Basically, ALL of the players have an equal share of the house (or the bank). By using percentages, you can let people fund the bank for their comfort level, so one person can put more in if the others are agreeable. Percentage put in, will be your percentage to take out at end of night.
(example: 5 players. ONE puts in $100, and the other 4 put in $25 each. ONE has a 50% share of the bank, the other 4 each have a 12.5% share.)
If the bank runs out of money, you would have to decide whether or not to restock it. Obviously, the money is still in the room, and most likely, it is evenly distributed amongst most of the players.
There are a couple of other variations to consider.
ONE: Allow the stick to also have bets in action. That way if a shooter gets hot, the stick is not left out of the action. Of course, if the stick did not put any funding into the bank, then this is not a problem.
TWO: Play 3-4-5x odds, but allow the shooter to take 5x odds on any point. That way the good shooter gets a bit of an extra win over the other players.
(The high odds are a risk to the bank though, so you may want to play single odds, and let the shooter take 2x odds).
EXAMPLE:
To keep it simple, I am going to do it on a $5 table. (You can make it a $.05 table at home, and reduce the numbers by a factor of 100). Also, keep in mind that even if the bank goes broke, most of the players will have gotten their money back that they put into the bank. It's not like they lost ALL of their funding money.
Time for our Friday night game.
5 Players show up. Each player puts $500 in the TILL for the bank, so each player has a 20% share of the bank. Bank is given $2,500 in chips. This $500 bank funding includes $100 in chips for each player.
Game will be single odds, but the shooter can take 2x odds.
Now, each player gets their $100 in chips directly from the bank. The initial amount handed out has to be equal to their bank share.
So the bank now has $2,000 in chips, and each player has $100 in chips.
If a player loses all of their chips, they may buy more chips from the bank.
Player A loses his chips, so he pulls out $100 more in cash, and the cash goes into the TILL. The stick gives the player $100 in chips from the bank.
Player A still has only 20% of the bank. This additional buy in was player money, not the initial bank funding.
Player B loses his chips, but he decides not to play anymore. He is elected permanent stickman, and learns not to be a loser again.
Let's say nobody else runs out of chips, and at the end of the night, players A,C,D,E each have exactly $100 in chips in front of them.
The TILL has $2600 in it. $2500 from the initial funding plus $100 from Player A.
A,C,D,E each get $100 in cash from the TILL for their chips. TILL has $2,200 left.
Each player has a 20% share, so each player receives $440. TILL has $0 left.
So what happened?
Players C,D, and E all brought $500 to the game. They started playing with $100 in chips, and they ended with $100 in chips, so they were even for their craps play.
They received $100 in cash for their chips, and they received $440 from the bank, so they finished with $540, a $40 profit on the night.
Player B brought $500 to the game. They lost their initial chips, did not buy in for anymore, so they got $0 for cashing in. But they get $440 back for their 20% of the bank, thus they lost $60 on the night. (They get back 20% of their $100 they lost, plus they get back 20% of the $100 Player A lost, or $40).
Player A brought $500 to the game initially, but then bought in for another $100. He finished the game with $100 in chips (so he really lost $100 playing the game). He got $100 in cash for his chips, and he received $440 from the bank, so he now has $540 in cash, but since he bought in for $600, he has a $60 loss. (He also go back $20 from his $100 loss, and he got $20 from Player B's $100 loss).
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It sounds confusing, but it really isn't. Just set your initial funding of the bank, give each 'banker' an amount of chips (based on their bank share) from the bank, and then play craps normally from there. More cash goes into the till, and the chips come from the bank. At the end of the night, each player gets cash for the chips in front of them, and then the rest of the money is split up by the initial funding percentage.
Final note. You really don't need to put the $500 in cash from each player in the TILL. Once you get used to doing this, you realize it is just an accounting entry.
Suppose one player lost their initial chips, and did not buy back in. And later the bank goes broke. That player has lost 100% of whatever their funding amount was.
Play with friends and people you can trust!
If someone slips more chips into play, the bank will be underfunded, and everyone else gets screwed.
