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The pass line bet is the core craps wager: it wins on a come-out 7 or 11, loses on 2, 3 or 12, and otherwise backs the point, at a 1.41% house edge.
By Anja Wiedenhöft · September 8, 2026 · 5 min read
A pass line bet is the main wager in craps, placed before the come-out roll. It wins on a 7 or 11 and loses on 2, 3 or 12. Any other number becomes the point, which must be rolled again before a 7 to win. It pays even money at a 1.41% edge.
Craps can look chaotic from across the pit, but almost everything at the table is built around one bet: the pass line. Learn how it works and you have the spine of the whole game. It is also one of the best-value bets on the casino floor, with a house edge of just 1.41%.
The pass line bet is the fundamental wager in craps. You place it on the area of the table marked ‘pass line’ before the come-out roll , which is the first roll of a new round. In simple terms, you are betting with the shooter, backing them to hit the numbers that make the pass line win. It pays even money, meaning a winning stake is matched one for one.
The round begins with the come-out roll, and its result sends the bet down one of three paths:
If a point is established, the dealer marks it with a puck, and the shooter keeps rolling. From here the pass line bet is decided by a straightforward race between two numbers:
Notice that the 7 flips role between the two phases. On the come-out it is a winner for the pass line; after a point is set it becomes the number you are rooting against. That reversal is the heart of the game.
The pass line’s low edge comes from the maths of two dice. There are 36 equally likely combinations. On the come-out, a 7 or 11 (eight combinations) wins and a 2, 3 or 12 (four combinations) loses, so the come-out roll already leans slightly in the bettor’s favour. The point phase then tilts back towards the house, because a 7 is the single most common total and it beats most points. Adding every outcome together across all possible rounds gives a house edge of about 1.41% . That figure is fixed by the dice and does not vary from table to table or roll to roll.
Another way to see it: the come-out favours the shooter, because there are eight ways to make a natural 7 or 11 and only four ways to roll craps. But most rounds move into the point phase, and there the house regains the advantage, because a 7 (six combinations) is easier to roll than any individual point number. The two phases pull in opposite directions, and when you weigh them together the house is left with that small, fixed 1.41% margin.
Once a point is set, most tables let you place an additional bet called free odds behind your pass line wager. This extra bet pays at the true mathematical odds of the point being made, which means it carries no house edge of its own . Backing the pass line with odds lowers the house edge on your combined action, sometimes well below 1%, depending on how much odds the table allows. Importantly, it does not change the pass line bet itself, which keeps its 1.41% edge; the odds bet is a separate, fairly priced wager stacked alongside it.
The pass line has a mirror-image bet called don’t pass , which broadly wins when the pass line loses and loses when it wins. On the come-out, don’t pass wins on 2 or 3, loses on 7 or 11, and ties (a ‘push’) on 12 so the casino keeps a small edge. After a point is set, don’t pass wins if a 7 comes before the point. Its house edge is about 1.36%, marginally lower than the pass line’s 1.41%. The two are simply opposite sides of the same round: pass line bettors are ‘with’ the shooter, while don’t pass bettors are ‘against’. Neither is a route to a long-run advantage; both carry a small, fixed edge.
A few misunderstandings trip up newcomers. The first is treating the pass line as a single roll: after a point is set, the bet is locked in and cannot be taken back until it wins or loses, so it is a commitment to the whole round. The second is misreading the 7. It is friendly on the come-out but is the number to avoid once a point is set, and forgetting that reversal leads to confusion at the table. The third is assuming a shooter is ‘due’ for a good or bad run. Each roll of the dice is independent, so past rolls tell you nothing about the next one.
By house-edge standards it is one of the best straightforward bets in the casino, and it is simple to follow once the come-out and point phases click. That said, a low edge is still an edge: every roll of two dice is an independent, random event, and the 1.41% cost is fixed and cannot be removed by any pattern of play or staking. The sensible way to enjoy craps is to treat it as paid entertainment with a known cost, stick to the low-edge bets like the pass line and its odds, and set a budget and time limit before you step up to the rail.
The pass line bet is the central wager in craps, placed on the pass line before the come-out roll. It backs the shooter to succeed, winning on certain come-out numbers and otherwise on the shooter repeating the point number before rolling a 7.
It wins immediately if the come-out roll is 7 or 11. If a point is established instead, it wins when the shooter rolls that point number again before a 7 appears. Both outcomes pay even money, returning your stake plus the same amount in winnings.
It loses immediately if the come-out roll is 2, 3 or 12, which is called craps. After a point is set, it loses if the shooter rolls a 7 before repeating the point. That later 7 is often called a 'seven-out' and ends the round.
The pass line carries a house edge of about 1.41%, one of the lowest of any main casino bet. It comes from the exact combinations of two dice, so it is fixed and does not change from roll to roll or from one session to another.
After a point is set, you can back a pass line bet with an additional 'odds' wager that pays at the true mathematical odds and carries no house edge of its own. It lowers your combined edge overall, but the pass line bet itself keeps its fixed 1.41% cost.