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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Current craps come about from the ancient English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French headed south and found refuge in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is acquired from the term for the non-winning 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. A great many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.