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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the origin of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. Many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.