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Keno history |
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Keno has its origins in China where it has been played for centuries. Later, when Chinese immigrants came to the United States in the 1800s, the game slowly began to receive popularity on foreign shores. The Chinese characters were later replaced in the US by Arabic characters, and for a short time in the state of Nevada, the numbers were displayed together with the names of racehorses. This was renamed racehorse keno, but this only lasted a short time & the horse names with removed during the 1950's. From this history, numerous casinos refer to each game as a "race" and if you wished to wager on several games at the same time, you can purchase a multi-race ticket. Throughout the state of Nevada you will find countless Keno rooms, where you can see the balls with corresponding numbers being pushed out with an air blower to show the winners. The game has since gravitated to Atlantic City in the mid 1990's & can even be seen in riverboat casino in their video form. |
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Playing Keno |
| When you participate in the live version, you use a cards with eighty numbers normally placed in 8 rows of 10; on this you can mark one to twenty numbers of your choice. You would then take the marked card to the keno writer in order to wager that those numbers may be within the twenty winning numbers during the following game. Casinos are now organized for players to place bets even if they are not within the keno lounge area. For instance, while taking your meal you can give your marked ticket to a keno runner who will place the bet for you & bring it back. The wager is according to the minimum bet which normally is $1 although it can be more. The payouts on wining tickets differ from casino to casino. For instance, if you were betting $1 each number on a four-spot ticket you could normally expect $1 for two winnings numbers, but maybe $5-6 for three numbers and for four numbers, anything between $110-125. Because of the difference between houses, it is not possible to give a precise payback average, but the house edge normally ranges between 20-30%. |
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Keno Wagers |
| "Straight" ticket: The simplest way to bet is called wagering on a straight ticket. This is just placing a single bet on the numbers marked. Many though enjoy the more exotics options & combinations that are available. In a way ticket you could choose 6 numbers, circling 2 divisions of 3; then write on the ticket edge, "2 / 3, 1 / 6." This would mean a $3.00 bet for $1.00 bets on each of the two 3-spot combinations and also for the 6-spot. |
| "King" ticket: A "king" is a circled number that can be used together with other marked combinations. In the above example, imagine you had circled number 7. You could write on the edge of the ticket "2 / 4, 1 / 7" to wager two 4-numbered combos with the king number 7 be added to the previous 3-numbered combinations. |
| "Combination" ticket: You can mark several groups of numbers & wager combinations of these. For instance, a ticket with 2, 3 and 4-numbered groups can be bet as 1 / 2, 1 / 3, 1 / 4, 1 / 5 (i.e. the 2 and 3-numered group), 1 / 6 (2 and 4-numbered group), 1 / 7 (3 and 4-numbered), 1 / 9 (all 3 groups). For $1 each game, then the cost of the ticket would be $7. |
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Keno Jackpots - Progressive |
| Many casinos offer keno with progressive jackpots. This can sometimes accumulate so much that the casino is temporarily giving more than 100% pay out. A Las Vegas casino in the 1990's had a jackpot paying more than twenty thousand dollars on a $2.00 8-spot ticket! The progressive jackpots are usually capped at around &250,000 but that gives the player a potential 17% edge. Of course, that in no way means a player could expect that percentage of return by continuously playing. |
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Strategy |
| Overall, the returns at keno are too infrequent for anyone to play the game seriously. A game or two over breakfast in the casino coffee shop or relaxing in the keno lounge is plenty for many people. But some players on a tight budget enjoy sitting in the keno lounge, being served free drinks and playing a buck at a time as an inexpensive way to spend the day. |
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Electronic Video Keno |
| It was obvious that video keno was going to emerge at some time or another. It's basically the same as its live kind, having eighty numbers in 8 rows displayed on the screen. Most machines come with a touch screen to choose the numbers you want. Unsurprisingly the video type actually have a better rate of pay, but bear in mind that the speed of each game is much faster and consequently during any one session, you can wager much more. In its video form, you also have the option of smaller bets rather than the compulsory $1 bets in most live games. Whether you prefer to play live or the virtual variety, keno has certainly made an impact since coming to the US many decades ago. |
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