The Field bet is the craps table's marketing department. A big, friendly rectangle that fills half the layout. Big numbers printed inside: 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12. A reminder underneath: 2 pays double. 12 pays triple. Win on seven of the eleven dice totals. What's not to like?
The math, that's what. The Field bet is a 5.56% house edge proposition — nearly four times worse than the Pass Line (1.41%) and more than three times worse than Place 6/8 (1.52%). This article walks through exactly how the casino built that edge into a bet that looks like a freebie.
What the Field pays
A standard Field layout has the following payouts:
- 2 rolls → pays 2:1
- 3 rolls → pays 1:1
- 4 rolls → pays 1:1
- 9 rolls → pays 1:1
- 10 rolls → pays 1:1
- 11 rolls → pays 1:1
- 12 rolls → pays 2:1 (sometimes 3:1)
- Any other total (5, 6, 7, 8) → you lose
The bet is a one-roll proposition: the next roll determines the outcome. You don't have to wait for a point. The stickman moves on within seconds, win or lose. Fast action, big payouts on the deuce and dozen, looks great.
The 36-roll distribution: where the '16 wins' number comes from
Two fair dice have 36 equally likely outcomes (6 × 6). Group them by total and you get this distribution:
- Total of 2: 1 way (1-1)
- Total of 3: 2 ways
- Total of 4: 3 ways
- Total of 5: 4 ways
- Total of 6: 5 ways
- Total of 7: 6 ways
- Total of 8: 5 ways
- Total of 9: 4 ways
- Total of 10: 3 ways
- Total of 11: 2 ways
- Total of 12: 1 way
Field winning totals (2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12): 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 16 ways. Losing totals (5, 6, 7, 8): 4 + 5 + 6 + 5 = 20 ways. Total: 36 ways.
So 16/36 wins, 20/36 lose — about 44.4% to win on each roll. The stickman's pitch isn't a lie. Players really do win the Field roughly 44% of the time.
Doing the actual EV per dollar bet
The win rate alone doesn't tell you anything. You need to weight each outcome by what it pays. Let's compute the expected value of a $1 Field bet (standard 2:1 on 12).
- 1/36 × +$2 (rolling a 2, pays double) = +$0.0556
- 2/36 × +$1 (rolling a 3) = +$0.0556
- 3/36 × +$1 (rolling a 4) = +$0.0833
- 4/36 × +$1 (rolling a 9) = +$0.1111
- 3/36 × +$1 (rolling a 10) = +$0.0833
- 2/36 × +$1 (rolling an 11) = +$0.0556
- 1/36 × +$2 (rolling a 12) = +$0.0556
- 20/36 × −$1 (rolling 5, 6, 7, or 8) = −$0.5556
Sum of winnings: $0.5000. Sum of losses: $0.5556. Net expected value per $1 bet: −$0.0556. That's the 5.56% house edge — the math comes out clean because every Field outcome is some integer divided by 36.
Compared to the Pass Line
Field: 5.56% edge, every roll. Pass Line: 1.41% edge, resolves over multiple rolls. For the same dollar action, the Field costs you about four times as much. The reason Pass feels slow is also why it costs less: each Pass bet resolves over several rolls on average, so you're putting less action per minute through the casino's margin.
Action volume × house edge = expected loss. The Field's faster action and worse edge combine to make it a much more efficient money extraction tool — for the house.
The '2 and 12 pay 2x' math doesn't save it
Some players reason: 'Yes but the deuce and dozen pay double, and the rest pay even — so on a long run those bonuses make up for the losses.' This is exactly the calculation we just did. The bonus payouts ARE the reason 16 wins out of 36 isn't a guaranteed losing proposition (which it would be at flat 1:1). The bonuses bring the EV from worse than -10% up to -5.56%. They lessen the bleed; they don't reverse it.
When the Field almost works: 3x on 12 vs 2x on 12
A few casinos offer a 3:1 payout on the 12 instead of 2:1. Sometimes it's 3:1 on 2 instead. With one 3x bonus, the EV calculation changes:
- Add 1/36 × +$1 extra (the 3rd unit on the 12) = +$0.0278
- New EV: −$0.0555 + $0.0278 = −$0.0277
- House edge: 2.78%
Half as bad — still worse than every Pass-based bet. Some downtown Vegas tables and some Mississippi casinos run this; you'll see '3X on 2 AND 12' on the layout. It improves the bet but doesn't make it good. You're still putting 2.78% through the margin on a one-roll prop.
What to bet instead
If you want the action of frequent resolution without the Field's edge, Place 6 and Place 8 are right next to it on the layout — 1.52% edge, paying 7:6, and they work on every roll until they lose or you take them down.
If you want one-roll prop excitement, accept that you're paying for entertainment and keep the bets tiny. A $1 Yo bet costs you about 11 cents in expectation — cheap fun. A $25 Field bet every roll costs you $139 an hour — not entertainment, just bleed.