How to play keno in a casinoAs you’ll learn down below, the history of keno offers one of the more intriguing how to play keno in a casino origin stories in all of gambling, but the game’s future belongs online. Generic selectors. Exact matches only. Keno has one of the most complicated processes for computing odds and probabilities. The payout odds in keno are capped, and one of the only ways to increase the payout is to increase the wager. Because the game offers so many options, the probabilities change from pick level to pick level, and from game variation to game variation.

Keno is a famous lottery gambling game. It is played at casinos all over the world, but it is also offered by national lottery companies along with other lottery games. Explore Keno from the probability point of view.

How To Play Keno

Keno is a lottery game where there are 20 winning numbers drawn out of the total 80 numbers, while players can choose to catch 1 to 20 numbers by marking spots on a Keno ticket. It holds true that the more numbers the players attempt to catch (or hit), the higher the potential win is in case they are hit correctly.

Keno can be operated live using a traditional circular glass (aka the 'bubble') or electronically (online). In case of the traditional way the bubble is filled with 80 balls and mixed by an air blower. Then 20 winning balls are drawn on random basis. At casinos Keno is played 24 hours a day in short intervals. The players are encouraged to wager by so called Keno runners.

Some casinos and lottery companies limit the choice of numbers to be hit to 10 to 15 numbers. The highest win is then paid out when a player manages to hit those 10 to 15 numbers out of the 20 drawn. Perhaps because hitting 20 numbers out of 20 is almost impossible from the probability point of view as we will see below.

Odds & Winning Chances in Keno

Thanks to the 20 numbers drawn out of 80, there is astronomic number of combinations that can be created. The easiest way to calculate all the combinations that can occur in Keno seems to use the Excel function =COMBIN(80,20) and we arrive at the value:

3,535,316,142,212,180,000.

My favorite question is: 'Can you read this figure?' It is absolutely abstractionist for common calculus in common life. Alright, we can read the figure as follows:

3 quintillion 535 quadrillion 316 trillion 142 billion 212 million 180 thousand.

Just out of curiosity: If you wanted to calculate the whole number of combinations using your hand calculator and the combinatorial formula Ck(n) = n! ÷ [k! × (n – k)!], you would most likely fail. As n = 80 and k = 20, the numerator itself 80! (80 factorial) is another figure beyond understanding: 80! = 80 × 79 × 78 × ... × 1 = 7.1569×10¹¹⁸. That is, say, roughly seven and 118 zeros behind that! The whole formula looks like this:

C20(80) = 80! ÷ [20! × (80 – 20)!] = 7.1569×10118 ÷ (2.4329×1018 × 8.32099×1081) =
= 3,535,316,142,212,180,000.

That is as far as the total number of combinations in Keno is concerned. Then it depends on, of course, how many numbers a player attempts and manages to catch or hit. Let us pick up the most extreme case—the attempt to hit all 20 numbers out of 20.

Since there is only one winning possibility (or a combination) out of the above-mentioned total of 3.5 quintillion, the probability to hit all 20 numbers out of 20 in Keno is extremely low, almost bordering with impossibility. To be exact:

1 ÷ 3,535,316,142,212,180,000 = 0.000000000000000000282860134645.

And again, since there is only one winning combination (all the 20 numbers marked on the Keno ticket must match all the 20 drawn numbers), the total count of combination 3,535,316,142,212,180,000 is actually the fair odds (that is without margin or share of a lottery or betting company). These hypothetical odds would have to be given for the event of hitting 20 numbers out of 20. For a completion please note that the bet would have to be losing in case of fewer hits than 20 as normally you are entitled to some lower prize pursuant to a pay table.

Thus if you bet $1 and succeeded, you would win those 3.5 quintillion dollars. To get a better idea of how huge this figure is: the 2012 budget of the U.S. administration is about 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars (in revenues). It means that with the win you would be able to finance the operation of the entire U.S. for more than 1.4 million years!

Table 1 shows the probabilities and corresponding odds for a 20-spot Keno ticket.

Table 1 – Probabilities and odds for a 20-spot Keno ticket

Looking at the table above, the least probable scenario is to hit all 20 numbers of out 20 – it has already been addressed in the text above. The most probable (0.2333 or 23.33% exactly) is that you manage to hit 5 numbers out of 20. Logically the most probable possibilities are usually losing. Note: the 'Check-sum' means that the total of probabilities must equal one (or 100%), which is proven here.

On the other side the probability not to hit any number in Keno is roughly 0.0012 (or 0.12%) only, however this probability rises in case of fewer spot Keno tickets. Some casinos offer quite a large payouts or at least they return money if you fail to hit any number. However it varies from casino to casino, therefore it is always useful to familiarize with the pay table.

The following two tables show the probabilities and the corresponding true odds for any-spot Keno ticket, that is for all combinations of spots (1 to 20) and hits (0 to 20). Thus they are universal for any Keno game regardless of the maximum number of spots allowed. Since the tables are quite large, click to enlarge them in a new window. The calculations were done by means of MS Excel with no rounding, however only limited and relevant number of digits are displayed.

Table 2 – Probabilities for any-spot Keno (1 to 20 numbers)

Table 3 – Odds for any-spot Keno (1 to 20 numbers)

Keno Pay Tables & House Edge

The choice of the amount of numbers attempting to be hit and successful hits thereof is a great source of variability as regards payouts. Additionally casinos or lottery operators may quote different payout ratios for the same wagers. Potential winnings are stipulated as multiples of the bet amount on the pay tables that have to be placed on a visible place or published online.

