If you head to a casino, you’ll find that the craps table is one game that stands out from the others in terms of excitement, shouting, celebrations, and overall fun. When a hot roll is in progress, players gather around the action, cheering on the winners, applauding for each victory, and having a great time as they collect more chips with each successful roll.
Rolling dice as a gambling game has been popular for centuries. Players enjoy the thrill of trying to land on winning numbers and avoiding “sevening out.” Good rolls can last for several minutes and earn players a substantial pile of chips. However, exceptional rolls can last even longer, with players at the table hitting it big on toss after toss of those dice.
Some craps rolls are so remarkable that they have become some of the longest winning streaks on record at the dice table. Here’s a glimpse at some of the most substantial rolls in history.
If you’re new to the game of craps online for real money, it can seem overwhelming with a variety of options for bettors to choose from. However, there are a few wagers that offer the best odds and increase the player’s chances of winning.
The “Pass Line” bet is one of the most popular and has good odds. A player making a bet on the Pass Line is betting with the shooter. The come-out roll begins with a new shooter, and a bettor may place the table minimum of $5 on the Pass Line. If the shooter rolls 2, 3, or 12, known as the come-out roll, that bet is a loss. But, a roll of 7 or 11 on the come-out roll is an even money win.
If the shooter rolls a 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, it becomes the Point. Players can then make other wagers, including taking “Odds” on the initial Pass Line bet. This is a multiple of the bet placed behind the Pass Line. This is one of the best bets in the casino since the player is paid the true odds of rolling that number.
The shooter continues rolling until one of two things occurs: the point number is hit or the shooter rolls a 7, resulting in all bets on the shooter being lost. During a roll, players can make other wagers, such as on the “Come Bar,” which is similar to the “Pass Line” bet but during a roll already underway. Players can also “place” bets on any of the other possible numbers, such as 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10.
A player with a few numbers working can win more if the shooter continues rolling without hitting a 7. However, since there are more ways to make a 7 than any other number, rolls don’t last too long. With 36 possible combinations on the dice, a player has a 1/6 chance of rolling a 7, which means a 16.67% chance of rolling a 7. On average, a player can expect to roll a 7 once every 8.5 rolls. Rolls can be even shorter than that, and extended rolls of the dice hitting multiple point numbers can be few and far between.
- Atlantic City Star
In May 2009, Patricia Demauro of New Jersey walked into the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City with a gambling bankroll of just $100. She headed to the craps table and went on a winning streak that she could never have imagined.
Demauro rolled the dice an astounding 154 times, hitting 25 point numbers over the course of four hours and 18 minutes. As word of her incredible roll spread, more and more people crowded around the table to watch and bet on her success. Casino security even kept a watchful eye on the proceedings.
Her run of luck surpassed the 20-year record set by Stanley Fujitake in Las Vegas (more on that roll below). Casino.org calculated the odds of such an incredible roll at 1 in 1.56 trillion. However, the exact amount that Demauro won remains a mystery as neither she nor the casino disclosed it. Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that it was a substantial multiple of her original hundred-dollar bankroll. Some estimates suggest that she won six figures, but there is no confirmed figure.
Undoubtedly, the other players at the table were thrilled, as were the dealers who must have received generous tips that night. When her streak finally came to an end, Borgata staff celebrated Demauro’s achievement with a well-deserved champagne toast.
2. Stanley Fujitake and the California Casino
The California Casino in downtown Las Vegas is a popular destination for Hawaiian gamblers, even chartering flights for those from the Aloha State. The property is owned by Boyd Gaming and features Hawaiian decor, complete with dealers wearing tropical shirts. In May 1989, Oahu native Stanley Fujitake strolled up to the craps table around midnight and began shooting, becoming a Las Vegas legend.
Fujitake placed a $5 bet on the pass line and continued rolling the dice for the next three hours as the crowd around the table grew. Even the dealers were amazed by what they saw. As more players worked their way into every possible spot at the table, dealers struggled to keep up with the bets, and they had to start issuing casino credit when there weren’t enough chips to go around.
