Which is Better Craps or Blackjack

Craps is one of the most popular games in American casinos and beyond. It has been this way since the late 1940s, when World War II veterans, who often played street craps, popularized the game.

Thanks to decades of popularity, craps has proven that it’s great. However, is it even better than blackjack—another beloved game?

Obviously, this topic is subjective, and everybody’s opinion will vary. Nevertheless, I’ll highlight each game’s strengths and try to determine which one is better when looking at several aspects.

What Defines “Better” With Casino Games?

Several aspects go into defining a high-quality casino game. You can see some of the biggest points that determine a successful game below.

Exciting Gameplay

Nobody goes to the casino to play mundane games. Instead, they want to be entertained and experience thrills while their money is on the line.

The same players may not always win when they sit down to a machine or table. However, they’ll still return to the games that keep them on edge.

Stimulating Strategy

Some people just want to relax and let live dealer blackjack take its course when they’re at the casino. The same gamblers often play slot machines, roulette, or any other luck-based game.

Other players, though, want to be challenged. They seek out games like blackjack and video poker that involve stimulating strategy.

Depending upon one’s viewpoint, strategy can either be a plus or minus. Based on the popularity of certain strategic games, many gamblers do want a challenge at some point.

Low House Edge

Unless you’re an advantage player, you’ll always be dealing with a house edge no matter what you play. Of course, you will want the lowest house advantage possible.

A lower house edges improve your chances of winning. A 1% house advantage is obviously better than a 5% casino advantage.

Table games like craps and blackjack tend to have lower house edges than slot machines. Nevertheless, you should still do some research and figure out your odds of winning.

Entertaining Play Both Online and Live

Sometimes, a casino game’s excitement doesn’t transfer to the online realm. In this case, you’ll feel like you are playing two different games.

Assuming you’re somebody who enjoys playing at online casinos, then you definitely want to consider this aspect. Is a game going to be fun in both online and land-based casinos?

You won’t always be able to answer yes to this question. In such cases, you’ll probably only have fun playing a particular game live.

What Are Craps’ Best Qualities?

Craps checks off most of the points discussed above. Here’s a closer look at what makes this game so attractive to players.

Unique “Odds” Bets

Real money craps stands out from every other casino games thanks to special bets called “odds.” These wagers draw their name from the fact that they pay at your true odds of winning. Therefore, they don’t carry a house edge.

Most casinos allow you to wager a multiple of your original bet on odds. You might, for example, be able to wager 5x odds.

You’ll have to risk more money when doing so. The advantage, though, is that you’ll lower the overall house edge further.

Low House Advantage

Craps offers several bets with low house advantages. The following wagers give you a better chance to win than most other casino games:

You can boost your chances of winning even more when putting “odds” behind pass line and don’t pass line bets. Here’s how much the house edge decreases when you risk larger odds:

Thrilling and Special Atmosphere

No other casino game can match the thrills of craps on a consistent basis. Crap tables are usually the loudest places on a gaming floor.

Many gamblers like placing pass line and come bets together. They do so because they want to wager on the shooter winning rather than the casino.

This phenomenon creates a team-like atmosphere where almost everybody is rooting for the same outcome. Cheers erupt from a craps table when the shooter goes on a hot streak and many players are winning.

Unfortunately, you won’t get the same effect with online craps. If you want the most excitement from this game, then you should definitely consider visiting a land-based casino.

What Are Blackjack’s Best Qualities?

Blackjack overlaps craps when it comes to some of its strengths. However, it provides the following unique advantages as well.

One of the Most Strategic Games

You don’t have to learn blackjack strategy just to play the game. However, your chances of winning notably improve when spending some time on basic strategy.

The house edge can swing by 5% or more based on your command of strategy. If you’re a really bad player, you may be looking at a 5% house advantage or higher. As a good player with the right rules, you’ll minimize the house edge to 1% or less.

This resource shows you the optimal decision to make in any situation. All you need to do is look at the chart and make the proper play.

Land-based casinos don’t like you holding up games. While you can still refer to the chart, you should review it beforehand so that you’re not looking at it all the time. With online blackjack, you can take as much time as you need to review a chart.

Low House Edge

The blackjack house advantage isn’t as consistent as that of craps. After all, any given table can feature several different rules from the next.

Nevertheless, you can whittle the house advantage down by choosing the right tables. You want to look for games that pay 3:2 on natural blackjacks and offer other favorable rules.

Provided you use good strategy and find a reasonable game, you’ll undoubtedly reduce the house edge to at least 1%. Some blackjack tables even offer a 0.3% house advantage or lower.

Fun at Both Land-Based and Online Casinos

You can experience much of the same enjoyment no matter if you’re playing blackjack in a land-based or online casino.

Of course, you might have more fun playing at a table with your friends. In contrast to craps, though, the atmosphere drop-off is not as great when you move online.

The gameplay and general rules are still the same. Depending upon your personality, you might find online blackjack to be just as fun as the brick-and-mortar version.

Is Craps Ultimately Better Than Blackjack?

Whether you think craps is better than blackjack depends upon what qualities you’re looking for in a game. If you want the most excitement and a lower potential house edge, then craps is your game.

The land-based version sees many people bet on the shooter to win. This scenario leads to lots of cheers when everybody wins at the same time.

Craps also offers special odds bets that lower the house edge significantly. You can only find 20x and 100x odds in rare Las Vegas casinos.

Blackjack is fairly competitive with craps in terms of the house advantage. Under the right circumstances, it can give you a better chance to win.

This game also offers complex strategy that can pique your interest. If you’re looking for a challenge from gaming, then blackjack is the answer.

The online and land-based versions are also more comparable in terms of entertainment. You won’t experience a huge drop-off when moving to the mobile version.

Our Final Thoughts

I can’t speak for everybody by saying that craps is definitively a better game than blackjack. As discussed above, everything depends upon your preferences.

You can review the highlights of each game in this post and form your own opinion. You might appreciate how craps offers special bets, entertaining live play, and a really low house edge.

Of course, blackjack can also feature a low house advantage. It provides an added bonus in the form of stimulating strategy and entertaining online play.

You don’t exactly have to choose one option over the other either. You can mix and match your play to enjoy both of these fine casino games.