Understanding Right Bettors And Wrong Bettors In Online Craps

• Published: April 23, 2015
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Gambling has a checkered history and this article is about an event in craps that has given rise to the terms "right bettors" and "wrong bettors". It was at a time when gambling in the United States was unregulated and fleecing the players was the norm. In craps, loaded dice were often used to produce certain outcomes more often than they would naturally occur. The idea was to ensure that certain popular bets lose more often than mathematical probability dictates. To counter this, betting the wrong way was introduced.

An example from horse racing is used to explain this. Normally punters bet that a particular horse will win. But you can also ask the bookie for odds on a particular horse not winning. The punters who bet the first way are known as right bettors and those who bet the second way are known as wrong bettors. There is no moral connotation to these terms and neither is better than the other as far as gambling prudence is concerned.

The same concept is applied in online craps to a number of bets. The most common bet in craps is the Pass Line bet. At the beginning of a new come out roll, if the throw is a 7 or an 11 then the bet wins. If the throw is a 2, 3 or 12 then the bet loses. If the throw is any other number then that number is established as a point. Thereafter if the point appears before a 7 then the bet wins. If a 7 appears before the point then the bet loses. Players who wager on the pass line bet are right bettors. You can bet on exactly the opposite outcome in the Don’t Pass bet. You would then be a wrong bettor.

A Place bet on a number wins if that number appears before a 7. Place bets have a house edge. You can pay a fee of 5%, also known as a vigorish, to get the mathematically correct odds without a house edge. You are then buying the Place bet. This Buy bet is the bet for right bettors in online craps. Alternatively, you can also Lay the Place bet. This bet will win if a 7 is rolled before the number bet on. Here too you pay a 5% vigorish and get the correct odds. The Lay bet is the bet for wrong bettors. Buy and Lay bets are not always recommended. If for a particular number the house edge is less than the vigorish you should avoid Buy and Lay bets on that number.