The buy bet in craps is a wager that a specific number will be rolled before a 7. For example, if you place a buy bet on the number 4, you are betting that the next roll will be a 4 before a 7 is rolled.
The buy bet works similarly to the place bet, except that you are required to pay a 5% vig (or $1 for every $20 bet) on your bet amount. You will receive the full payout for the bet if the number you bet on is rolled before a 7.
This house commission is usually paid upfront, and you will receive a payout at better, true odds, minus the vig.
Buy bets are off on come out rolls, just like place bets, unless you call them on before the roll. They offer better odds than the place bets.
To make a buy bet, you must first place a wager and then tell the dealer which number you want to bet on.
Key takeaway
Overall, the buy bet is a more expensive option than the place bet, but it offers the potential for a higher payout if your number is rolled. It is up to you to decide whether the higher payout is worth the added cost of the vig.
Buy bets in Crapless Craps
On a casino’s crapless craps table you are also allowed to buy the horn numbers, 2, 3, 11, and 12, as well as the six normally buyable box numbers.
A lot of crapless players have made buy bets the horn numbers their strongest play, because the 2 and 12 buy bets in crapless payout at 6- to-1 and the 3 and 11 payout at 3-to-1.
Those bets are multiple-roll bets, too, that stay up, at no additional charge, until the bets are decided, no matter how many rolls that takes.
Anytime you want to make a buy bet, tell the dealer you want to buy that number. You can buy more than one number at a time, like the 4 and 10 at the same time.
You then put your buy bet amount in the come bet area of the table, along with $1 in vig for every $20 you are betting, as the 5% vig on your bet.
The dealer moves your buy bet to the number(s) you’ve bet on and racks the vig. You are now all ready to play your buy bets and receive more money when they win.
Buy bets should be in even dollar amounts on 4 and 10 and in $5 increments on 5 and 9 buy bets, so that the correct full payouts can be made.
After your minimum of $20 buy bet is made, one of three things can happen on following rolls of the dice:
One of your buy bet numbers rolls and you collect at true payouts minus the 5% vig.
The 7 rolls and your buy bets are lost.
None of your buy bet numbers, nor the 7 rolls and nothing is won or lost on that toss of the dice, with the bets staying up but for further chances to win on future rolls.
Buy bets are great because they offer you full control at all times.
Before each roll you have the option to:
Call buy bets off or on.
Make buy bets, or take down any of your buy bets with your unused vig being returned to you along with your buy bet.
Increase or regress any buy bet in the wager amount, with the vig amount being adjusted to the new bet amount.
True payoffs are made on buy bets by adjusting the payouts, minus the vig, as follows:
On the buy 4 and 10 bets, instead of getting the 9-to-5 payouts that you receive on place bets, you receive true 2-to-1 payouts, minus the vig.
On the buy 5 and 9 bets, instead of getting the 7-to-5 payouts that you receive on place bets, you receive true 3-to-2 payouts, minus the vig.
On the buy 6 and 8 bet, the common consensus is that you should place bet instead of buy bet. Instead of getting 7-to-6 place bet (=1.16 times of place bet) payouts, you receive true 6-to-5 (=1.2 times the buy bet) payouts, minus the vig on buy bets.
For example
Suppose you have a $24 6 or 8 place bet with no vig charged would win you $28, while a $25 6 or 8 buy bet, with the $1 vig, would win you $29. $1 more than the $24 place bet, but you are betting $25, instead of $24, so it’s a wash and doesn’t win you more with the bets adjusted to equal amounts.
Buy bets on 6 and 8 do not make sense, nor do buy bets on 5 and 9 when the vig paid upfront because the house advantage on those place bets is already lower than the 5% vig charged on buy bets.
Buy bets put more money in your rack when they win than place bets when correctly made.
So, you’ll want to take advantage of buy bets, especially if you are betting on yourself as the shooter and can toss more than normal 4’s and 10’s (using dice influencing)
Plus, you can toss more 5’s and 9’s than is expected to roll for a random shooter, when the vig is collected only when the bet wins.
You can sometimes even push the house on buy bets to end up winning even more money by paying less total vig on your bet.
Since $1 is collected as vig for every $20 you bet, that means that you may be allowed to bet an amount between $20 and $39 without having to pay that extra dollar of vig that would be collected on a $40 buy bet.
That gets you more bang-per-buck bet, but most casual players never think to try doing this.
Closing thoughts
Making buy bets correctly can fatten up the chip count in your rail at the end of a session and should be taken advantage of by all craps players.
As mentioned earlier, there is a $20 minimum bet required on all buy bets.
That’s so that everyone and his uncle can’t take advantage of buy bets at cheaper amounts. And when the casinos make a minimum bet requirement, it’s a good sign that you should be making that bet.
If you want to master the game of craps, I highly recommend reading my other Craps Academy guides. You will learn every bet and strategy, as well as some general rules that can help you dominate the tables.
Have fun!
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Bill Collins
Professional Craps Player
About Bill Collins
Author of the craps novel, "Vegas Fever";
20+ years of successful craps experience, consistently winning since 2003;
Professional writer of Craps guides, with numerous articles published;
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