Vegas Advantage has learned that $3 craps is returning to Las Vegas. Rio will offer $3 live craps from 3am to 3pm daily. The minimum bet will typically be $10 or $15 during other hours.
This is the first time a casino in the Las Vegas market has offered live $3 craps since Club Fortune in 2022. At that time, players could get $3 craps action during happy hour from 4pm to 5pm daily. This was the first hour of the day the Club Fortune pit was open. The minimum moved up to $5 for the rest of the night. Club Fortune removed table games in 2022.
Rio’s $3 craps will open at 8am, October 2, 2025
Rio’s first $3 craps game in decades, if not ever, will open at 8am on Thursday, October 2, 2025. Vegas Advantage hopes to be there early enough to be the first roller. Join us if you are in town. If you cannot get there, it will be livestreamed on our Vegas Advantage YouTube channel. You will get a notification when we are live by subscribing to the channel.
Rio offers 3-4-5 times craps odds
Rio offers 3-4-5 times maximum odds. This means you can back your $3 Pass Line or Come bet up with $9 on the 4 and 10, $12 on the 5 and 9, and $15 on the 6 and 8. Don’t Pass and Don’t Come bettors can lay $18 on any number, because the win is the same as the max odds from the Pass Line. If you ever wondered why so many Las Vegas casinos have 3-4-5 times odds, it is because all wins from the Pass Line and Come with max odds are six times the flat bet.
Old-school craps players will remember the days when a $3 Place bet on 6 and 8 would pay $3.50 because casinos with that minimum had $0.50 chips. Rio will not have $0.50 chips, so your $3 Place 6 and 8 will pay $3 like the Big 6 and 8 would. That holds 9.09%, so you are better off throwing another $3 out there to place it, as the expected loss is three times worse taking even money on half the bet size. It’s called breakage, and part of the way Rio can make dealing a $3 game worth it. Sticking to line bets and betting proper increments on other ones removes this issue.
This is one of many value changes at Rio
Over the past year, Rio has implemented several changes to its games to attract new players. Nearly all traditional video poker games, including multi-hand, offer full-pay Jacks or Better, Bonus Deuces Wild, Double Aces and Faces, and other 99% and better games. This includes most bartops. Some bar machines have a lower paytable on some denominations and offer a progressive royal flush instead.
Rio is one of the best Las Vegas casinos for video poker variants, including Ultimate X, Spin Poker, Super Times Pay, Split Card, and Three-Way Action. It rivals South Point for the best video poker variant returns for large casinos. Only Emerald Island and Rainbow Club in downtown Henderson are better.
Rio will soon introduce $3 live dealer stadium baccarat. There is no commission on winning banker bets. Winning banker three-card sevens push. Rio also offers $50 3/2 stand on soft 17 six-deck blackjack that allows surrender and re-split aces, among the lowest minimums for that game in the market.
Low-limit craps disappeared over the years
The lowest minimum for craps in the Las Vegas market right now is $5. Those games appear at casinos like Jerry’s Nugget, Palms, and Oyo. Many others with $5 craps in the pit use the Roll to Win hybrid, including major Station Casinos.
Before the pandemic closure, $1 and $3 craps games were available in the locals market. Jokers Wild and Club Fortune had $1 tables. Lucky Club had a $1 craps game until about 2018, when its pits went all blackjack, before the entire casino moved to all slots in 2020. Lucky Club is now Ojos Locos.
Eastside Cannery, Fiesta Rancho, Texas Station, Jerry’s Nugget, and Railroad Pass had $3 craps during our last survey before the 2020 closure. The first three closed due to the pandemic and never reopened. Railroad Pass dropped live tables in 2023. Read more about how Las Vegas craps has changed over the last 10 years here.
Rio is making a throwback attempt to appeal to value players while getting positive publicity for free. If players support these decisions that make Las Vegas gambling more affordable, more casinos may follow suit.