Various payouts present various house edges. The typical house edge ranges from 5% up to over 35%. The upper frontier is very high compared to e.g. Roulette, which brings house the share of 2.7% only. On the other hand the minimum bets are as low as $1 and potential winnings are quite high.

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Expertise in any game is based on a mastery of the rules and strategies used in that game. Like most casino gambling games, keno is designed to make money for the house. Players win their prizes from the pool of wagers they make.

No amount of expertise will help you beat the rules in keno. Playing like an expert means making the best possible choices. It also means maximizing your potential for winning.

The best poker player in the world can’t beat a bad deal. Where the poker player has an advantage over the keno player is in the fairness of the game. Keno is an unfair game by design.

Some would say that makes winning all that much sweeter. I once heard someone compare playing a game with a low return to player to playing the highest level in an online strategy game.

The analogy is flawed, in my opinion.

But the player can still win by adapting his strategy to compensate for those disadvantages.

Whether you’re playing slots, chuck-a-luck, or keno, there’s nothing you can do to compensate for the advantage the house gives itself. The smart money says don’t bet on keno. But if you’re going to bet on keno, then bet smartly.

Here are several ways to bet like a keno expert.

1 – Master the Basic Concepts

As everyone knows, keno is a lottery game. What most people don’t realize is that it’s the low-quality version of lottery games. In a massive game like Powerball or Mega Millions, you could theoretically win $100 million.

I’ve never seen any version of keno that pays that much money. The largest keno prize I ever heard about was less than $10 million. It was awarded in Australia in 2018.

Hats off to anyone crazy, brave, and lucky enough to wager on the Pick 10. Three people in Australia have won it.

Most of the large keno jackpots I’ve heard about were from Pick 7 and Pick 8 games, and the prizes were in the hundreds of thousands.

Do the math. You’d have to win an unbelievable amount of unlikely drawings to win $100 million in keno. But every year, a few lucky lottery players win $100 million or more in Powerball, Mega Millions, or Euro Millions.

If you’re going to play keno games, you’re playing for less prize money. And the odds of winning are usually worse in keno than in other lottery games. The win may taste sweeter because of those disadvantages but you’re still winning less money.

Another thing most people don’t realize about keno is that there’s a multitude of keno games. Each game has its own rules, odds, and prize schedules.

They look very similar but, when you compare the details of keno games to each other, you find the differences. That means whatever strategy you think works best for one version of keno may not work as well for another version.

It’s similar to learning to sail in a dinghy versus learning to sail a catboat. Both types of sailboats will get you across a calm body of water despite their differences. And both will be swamped in a bad storm. But they’re still different types of sailboats.

2 – Study the Odds Carefully

There are three basic types of keno:

1. Video keno
2. Live drawings
3. Scratch cards

The odds of winning keno differ from game to game. But the video keno machines can be programmed differently, too. Since more than one gaming company distributes keno, they don’t all use the same pay tables and random number algorithms.

Many video keno players prefer to play Pick 7 or Pick 8 games. They don’t win jackpots, but they do win smaller prizes.

The best odds fall somewhere in the mid-range picks.

Whatever keno game you choose to play, study the pay tables and odds for that game before you decide how many numbers to wager on.

If your best friend plays keno at a different location from you, on a different gaming platform, his favorite picks are probably not going to help you.

3 – Keno Demands Patience and Consistency

You’re wagering on random number drawings. Each drawing is a new game. The odds of winning don’t change no matter how many games you play.

One difference between keno and standard lottery games is that keno doesn’t duplicate numbers in a drawing. If the “1” is drawn in a keno game, it’s only drawn once.

When you compare a Pick 4 keno game to a typical four-ball live lottery game, those lottery games use four machines with the same number of balls. Daily drawings sometimes produce four duplicates in these games.

Many people do bet on 0-0-0-0 in their states’ daily four-ball games. Since keno doesn’t allow duplicate numbers, your chances of picking the right numbers are less than in any other lottery game. That means you’ll hit in a lower percentage of games.

The advantage of playing keno over a daily drawing game is that you can play video keno as often as you wish. Even live drawing keno is played several times per hour on state networks.

To compensate for keno’s poor odds, you must budget for as many games per day as you can. You’re making in volume what you lack in probabilities.

4 – Play Multiple Cards in Each Game

In my opinion, it’s best to make minimum wagers. Regardless of how many numbers you pick, you should play several cards per game.

This is sometimes called “pattern betting” because you’re spreading your picks across the multiple cards in patterns or spreads.

Wagering on spreads allows you to cover more numbers. You won’t be able to combine numbers from multiple cards but the idea is that you’re more likely to hit a winning combination by playing multiple cards.

If you play Powerball, you choose your numbers and buy your ticket. The basic price is $2. You can add up to $5 per ticket to maximize your non-jackpot prizes up to 10 times.

In keno, you simply wager a multiple of the basic bet.

How To Play Keno Online

The idea is to use a pattern because the drawings rarely, if ever, result in more than two sequential numbers.

It’s less expensive to bet $1 on a keno card. Some keno games offer a “bonus” that costs extra, but in basic keno, there’s only one bet per card.

How To Play Online Keno Play

With a set of cards covering different spreads, you have better chances of winning a non-jackpot prize. This is true for any kind of lottery game, but it’s the most economical way to play keno.

Conclusion

Keno appeals to many people because it’s easy to get started with the game. After a while, people fall into a style or habit of play that makes them feel comfortable.

You’ll want to experiment with different picks and different patterns. Although there’s no way to guarantee you’ll win anything, you’ll find that some picks and spreads work better for you than others.

How To Play Daily Keno Online

The effectiveness of your choices depends on where you play keno and how often you play.