What Is Keno Lottery (2024)

Keno is a lottery-style game originating from China. Keno rules are very similar to games like Lotto. It involves picking numbers and hoping they match some of the numbers drawn at random. Fill in a KENO play slip with the number of spots (numbers) you want to play per game. Choose from 1 to 10 spots. Choose how much you want to wager on each game: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10 or $20. Wager more, win more! Mark the “KENO 603 PLUS” box on your play slip for a chance to increase your KENO 603℠ winnings by 3, 4, 5 or 10 times. By marking “KENO 603 PLUS” the cost of your ticket will double. Choose how many “spots” (numbers) you want to play. Choose from 1 to 12 spots, and mark the spot. Mark your numbers from 1 through 80. KENO drawings are best viewed in the following browsers: Internet Explorer 11, Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome. Check Your Numbers There are a variety of ways to check your numbers: Past Winning Numbers & Payouts, Frequency of Numbers, and Date. Learn how to play and win KENO from the Ohio Lottery. Play every 4 minutes from 6:04 a.m. Winning numbers will be available on the website as soon as possible after each drawing.

  • What Is Keno Lottery Jackpot
  • Philippine Keno Lottery

A set of Finnish keno betting slips

What Is Keno Lottery Jackpot

Keno/kn/ is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game by some state lotteries.

Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some variants draw fewer numbers) are drawn at random, either with a ball machine similar to ones used for lotteries and bingo, or with a random number generator.

Each casino sets its own series of payouts, called 'paytables'. The player is paid based on how many numbers were chosen (either player selection, or the terminal picking the numbers), the number of matches out of those chosen, and the wager.

There are a wide variety of keno paytables depending on the casino, usually with a larger 'house edge' than other games offered by that casino. The house edge ranges from less than 4 percent[1] to over 35 percent.[2] The typical house edge for non-slot casino games is under 5 percent.[3]

History[edit]

The word keno has French or Latin roots (Fr. quine 'five winning numbers', L. quini 'five each'), but by all accounts the game originated in China. Legend has it that the invention of the game saved an ancient city in time of war, and its widespread popularity helped raise funds to build the Great Wall of China. In modern China, the idea of using lotteries to fund a public institution was not accepted before the late 19th century.[4]

Chinese lotteries are not documented before 1847 when the Portuguese government of Macau decided to grant a license to lottery operators. According to some, results of keno games in great cities were sent to outlying villages and hamlets by carrier pigeons, resulting in its Chinese name 白鸽票 báigē piào, literally 'white dove ticket', pronounced baak-gap-piu in Cantonese (on which the Western spelling 'pak-ah-pu' / 'pakapoo' was based).

What Is Keno Lottery (1)

The Chinese played the game using sheets printed with Chinese characters, often the first 80 characters of the Thousand Character Classic, from which the winning characters were selected.[5][6] Eventually, Chinese immigrants introduced keno to the US in the 19th century,[7] where the name was Westernized into boc hop bu[6] and puck-apu.[5] By 1866, it had already become a widely popular gambling game in Houston, Texas, under the name keno.[8]

Probabilities[edit]

Keno payouts are based on how many numbers the player chooses and how many of those numbers are 'hit', multiplied by the proportion of the player's original wager to the 'base rate' of the paytable. Typically, the more numbers a player chooses and the more numbers hit, the greater the payout, although some paytables pay for hitting a lesser number of spots. For example, it is not uncommon to see casinos paying $500 or even $1,000 for a 'catch' of 0 out of 20 on a 20 spot ticket with a $5.00 wager. Payouts vary widely by casino. Most casinos allow paytable wagers of 1 through 20 numbers, but some limit the choice to only 1 through 10, 12, and 15 numbers, or 'spots' as the numbers selected are known.[9]

The probability of a player hitting all 20 numbers on a 20 spot ticket is 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,174,320.[10]

Philippine Keno Lottery

Even though it is virtually impossible to hit all 20 numbers on a 20 spot ticket, the same player would typically also get paid for hitting 'catches' 0, 1, 2, 3, and 7 through 19 out of 20, often with the 17 through 19 catches paying the same amount as the solid 20 hit. Some of the other paying 'catches' on a 20 spot ticket or any other ticket with high 'solid catch' odds are in reality very possible to hit:

HitsProbability
01 in 843.380
11 in 86.446
21 in 20.115
31 in 8.009
41 in 4.877
51 in 4.287
61 in 5.258
71 in 8.826
81 in 20.055
91 in 61.420
101 in 253.801
111 in 1,423.822
121 in 10,968.701
131 in 118,084.920
141 in 1,821,881.628
151 in 41,751,453.986
161 in 1,496,372,110.872
171 in 90,624,035,964.712
181 in 10,512,388,171,906.553
191 in 2,946,096,785,176,811.500
201 in 3,535,316,142,212,174,320.000

Probabilities change significantly based on the number of spots that are picked on each ticket.