When Fujitake’s hot roll finally came to an end, he had rolled the dice 118 times, hitting 18 pass line winners. Starting with the table minimum, he eventually increased his bet to the table maximum of $1,000. He took home approximately $30,000 that night, while others scored even bigger. In total, the California paid out around $750,000 to players at the table.
Fujitake earned the nickname “The Golden Arm” by the casino, and his amazing roll is memorialized in a glass trophy case. A bronze cast of his hand holding the winning dice is displayed, and small golden plaques now bear the names of players who become members of the Golden Arm Club for rolling for an hour or more. On average, one player per month is added to the club.
3. High Roller Rolling
In June 2011, a high-stakes craps player walked into the Tropicana in Atlantic City and bet $100,000 per toss at the dice table. The property was known for allowing nosebleed level gambling, and the player took full advantage, walking away with a massive $5.3 million after approximately six hours of play.
Despite the enormous loss, the property made no changes to its policy of accepting supersized wagers. Tropicana CEO Tony Rodio told ABC News at the time, “That’s just how it goes sometimes; if you bet more, you can win more. We have a strategy of offering the most aggressive and highest table games limits in the Atlantic City market, and we’re not going to change that. If someone wants to take the shot, we’ll take the action.”
After the big win, the casino asked the player to return for another round of high-stakes gambling. It is unclear whether he accepted the invitation, but staff certainly benefited from his massive run at the dice table. Before leaving, the player left a dealer tip of $150,000, showing his appreciation for their service.
4. Archie Karas Crushes
Archie Karas, a professional gambler, is legendary in Las Vegas for “The Run” he went on in the early 1990s. A regular poker player in the Los Angeles area, Karas claimed to have won millions at times and gone broke at other times. In 1992, after a major losing streak, he drove to Las Vegas with only $50 in his pocket to try his luck.
Karas managed to turn his $50 into a $10,000 loan, and then proceeded to turn that into $17 million by playing poker and billiards. He was always willing to wager huge amounts and raise the stakes as needed.
When his high-stakes poker action dried up, Karas turned to the craps table at Binion’s Horseshoe, which was known to take the largest bets in Las Vegas. Although the property limited him to $100,000 per roll on the Pass Line and $300,000 on the Come Bar, Karas continued to shine at the tables. He reportedly won millions at the craps table and traveled with much of his winnings in cash in his car, carrying a gun to defend himself.
At the peak of his winning streak, Karas had amassed $40 million. However, it all came crashing down in 1995 as he lost $11 million at craps, a few more million at poker, and then $17 million at the baccarat tables. After a break in Greece, he returned to the tables with his last $12 million. This time, he encountered the house edge and soon lost everything.
Karas told Cigar Aficionado magazine, “Money means nothing to me. I don’t value it. I’ve had all the material things I could ever want. Everything. The things I want, money can’t buy: health, freedom, love, happiness. I don’t care about money, so I have no fear. I don’t care if I lose it.” Karas’s story is one of the most dramatic rises and falls in the history of Las Vegas gambling.
5. Breaking the Bank
In John Scarne’s classic book Scarne’s Complete Guide to Gambling, he details one of the largest craps rolls and wins he had ever seen. The run of fortune occurred at the 86 Club in Miami in 1947 and is known as the “Unfinished Hand.” The table maximum was $1,000, and several high rollers were playing big at the table one night.
Scarne described the group as including several “racketeers,” and at 2 a.m., a car dealer from Detroit began shooting the dice. He threw for an hour and a half in this underground casino before something truly strange occurred.
“Charley Thomas and Jack Fidlander, the casino owners, walked over to the dice tables and announced, ‘Gentlemen, that’s all for tonight. The bank is broke.’ The operators lost a total of $300,000 in that 90 minutes, which is equivalent to almost $3.8 million in today’s dollars. The “Unfinished Hand” remains one of the most significant craps rolls in history, with the game’s luckiest players taking home the most substantial rewards.
