Bubble craps machines are probably considered 'slot machines' just as much as video poker machines are. If the bets are handled electronically and no staffers (dealers/croupiers) are needed, then it is probably considered a 'gaming device' just like a slot machine. Last Sunday I was bored and felt like making the 1 hour drive North from Dallas to visit WinStar and play some dice Craps. I had never wanted to play the card version they had previously, but now with dice I was down for it. Bankroll: $400; Table Bets: Min $10 Max $500 + $1 Ante every comeout roll; Walkaway: At -$300 or 3 hours whichever came first. Craps is LIVE at WinStar World Casino and Resort. WinStar World Casino and Resort. August 17, 2018.

Thanks; Assuming RNG is random numerical generator, how would the consumer/gambler know whether it is programmed with a bias.

no way to know for sure

The biggest gaming establishment of OK is the Winstar World Casino & Resort of Tackerville. This huge resort features a crazy offer of 7,400 slot machines, bingo and off-track betting terminals as well as a wide varieties of gaming tables including 3-Card Poker, Blackjack, Mini Baccarat, PaiGow Poker or Ultimate Texas Hold’em. WinStar is operated by the Chickasaws and the Choctaw in Durant is ran by the Choctaws. As others have said, antes for table games and the roulette and craps are done with cards. I've been to both. The hotel and pool at Choctaw are better and the food and golf is better at WinStar. WinStar World Casino and Resort: Winstar Suck - See 1,792 traveler reviews, 368 candid photos, and great deals for Thackerville, OK, at Tripadvisor.

i say
i thinks also the programmers do not even know, by the method used, how much of a bias their rng they use actually has
they feel it is good enough
they should just use 2 sets of 6 cards like in CA
simple and easy and fair
my opinion

My 20 minute observation noted 'no' hardways 4's, 6's, 8's or 10's.

well the chance the next roll is not a hardway = 32/36
so for 20 rolls without a hardway = abouts 1 in 11
30 rolls = abouts 1 in 35
what do you think the chances are in 20 minutes to see no hardays are?
maybe 1 in 1 million?
so the rng could be rigged?
they could program the software
to produce a roll that would cause the most losses per roll
but i think most would stop playing after losing everything every time they play
if you owned the casino, say
how would you have this done, cant use real dice
to make it fair?
it matters

Winstar Craps Rules

Sally

what do you think the chances are in 20 minutes to see no hardays are?
maybe 1 in 1 million?
so the rng could be rigged?
Sally

That means you'd have to roll 120 times in 20 minutes, or one roll every 10 seconds. Assuming 2 rolls a minute, odds of no hardways are about 1%

Winstar Craps Odds

Winstar Craps Ante

Winstar Craps Review

why don't they use one of the electronic craps games available in the market? There's at least 3 different ones.

True craps is probably not approved by the state. The cards are a 'work around' to allow the game. I really don't know this for sure though.

The game of craps in California casinos doesn’t use dice. This might be confusing to some of my readers, so I thought I’d write a blog post about California craps games.

This post examines how craps in California is played and why the odds aren’t really any different — even though they’re using a different mechanism to arrive at the outcomes.

Also, if you love “shooting dice,” you might want to play craps in a different state.

You can play craps online for free, no matter which state you live in. And when you play for real money, you’ll get a 350% deposit bonus on your first deposit. WildVegasCasino.

Craps in California Is Played with Playing Cards, Not Dice

In some states, it’s illegal to use certain devices for gambling purposes. Until recently, Oklahoma didn’t allow spinning wheels or dice, but it did allow cards. They’ve recently changed their laws regarding that, so now you can shoot dice and play roulette in Oklahoma just like everywhere else.

But California still doesn’t allow casinos to use dice.

They still want to offer craps, though, so they use a deck of cards as a workaround.

You can use a deck of cards to duplicate the odds in a craps game in 2 different ways:

The more intuitive way for most players to understand is to have the ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of one suit represent one of the 2 dice, and to have the same set of cards for another suit represent the 2nd of those 2 dice.

You still have the same probability for each of the 2 “dice” this way — each number comes up 1 out of 6 times.

You also have the same bell curve that you’d see when rolling a pair of dice.

The other way is to have a deck consisting of 36 cards, each of which represents a possible outcome of a die roll. This is the method that the Winstar used until recently.

Why Are There 36 Possible Outcomes in California Craps?

There are 36 possible outcomes in craps of all kinds, not just in California craps. Understanding that is the key to understanding how craps probability works.

You only have 11 possible totals in craps:

1. 2
2. 3
3. 4
4. 5
5. 6
6. 7
7. 8
8. 9
9. 10
10. 11
11. 12

But some totals can happen in multiple ways.

For example, a total of 2 can only happen in one way — you have to roll a 1 on the first die and also roll a 1 on the 2nd die.

That’s also true for rolling a 12 — you have to roll a 6 on each die, and there’s only one way to do that.

But look at the probability of rolling a 3. You have 2 ways you can get an outcome of 3:

You can roll a 1 and a 2 OR you can roll a 2 and a 1.

