Are the Craps Buy bet and Lay bet good bets for the player? It depends on the casino's policy for handling the vigorish. Vigorish? What's that? A vigorish (or "vig") is a tax you must pay to get true odds on a craps Buy bet instead of casino odds. For the player, true odds are always better than casino odds because true odds don't give the casino an advantage. Since the casino is in business to make money and if they're willing to give the player true odds instead of casino odds, then the casino imposes a tax to ensure it gets its profit. John Winn (the father of the modern craps layout) designed a version of the game of craps that allowed gambling halls to offer more bets that are better for the player in return for a 5% charge. Even though the house gave the player true odds, they still made money because of the added 5% tax. The added tax brought in so much money that the house soon referred to it as giving vigor to their profits. That's how the term "vigorish" was born. The vig today remains at 5% of the bet amount.

The Buy bet (and its cousin, the Lay bet) may be considered "good" or "bad" depending on whether you pay the vig up front or after a win. Let's look at Buying the 4 or 10. The casino advantage is a reasonable 1.64% if you pay the vig after a win, but jumps to an unreasonable 4.76% if you pay it up front. Keep in mind, although Buy betting the 4 or 10 with an up front vig has a 4.76% casino advantage, it's still better than Place betting the 4 or 10, which has a 6.67% casino advantage.

Suppose we Buy the 4 for $100. For Buy bets, we must pay a 5% tax, or vigorish, for the privilege of getting true odds. Suppose we have to pay the vig up front, which means we pay the 5% vig at the time we make the bet. So, you drop a $100 chip on the craps table layout and tell the dealer, "Buy the four, please." The dealer responds, "Drop me another nickel for the vig." You then drop a $5 chip as payment for the 5% tax to get true odds. Now, suppose the shooter rolls a 7-out on the very next roll. The Buy bet loses with a 7-out, so your total loss for that bet is $105 (i.e., $100 for the bet and $5 for the up front vig).

Now, in contrast, suppose we Buy the 4 for $100 but we don't have to pay the vig unless we win the bet. In this case, you drop a $100 chip and tell the dealer to Buy the 4 without paying the 5% vig. The shooter then rolls a 7 out and your Buy bet loses. Since you didn't win, you don't have to pay a vig, which means your total loss for the bet is $100. In this case, you pay the vig only if you win the bet. Suppose the shooter rolls a 4 before a 7, which means your Buy bet wins. In this case, the dealer pays you $200 (i.e., 2:1 true odds), but then asks you to drop a $5 chip for the 5% vig (i.e., 5% of your $100 bet is $5).

It's clear that paying the vig up front greatly increases the casino advantage. Therefore, I suggest, if you're in a town with several casinos (e.g., Vegas, Biloxi), find one that doesn't take the vig until after a win. If I have a choice of where to play and a casino makes me pay the vig up front, I immediately walk out and go to the casino next door. Remember, the casino advantage for a Buy bet with a vig after a win is only 1.64%, which is considered a "good" craps bet to make. However, the casino advantage for a Buy bet with an up-front vig is increased to 4.76%, which is considered a "bad" bet. Therefore, if you're not playing at the only casino in town and you have the option to play at different casinos, choose one that takes the vig after a win instead of up-front.