References[edit]

  1. ^Online Keno odds
  2. ^Shackleford, Michael. 'Keno - Strategy and Odds by The Wizard of Odds'. Wizard of Odds Consulting, Inc. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
  3. ^Casino advantages for various games
  4. ^'Keno History'. kenoonline.org. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  5. ^ abMelanie Yap, Dianne Leong Man. Colour, confusion and concessions, pp.240-241.
  6. ^ ab'Chinese Gambling Games; Mysteries of Fan Tan And Boc Hop Bu. Two Popular Games in the Chinese Quarters of American Cities-- Superstitions of the Players. Boc Hop Bu. Superstitions'(PDF). The New York Times. 5 February 1888.
  7. ^History of Keno. Transl. from German, 2017.
  8. ^'The New York Times'. 29 July 1866.Cite journal requires journal= (help)
  9. ^'Tutorial - How to play Keno'. Gambling Info. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  10. ^Mark Bollman (2014). Basic Gambling Mathematics: The Numbers Behind the Neon. CRC Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN9781482208931.

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keno&oldid=1005831449'

What Is Keno Lottery (2024)

FAQs

How many numbers do you need to win keno? ›

In video Keno, your payout will register automatically, and in live games you'll need to show your card to the game administrator. For example, you might pick five numbers in a game. In most cases, to win money, you'd need to hit on three of those numbers.

How do you win money on keno? ›

Keno Tips. Play between four and seven numbers to keep your chances of winning and the variance to a reasonable degree. Never play above 10 numbers if offered the chance. The chances of choosing and hitting 15 numbers is 1 in 428 billion while the chances of picking and hitting all 20 are 1 in 3.5 quintillion.

Is keno like the lottery? ›

KENO® is an easy, fun and fast-paced bingo-style lottery game.

How does keno pay out? ›

In a traditional keno game, the keno draw is performed using a ball machine similar to those used for lotteries and bingo. Twenty numbered balls are drawn at random, and players win if any of their chosen numbers match the drawn numbers. The more numbers that match, the higher the payout.

What are the odds of winning playing keno? ›

For example, on a typical 80-number board, the odds of hitting all 10 of your numbers from 20 numbers drawn is an astounding 1 in 8,911,711. However, some retailers may only pay you $200,000 on a $1 bet. Nevertheless, each keno game and online retailer has their own payouts, so how much you stand to make will vary.

Why is keno so hard to win? ›

There is no such thing as hot or cold numbers - the game uses a random number generator, making it impossible to predict which numbers will come up. How important is it to pick the right Keno game? Different Keno games can have varying rules and pay tables.

What does it cost to play keno? ›

Make your decisions and indicate your choices on your keno card. If you bet $1 on your selected numbers and want to play 7 games, that'll cost $7. If you double your bet, it'll cost $14, and so on. However, you cannot vary your betting amounts on the same card.

What is the secret keno pattern? ›

Keno draws are generated by random number generator (RNG) software, so the outcomes are entirely unpredictable. There are no secret keno patterns, and learning how to win at keno slot machines is impossible. That said, mathematicians have discovered that how many numbers you choose can make a difference.

Is playing keno worth it? ›

If you want good odds to win more than you wager, the best tip anyone can give you is to play almost any other casino game than Keno. The Keno game offers some of the worst odds in any casino, to the point that the game is virtually guaranteed to be, at best, a slow way to lose all of your money.

What are the 6 luckiest numbers in keno? ›

For instance, the numbers 7, 17, and 22 have been known to hit the most often. Additionally, the numbers 3, 11, and 12 are part of the best 6 spot Keno numbers with a high probability of appearing.

How to play keno for beginners? ›

Step-by-step guide to keno
  1. Select your keno card. A keno card will typically show up to 80 numbers.
  2. Choose your numbers. Depending on the game, players select up to 10, 15, or 20 numbers before each keno draw takes place. ...
  3. Check the payout table. ...
  4. Choose your bet size. ...
  5. The game begins. ...
  6. Match a number.

Has anyone ever won $1 million on keno? ›

The $1 million prize was won by matching the numbers 1 through 12. Keno players have the option of selecting from 1 to 12 numbers (spots) to play from a field of numbers from 1 to 80. Prizes and odds of winning vary based on the number of spots played.

Is keno pure luck? ›

For starters, there are no strategies that will guarantee a win at Keno. That's because it is a game of chance and whether you win or lose is purely down to luck – just as it is with any table game at the casino.

Is keno really random? ›

Keno numbers are drawn by a random number generator, just like slot reel combinations. No number is ever due to come up, no matter how long it's been since it was last drawn. No number is ever due to lose, no matter how often it's been drawn.

How do you know if you won keno? ›

Wait for the keno machine to determine the results.

If you have a match, you win! How much money you win will depend on how many numbers you matched and how much you wagered. Most keno boards will display the payout for each number of spots matched. Your payout depends on the number of keno tickets in each game.

How does keno scoring work? ›

For each Keno drawing, 20 numbers out of 80 will be selected as winning numbers. You can decide how many of these numbers (called Spots) and exactly which numbers you will try to match. There are more than 300 drawings daily so you will never need to wait long until the next Keno drawing.

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