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Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Current craps formed from the ancient English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is acquired from the term for the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and across the country. A few think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.