Definition
The Pass Line is the most fundamental bet in the game of Craps. It is a wager that the ‘shooter’ (the person throwing the dice) will win their round, either by rolling a 7 or 11 on the first throw or by hitting a ‘point’ number before rolling a 7.
In context
When you first walk up to a Craps table, the dealer will likely tell you to ‘put it on the line.’ You place your chips on the long curved section marked ‘PASS LINE.’ If the shooter rolls a 7, you win immediately. If they roll a 4, that becomes the ‘point,’ and you win if they roll another 4 before they roll a 7.
Why it matters
The Pass Line bet has one of the lowest house edges in the entire casino (about 1.41%). It is the ‘anchor’ bet for almost every Craps player and allows you to take ‘Odds’—a secondary bet that has zero house edge—making it one of the few truly fair bets on the floor.
Related terms
In detail
If you want to understand the heartbeat of a casino, you go to the Craps table. And if you want to understand Craps, you start with the Pass Line. It is the social contract of the game. When someone is ‘shooting,’ the majority of the table is betting with them on the Pass Line. When the table is cheering, it’s because the Pass Line just won.
The Pass Line bet happens in two phases. Phase one is the ‘Come Out Roll.’
- If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11, the Pass Line wins immediately.
- If the shooter rolls a 2, 3, or 12 (called ‘Craps’), the Pass Line loses.
- If any other number (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) is rolled, that number becomes ‘The Point.’
Phase two starts once a point is established. Now, the shooter must roll that point number again before they roll a 7. If they hit the point, the Pass Line wins. If they ‘Seven Out’ (roll a 7), the Pass Line loses, and the dice move to the next player.
As a casino veteran, I can tell you that the Pass Line is where the ‘smart’ money stays. Why? Because of the ‘Odds.’ Once a point is established, the casino allows you to place more money behind your Pass Line bet. This ‘Odds bet’ is paid out at true mathematical odds. The casino has zero advantage on that specific portion of your wager. By combining a Pass Line bet with ‘Max Odds,’ you can drive the total house edge down to under 1%. In a building where almost every game is designed to take 5% to 25% of your money, the Pass Line is a sanctuary.
However, the Pass Line also has a psychological trap. Because it is a ‘group’ bet, players often feel pressured to keep betting it even when a shooter is ‘cold.’ From a math perspective, a ‘cold’ shooter doesn’t exist—dice have no memory. But the social pressure at the Craps table is real. Betting against the Pass Line (the ‘Don’t Pass’) is mathematically slightly better, but it makes you the ‘villain’ at the table.
From an operational standpoint, the Pass Line is the engine of the game’s pace. Dealers are trained to clear and pay Pass Line bets with lightning speed to keep the game moving. The more ‘Come Out Rolls’ a casino can get per hour, the more the house edge on that 1.41% margin accumulates.
A common mistake beginners make is thinking they can ‘remove’ their Pass Line bet after a point is established. You cannot. Once a point is set, the Pass Line bet is ‘contractual.’ You are stuck until it wins or loses. This is because, once a point is set, the odds actually shift in favor of the house (since 7 is the most likely number to be rolled). The casino won’t let you back out once you are at a disadvantage!
Ultimately, the Pass Line is the best ‘entry drug’ to casino gambling. It’s easy to learn, it’s social, and the math is relatively fair. If you stick to the Pass Line and take your Odds, you can play for a long time on a small bankroll. It’s the one place on the floor where you aren’t just a ‘sucker’—you’re a ‘player.’