your ‘recommended’ strategy of taking the winnings from (e.g. 6,8) to place the other inside numbers (5,9,)?
Jason, it’s impossible to say whether one way is better than the other. It all depends on your risk tolerance, your gut feeling, whether you’ve noticed any trends at the table, your bankroll, how drunk you are, etc. Remember, the sole purpose of the “strategy” or “system” that we regularly play is to hopefully have enough stamina for two reasons (i.e., stamina means maximizing our time at the table): (1) we love the fun and excitement that the game provides us, and (2) we hope we’re at the table long enough to be there when a hot roll appears. If we weren’t interested in fun and excitement, we’d play Pass Line with Single Odds all the time until a hot role appears, but for us, that’s not fun (actually, we find it quite boring). So, to optimize our fun, excitement, and stamina, we play the craps basic strategy detailed in our other article. As noted in that article, we do, indeed, deviate from the basics based on different factors. For example, if our chip stack is low, instead of strictly alternating from taking profit to pressing, we’ll take profit 3 or 4 times in a row to build up our chip stack. And it’s a gut feeling whether we take profit 2, 3, 4, or 5 times in a row before pressing. If the shooter has rolled 25 times hitting multiple numbers without hitting the point, then maybe you’d want to cover all the Place numbers instead of increasing the Odds bet. If you’ve noticed a trend where the 6 or 8 hits every other roll, then maybe you’d want to press the 6 and 8 a couple of times before covering the other Place numbers or increasing your Odds. It’s all (pardon the pun) a crap shoot. It’s a gut feeling. The outcomes are random, but as our other articles describe, trends do appear. So, why not take advantage of them if you’re lucky enough to recognize them? The bottom line is that your bankroll plays a big part in what strategy you use (e.g., if you have an unlimited bankroll, then you can make all kinds of stupid proposition bets and have fun doing it). Then, after considering your bankroll, you need to decide if you’re playing for the fun and excitement of the game or whether you’re playing to minimize your losses (or for whatever reason you’re playing). For example, if all you’re doing is trying to minimize your losses, then play Pass Line with Single Odds (and plan on being bored most of the time). If you’re playing for the fun and excitement, then figure out what “strategy” gives you the most fun and excitement while maximizing your stamina. If adding to your Odds bet is more fun and exciting for you than covering all the Place numbers, then go for it. For us, there’s more excitement and anticipation covering the Place numbers because there are more numbers that can win for the basically the same amount of money at risk (i.e., the money at risk is basically the same whether you load up the Odds bet or Place the outside numbers, but by Placing the outside numbers we have more numbers that can win on each roll, which adds to our excitement). Good luck and, more importantly, have fun at the tables!
I would like to know if I could place a $30 pass line odds bet after the roll on a $30 don”t pass line bet.