Sport: Craps Manual

Don't cheat yourself at craps—use the correct odds. This is the advice of John Scarne, professional magician and gambling authority for Yank magazine, who worked out the mathematics of the armed forces' No. 1 sport. By last week he had sent copies of the odds (printed on cards small enough to paste into helmets) to more than 2,000,000 servicemen. Scarne's table:

Against Passing

6 to 5 (30¢ to 25¢) against 6 or 8 3 to 2 (15¢ to 10¢) against 5 or 9 2 to 1 (10¢ to 5¢) against 4 or 10 8 to 1 (40¢ to 5¢) against double 2 or 5 10 to 1 (50¢ to 5¢) against double 3 or 4

On the Come-Out (First Roll) 35 to 1 ($1,75 to 5¢) against double numbers 17 to 1 (85¢ to 5¢) against 11 11 to 1 (55¢ to 5¢) against 4 or 10 8 to 1 (40¢ to 5¢ against 5 or 9 8 to 1 (40¢ to 5¢) against crap (2, 3, 12) 5 to 1 (25¢ to 5¢) against 7

Scarne figures that craps is an almost perfect gambling game: the shooter has a 49.293% chance of winning. Other Scarne conclusions: 1) soldiers gamble $300 million a month; 2) most-of their games are on the level.