Recommended casinos for Craps in Las Vegas

Playing Craps and Testing your System on a Limited Budget

Our Recommendation: JOKERS WILD

You have to venture far from the Vegas Strip to get low minimums on craps, but oh how low these minimums are! The Jokers Wild is near Henderson on the Boulder Strip, and at their lone craps table you can bet as little as $2 on the Pass or Don't Pass, and just $1 on Prop bets. This table is usually staffed by break-in dealers and jammed with player bets ranging from 1$ to $25. The table odds are 10X, which give players a lot of range to test strategy using the Free Odds bet. Prudent and patient players should be able to experiment with strategies extensively with only $50 to $100. This is a great spot to test your system within the constraints of a small bankroll.

On a recent visit The Bone Man faded his daughter Ashley with a little bankroll and after about two hours of play lady Ashley was a winner. The Jokers Wild is a tidy and clean casino and the single craps table features a clean layout with fairly new gaming cheques. There is an attractive cocktail lounge within listening distance of the craps table, often featuring country and western music. There's also a small sports book and cocktail service area on the south end of the casino.

Playing Craps in Downtown Vegas

Our Recommendation: MAIN STREET STATION

There is no Downtown casino that can match the table offerings at the Main Street Station. The craps pit here features three clean tables, experienced dice crew and generous 20X table odds. The table minimum is $5 and maximum is $1,000. Serious players should be able to test strategies with a $500 to $1,000 bankroll.

The best access to Main Street Station from the Fremont mall is to walk through the Las Vegas Club casino, out the back door, cross the street and into the California Club, the home of the World's Record Craps Roll. Take the escalator up to the second floor and walk through the pedestrian overpass to Main Street Station.

Main Street Station features an elegant Victorian Theme and has one of the best Micro Breweries in Vegas.

You can pre-arrange your credit line by getting an application at Main Street's website.

Rolling the Bones on the Las Vegas Strip

Our Recommendation: CASINO ROYALE

The best craps deal in all of Las Vegas is located right in the middle of the world famous Las Vegas Strip, the often-overlooked Casino Royale. The Craps Pit here features two full tables and a sit-down crap shoot. The two full tables feature a $3 minimum and a $500 maximum on flat bets with a $2,500 maximum on Free Odds, which are a super-generous 100x, the absolute best offering in the Las Vegas area, even better than downtown. The 100X odds formerly provided at Sam's Town on the Boulder Highway and Downtown at Binion's Horseshoe no longer exist.

The sit-down table has limited options on maximums, so NextShooter recommends that you play on the full tables.

Casino Royale is located across the street from the Mirage and between the Venetian and Harrah's. As there is no major entertainment venue in Casino Royale, NextShooter suggests that you stroll through Harrah's to the south side and witness The Carnaval Court venue. Most nights there is live music which can be seen from the exterior of the complex. Watch the bartenders juggle spirits and mixers from the main bar. This is a great spot for people watching.

The Best Option in Vegas on The Boulder Highway

Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall is another solid option in Las Vegas on the Boulder Highway. This was one of the last bastions for 100X odds which were offered for a short while after Binion's Horseshoe (Downtown) discontinued its own 100x odds. In mid-2002 Sam's Town reduced its table odds to 20X which is still second-best only to Casino Royale in the Vegas vicinity.

The craps pit at Sam's Town features five tables. 20x Odds. $5 Minimum, and $3,000 Maximum. Maximum on odds is $5,000. The casino was remodeled in early 2000. For sports bettors there are nice 32" TV screens directly over two of the craps tables. This is the best craps deal on The Boulder Highway.

At Sam's Town the Bone Man and daughter Ashley watched the dramatic laser show in The Mystic Falls complex. Later on The Bone Man cornered a craps dealer to ask about the roll that was rumored to have made the casino replace their former 100X odds offerings with the current 20X odds posting, but the dealer said there wasn't any particular day or event that caused this change in policy, as many big-player winning days had occurred a number of months prior to the changes in odds offerings.

You can sign up for credit at Sam's Town by filling out the application from their website. Once you have established a credit line at Sam's Town you can also use their website to track your play for tax purposes.

Best family of casinos

Our Recommendation: STATION CASINOS

The Station Casino properties are one of the fastest growing and best managed companies in Vegas. All Station properties post 10X Odds in their craps pits with the exception of the little Wild, Wild West property on Tropicana, and The Green Valley Ranch that posts 3-4-5x Odds. Barley's Casino on Sunset Road no longer has a casino pit.

Their "Boarding Pass" comp. system and promotion is one of the best packages for players, and comps can be accrued in any property and applied at any other property. You can sign up for The Boarding Pass on their website.

Station Casinos has managed to corner the locals market by positioning their properties to encircle the whole of Las Vegas.

The Station Properties include:

• Texas Station
• Palace Station
• Sunset Station
• Green Valley Ranch
• Boulder Station
• Wild, Wild West
• Santa Fe Station
• Barley's Casino
• Fiesta - Henderson
• Fiesta - Rancho
• Red Rock Station

Check out their room rates and promotions, often featuring Internet Specials.

NO LONGER RECOMMENDED:

Binion's Horseshoe (Downtown Las Vegas)

We're sad to have had to remove Binion's Horshoe from our Recommended list. Over the past couple of years they have reduced their table odds from 100X to 20X, again down to 10X, and in recent years they've dropped the number of of craps tables from 12 to 6. In addition at one time they were in heavy litigation for not paying their fees for their participation in The Fremont Experience promotion, and many dealers there were upset with the way that tokes were being handled during The World Series of Poker promotion. All we can say is that "The Shoe" has been going downhill fast though attempts for upgrades are now being made in 2008 by the new Four Queens owner. For history buffs, you might want to take a walk through if you are downtown and just try to picture what was once a craps shooters paradise.

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