"Is it legal to buy someone's bet in craps at a casino? For instance if someone bet the Don't Pass Line and it was after the coming out roll, could you buy his bet?" asked one reader.

Well, the first thing you must consider is that the casino books, takes, and pays all bets. There is no side betting at the games between players. So, for you to buy or purchase or to take control of someone else's money would have to be done without the knowledge of those dealers who run the table. The Don't Pass Line, in your instance, can't receive bets after the come out roll. After the come out roll, we have a point. It's at this time that the Don't Pass Line has the advantage. As a point of fact, (forgive the pun) there are more sevens to win then there are point combinations to lose. The casinos are not in business to let you have an advantage to win at even money. But what they will do is let you bet the odds on the Don't for less money. This is a lay bet and its paid back at true odds, at a charge of 5% of your win.

For example: If you bet a Don't 10 you need to put up $40 to win $20 and be charged $1.00 to do it. Now we get to the word "buy". Because it's a part of our craps game, it's just about the opposite of a lay bet. We don't buy a person's bet. What we buy is a number. But usually associated with this buy are the numbers 4 and 10. Again, as an example: You would put up $10 for $20 and be charged 5%, or $1.00, to do it. When the 10 rolls before the 7 you will be paid $40 and your $20 back to you. I hope this helps you out. Good Luck.

"How do I detect crooked dice?" is another one of our reader's questions.

In my career, I have detected my fair share of crooked dice or loaded dice. Knowing how to detect these gimmick dice in play is easy; it takes only a sharp eye and ear. Knowing how to make gimmick dice is academic; it takes only tools worth about one hundred dollars and manual dexterity. All of that is easy! The harder part is detecting the animal that would use them before he has the chance to attack your tables!

As I've said before, in past features, most gambling houses that cater to the public at large are on the square and earn their profits the hard way. They employ "Old Man Percentages". Attacking the "Old Man" with gimmick dice is about the only way one can consistently win at craps 90% of the time. There are a few kinds of dice cheats but for this feature we'll only deal with one, the professional, the skilled dice mechanic, the slight-of-hand artist, known in the trade as a bust-out man. He generally earns his living two ways: by going single-o or hiring out his services to a backer or a group of backers or joining a dice mob. An attack by bust-out men, or women, can cost an establishment vast sums of money and many of the casinos all over the world have fallen victim to these professional mechanics at one time or another.

The tools of the trade of the bust-out man are gimmicked dice. They are plentiful and available at many novelty stores and from most suppliers of honest dice. There are hundreds of dice manufactures in the United States alone and many of them see nothing wrong in making crooked dice, since there is no law against it. Or… for the round about sum of one hundred dollars, the dice mechanic can make his own sets of gimmicked dice.

And so, dear reader, I have rambled myself out of space. My apron is off and my cover is still on the craps table. Above was just a beginning overview. For our next feature, I'll get my research glasses out. Often referred to as gaffed dice, our subject will be passers and miss-outs.

Trivia: Man is a gaming animal. He must be always trying to get the better in something or other.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Now there's a loaded subject worth knowing about!