A line bet that can start at any time
Craps is a game of chance with a built-in house edge, and no betting pattern changes that in the player’s favor over time. Most players lose money over time, and nobody should gamble money they cannot afford to lose. Come and Don’t Come bets are no exception, but they are useful to understand because they show how the whole table is built from one repeated idea.
A Pass Line bet can only be made before a point is set, on the come-out roll. A come bet is the same bet made after a point exists. It acts as if the very next roll were its own personal come-out roll. A Don’t Come bet is the same idea mirrored against the shooter, like a Don’t Pass bet.
How a come bet resolves
Suppose a point has already been established and a player places a come bet. The very next roll decides its first stage:
- A 7 or 11 wins the come bet immediately.
- A 2, 3 or 12 loses the come bet.
- Any other total (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10) moves the bet to that number. That number is now the bet’s own point.
After that, the come bet wins if its number rolls again before a 7, and loses if a 7 rolls first. The dealer physically moves the chips to the matching number box so everyone can see which bet belongs to which point.
The odds are the same as the Pass Line bet. Eight of the 36 two-dice combinations win on the first roll, four lose, and the other 24 move the bet to a number. From there, the chance of winning depends only on how many ways the number can be made compared with the six ways to make a 7. A come bet moved to a 6 wins 5 times in 11 on average, and one moved to a 4 or 10 wins 1 time in 3. These are the same figures that apply to the Pass Line, so the house edge is the same too, roughly 1.4%.
One roll can settle several things
Because each come bet gets its own point, a player can have several different numbers working at once. One roll of 7 while a point is set will usually settle many bets together: all come bets that have traveled to numbers lose, while a fresh come bet placed that same turn wins. That combination, a cluster of results on one roll, is part of why the table feels busy.
It also makes the arithmetic a little deceptive. Each bet has the same small edge, but a player with the Pass Line plus three come bets has four times the money exposed on each roll. The percentage cost per bet does not fall; the dollars at risk per roll rise. A hypothetical example: with $10 on each of four bets, the expected loss on each is about 14 cents on average, or around 57 cents across the four. More bets means a higher expected cost over the same stretch of time, and a larger swing in either direction.
The Don’t Come side
A Don’t Come bet reverses the result:
- A 2 or 3 on the first roll wins.
- A 7 or 11 loses.
- A 12 is typically a push, meaning the bet is returned without a win or loss. The exact handling of 12 is the rule that stops the bet from being a perfectly even proposition, and it is why push rules matter in every game.
- Any other number becomes the bet’s point, and the bet then wins if a 7 arrives before that number repeats.
On the numbers the Don’t Come bet is usually the favorite after a point is set, since a 7 is more likely than any single point. For a point of 6, a 7 comes first 6 times in 11, versus 5 times in 11 for the 6. The player gives that back through the 7 and 11 losses on the first roll and the 12 push, so the edge ends up near that of the Don’t Pass bet, slightly under 1.4%.
Common points of confusion
- Come bets are not a separate system. They have the same structure and edge as the line bets. They simply allow a player to start new bets after the point is set.
- A come bet is not “safer” or “due”. The dice are independent events, so a long run without a 7 does not change what the next roll will do.
- Odds can be added. Come bets can take free odds behind the number, just as a Pass Line bet can. These pay true odds with no edge of their own, though they do not remove the edge on the original bet. Odds on come bets are often off by default during the next come-out roll, so a player may want to ask the dealer how the table handles it.
- Table limits still apply. Each come bet must meet the table minimum, so several of them can add up quickly against a fixed budget.
What this means for a budget
Come and Don’t Come bets are among the lower-cost wagers on a craps layout, in percentage terms. That does not mean they are cheap in total. The more bets a player keeps working, and the faster rolls come, the more money passes through per hour. For a given edge, expected loss rises with the amount wagered. Anyone playing should set a spare-money limit in advance, treat it as the cost of entertainment, and stop when it is reached. Anyone who finds that hard can contact a local support service.