Craps Place Bets Versus Buy Bets: Payouts and Commission

A conventional place or buy wager on 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 wins if that number appears before 7 while the bet is working. The difference is how the winning payout and any commission are calculated. A comparison needs the actual charge, rounding and collection rules.

Conventional Place Payouts

Place 4 and 10 pay 9:5 profit; place 5 and 9 pay 7:5; place 6 and 8 pay 7:6. Under fair independent dice, their house edges per resolved bet are approximately 6.67%, 4.00% and 1.52% respectively. Intermediate totals that leave the bet unresolved are not separate resolved wagers.

Buy Payouts Before Commission

A buy wager uses true-odds profit ratios before its charge: 2:1 on 4 or 10, 3:2 on 5 or 9, and 6:5 on 6 or 8. A commission is then applied under the table rules. A stated 5% rate must identify the amount to which it applies and when it is collected.

Commission Only on a Win

Assume a charge of exactly 5% of the stake, collected only after a winning buy wager, with no rounding. Before the charge, the true-odds component has zero expected gain or loss. Expected loss is therefore the commission multiplied by the probability of winning before 7.

For 4 or 10, that probability is 3/(3+6) = 1/3, so expected loss is 5% × 1/3, approximately 1.67% of the stake. For 5 or 9, it is 4/10, producing 2.00%; for 6 or 8, it is 5/11, producing approximately 2.27%.

These calculations explain the effect of the stated commission model. They are not universal figures for every table or a guarantee of a favourable session.

Commission Collected Upfront

If the same exact 5% of stake is paid upfront and is non-refundable, the fee is incurred regardless of whether the number or 7 appears first. Expected loss is 5% of the betting stake, or approximately 4.76% of the combined stake-plus-fee outlay. Both descriptions refer to the same charge but use different denominators.

Minimum fees and rounding can materially change small-stake examples. It is therefore inaccurate to declare a universal dollar threshold at which one wager becomes preferable without stating the commission rules.

Worked Settlement Example

A hypothetical $20 buy wager on 4 earns $40 profit if 4 appears before 7. With a 5%-of-stake commission collected only on that win, the charge is $1 and net profit is $39; the $20 stake is returned separately. If 7 appears first, the $20 loses under this model and no win-only fee is collected.

Related Rules

A buy wager is different from taking odds behind a line or Come bet. See working-status markers and dice probability for the other assumptions. WinnerOnline explains the calculations and does not quote current Canadian table offers.

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