Keno is a gambling game, usually found in most modern bricks and mortar casinos.
It is a bingo or lottery style game, and if usually offered in some lotteries in various states in America. Kenos roots are thought to have been from China, and it caught on in the west in the late 1800s, having been introduced to America by Chinese immigrants.
A game of Keno in a live casino uses a glass enclosure which contains 80 balls.
Each of the balls has a number imprinted on it, going from 1-80. During the draw of the balls, the glass enclosure has air blasted into it with the intention of mixing the balls. A caller then opens a tube by pressing a level, and this then lifts the balls up one by one, into a tube shaped like a V, known as the “rabbit ears”.
A player then gets given a Keno ticket, which has eighty numbers on it, arranged in eight rows of ten. Then next to each number is a blank mark known as a spot. The player marks an S next to 20 numbers of their choice on the spots. The player then gives their ticket to a Keno writer, and places a wager on the fact that their selections will be among the twenty that are drawn.
Once the twenty numbers are drawn all winning tickets are paid out according to a table, known as a “pay table”. The pay tables all vary depending on which casino you play at.
For example, you may place $1 on four spots; one casinos pay table may pay $1 if you hit two numbers, $5 for three and $120 if all four come out. However, you may play at another casino with a completely different pay table, for instance three numbers pay $6 instead, and all four may pay $125. The pay tables tend to vary a lot from casino to casino, and there is rarely any sort of average pay-out level.
Online or Video version of Keno
Keno is now rapidly finding its way onto online casinos, and is also available in bricks and mortar casinos, as a video game, appropriately called “Video Keno”. They are increasingly popular in the arcade areas of land based bingo halls. Where some casinos take wagers on Keno at $1/£1 and above, the Video Keno games are available at much lower stake levels.
The game itself is basically the same as the casino version, only the game play ends up being quicker online or on the video version. The tickets still have the 80 numbers, laid out in eight rows of ten, and to select your numbers you simply click or touch your selection on screen.
Keno Strategy
Keno is considered more of a game of chance as opposed to a game of skill or strategy. The optimum strategy which most tend to opt for, is to simply play at the casino which pays best according to its pay table.