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Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s horsemen enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French headed south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he invented the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.