It might not be immediately or intuitively obvious why that’s 2 different ways of accomplishing this, but that’s why you have a bell curve in craps.

The least likely totals are 2 and 12.

The totals of 3 and 11 are the next least likely outcomes.

Then 4 and 10.

And then 5 and 9.

Then 6 and 8.

Finally, the most common outcome is 7 — you have the following ways of getting a 7 on a roll of two dice:

1. 1, 6
2. 2, 5
3. 3, 4
4. 4, 3
5. 5, 2
6. 6, 1

No other combination of dice has that many possibilities.

An Example of California Craps at the Pala Casino

The Pala Casino uses a deck of 36 cards, each one of which is mapped to a combination of 2 dice. The craps dealer deals 2 cards, one in a blue box and one in a red box.

The shooter still gets to roll dice in this version. One of the dice is blue, the other, red.

The blue die has a 2 and a 3 on it — and no other numbers.

The red die has a 1 and a 4 on it — and no other numbers.

The die with the higher number determines which card determines the outcome of the throw.

It’s funny how the casino still uses dice, but they’ve added the cards to randomize the outcome for legal reasons. The Pala Casino’s version of craps probably “feels” more like craps than other versions.

You could, in fact, just draw a card from either of those decks and have an outcome in line with the probabilities involved in craps.

But that would make the gameplay so fast that it wouldn’t feel much like craps at all.

Craps at the Viejas Casino

When you play craps at the Viejas Casino, NO dice are used for any reason. This version of craps isn’t even played at a craps table. Instead, it’s played at a table that looks more like a blackjack table.

This version of craps uses 264 playing cards numbered 1 through 6 dealt from a continuous shuffling machine. The cards get put back into the shuffler after every roll.

But there’s a catch with the Viegas Casino craps:

Some of cards remain in the shuffle’s chute after each deal, so multiple rolls are dealt at one time.

What does this mean, probability-wise?

It slightly changes the odds by removing some of the possible outcomes. You just don’t know which outcomes have been removed.

The don’t pass bet becomes a better bet than it already is, so if you ever play at the Viejas Casino, stick with being a wrong bettor.

Why Are California Casinos Like This?

My daughters sometimes ask me, “Dad, why are you like this?”

They’re usually frustrated with me, and I get that. I’m frustrating, as people who are from a different generation often are.

But why are California casinos the way they are?

California passed a constitutional amendment in 2000 legalizing gambling on American Indian land. Each tribe negotiates its own arrangement (a “compact”) with the state government regarding what games and activities they can offer.

Some types of gambling are more acceptable than others.

California law is specific about one thing, though:

You can’t determine game results using dice. This would seem to eliminate craps because this law applies to Indian casinos.

The only way California casinos can offer craps at all is to modify their versions of the game to use playing cards instead of just dice. Even in casinos that allow the players to throw the dice, the outcome of the dice only determines which cards get drawn.

It’s a weird loophole. Casinos can use dice to determine part of the outcome, but the playing cards are like a buffer that keeps the dice from determining the final outcome.

Can You Count Cards in California Craps?

The first question that springs to my mind when I find out about card-game-based craps is whether I can get an edge at the game by counting cards.

This would be possible if you didn’t face a casino that shuffles the deck after every “roll of the dice.”

The way card counting works in blackjack is by keeping track of which cards have been dealt in a general way — high versus low. Aces and 10s in blackjack are considered high cards, and they’re better for the player. When a lot of them have already been played relative to the lower valued cards, you should bet the minimum.

But when a lot of low cards have been played when compared to the high cards, it’s time to raise your bets.

In other words, you don’t keep up with specific cards that have been played or that are left in the deck.

Theoretically, if you found a casino that didn’t shuffle the deck every time a card got played, you might be able to get an edge by betting one way or the other.

Imagine, if you will, a huge deck of cards where most of the cards that resulted in a 7 were already gone from the deck.

Would you know which bet would offer you an advantage in that situation?

That’s what I thought.

What’s the House Edge for Craps in California?

Winstar Craps Ante Play

In Oklahoma, the casinos charge an ante for playing table games. That ante increases the house edge dramatically, but it’s based on how much you’re betting on each round. Usually, the bigger your bets are, the less of an effect the ante has on the house edge.

As far as I know, though, California craps doesn’t require an ante.

Winstar Craps Ante Meaning

Since the odds of getting all the various results at a craps game in California are the same as they would be if you were rolling 2 dice, the house edge is the same, too.

Winstar Craps Ante Game

In other words, stick with the pass, don’t pass, come, don’t come, and odds bets. All those bets have a house edge of less than 1.5%.

And you also want to avoid the prop bets that are also available in card-game-based craps. Stick with the simple, boring bets because those are the bets offering the best odds for the player.

In fact, the house edge on many of these proposition bets at the craps table is in excess of 10% and closes in on 20% in some instances.

You don’t need to play games with such lousy odds, ever — in California, online, or anywhere else.

Finally

Winstar Blackjack Ante

I hope I answered all your questions about craps in California. If I left anything out, or if you have something you’d like to add, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section.