Compare their charts and pick the chart you prefer for playing keno online. 2 – Only Play the Middle Spot Games. Anyone studying keno odds charts quickly realizes that the four, five, and six-spot games have the best odds of winning any prize. Some players prefer seven-spot games because the prizes are slightly better. In Carolina Keno, the top prize for a 10 Spot match is $100,00. However, in the event more than one person wins the jackpot, the top prize may be split among the winners. Quick Pick (QP). If you pick a 4 spot, the chances of catching 3 of your keno numbers are 4%, or 4 in 100 If you pick 15 numbers, the odds of getting all 15 are infinitesimal! Of course, if you look at the schedule of any Keno game, you will soon see that the results that have a high chance of occurring have a low or zero payment attached.
Oct 11, 2019 Compare their charts and pick the chart you prefer for playing keno online. 2 – Only Play the Middle Spot Games. Anyone studying keno odds charts quickly realizes that the four, five, and six-spot games have the best odds of winning any prize. Some players prefer seven-spot games because the prizes are slightly better. Four Card Keno Strategy – How I Stumbled Upon A Way To Win Bigger Jackpots January 28, 2019 By The Mystic Gambler 301 Comments How To Play a Four Card Keno and the 7 Spot that Changed My Gambling Life.
Once you dive into the world of playing keno, you begin searching for tips and strategies. The usefulness of all tips and strategies in a game decided by random chance is limited. When you find yourself hoping for an edge in this kind of game, you should stop and take a deep breath.
The real magic in playing keno is about how you enjoy the game. There’s a myriad of ways to mix it up. If you don’t like one variation on keno, look for another.
Many keno players don’t realize the game is played all over the world in many venues. You may be used to sitting at a video keno machine in a casino. You can play a variation of the game on a scratch card you walk past in your local convenience store.
The old saying “variety is the spice of life” must be true for keno fans. If you have only played one version of keno thus far in your life, you’re in for a world of new experiences. Here are seven easy tricks to get the most out of keno.
1 – Shop Around for the Best Keno Odds and Prizes
You cannot play every possible variation of keno in the world. There are too many. But many people should be able to play keno in more than one venue, including:
- Land-based casinos, video keno
- Land-based casinos, keno TV
- Online casinos
- Government lottery keno drawings
- Keno scratch tickets
Every casino can set its own keno rules. They can add progressive prizes or not. They can extend the number of spots available for wagers. Online casinos have the same flexibility. It really depends on where they get their gaming systems from.
Government lottery keno games are usually less flexible. That’s because they’re less focused on turning a big profit than the casinos.
The first thing you should do is see how easy it is for you to find new keno games without going on a world tour. You may have more options available to you than you realize. Each game has its own odds and prizes. Compare their charts and pick the chart you prefer for playing keno online.
2 – Only Play the Middle Spot Games
Anyone studying keno odds charts quickly realizes that the four, five, and six-spot games have the best odds of winning any prize. Some players prefer seven-spot games because the prizes are slightly better.
By limiting the number of spots to play to a small range, it’s easier to manage expectations. There are fewer probabilities to think about. The wagers all cost the same.
To be perfectly honest, there’s no serious hope of winning the jackpot in a 10-spot or 20-spot keno game. Savvy players aren’t looking for millions of dollars. They just want decent prizes.
The middle spot games offer the best risk-reward efficiency. Players are less likely to go broke than in other games and they’re more likely to win a prize than in other games.
3 – Pay for Multiple Drawings in Advance
In casinos, you can buy a “multi-race card.” When you’re playing in government lotteries, they may be called “multiple drawings” or something else.
The idea is simple. You pay for the next “X” games in advance. The venue decides how far in advance you can pay. It’s easier to track losses and winnings and to manage a budget by paying for games in advance.
4 – Change Number Picking Methods No More Than Once Per Month
How you pick your numbers while playing keno really doesn’t matter. The game’s probabilities don’t change.
Some video keno players swear they see patterns in the numbers. And many keno games report “hot” and “cold” numbers. Hot numbers have been drawn more frequently than others in recent games and cold numbers have not been drawn much in recent games.
Live Keno Strategy
Video keno machines use random number generators to determine results. These RNGs, as they are known, are considered to be very reliable. Computer experts say the RNGs’ results are “random enough.”
Older video keno machines may have chips whose algorithms have been reverse-engineered. An Eastern European gang used a super-computer a few years back to reverse engineer the RNG algorithms on some slot machines. All things considered, you don’t have a supercomputer or an RNG to study.
Still, if you use a number picking system, stick with it for a few weeks before changing it. This is one of the easiest tricks to get the most out of keno.
5 – Use Odds Tables to Choose the Best Pick Limits
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. You must study each game’s odds or probabilities chart to find the best wagering conditions.
Since there are 80 numbers to pick from while playing keno, the probability of any one of those numbers being drawn first is 1 in 80. The probability of any of the remaining numbers being drawn second is 1 in 79. After the first 19 numbers have been drawn, the probability of any remaining number being drawn is 1 in 60.
It sounds like the odds are improving, but they aren’t. Just because a keno game allows players to pick 10, 15, or 20 numbers doesn’t mean that’s a good bet. You’re more likely to match only a few of those numbers.
Any two numbers have a roughly 1 in 16 chance of being included in the winning set. Multiply each ratio by four as you add matching numbers. That gets you close to the correct probability.
Thus, the odds of any five numbers being included in the 20 drawn numbers are about 1 in 1550.
When experienced keno players look at the odds charts, they quickly settle on games like Pick 4, Pick 5, Pick 6, or Pick 7. They can live with matching three or four of those numbers. They’ll still win decent prizes while playing keno.
6 – Play a Progressive Keno Game for Several Months
Progressive games award random secondary jackpots when players hit certain combinations. Progressive betting is encouraged in slots and keno but not in games like blackjack. If the player is required to contribute to a progressive jackpot, it’s better not to take that bet.
If the progressive jackpot is awarded from the game’s basic wager, then assume the prizes have already been calculated into the win ratio for the game. That’s usually acceptable in slots and keno.
Think of the progressive prize as increasing the prize. Unlike traditional lottery games such as Powerball and Mega Millions, keno jackpots don’t roll over from game to game. The number of players doesn’t affect the size of the prizes either.
Because keno prizes are awarded at a fixed rate, progressive keno games are preferred to standard keno games. Playing progressive games is one of many easy tricks to get the most out of keno.
7 – Set a Loss Limit on Keno
If it’s a gambling game, you will lose often. That’s how it goes. A lucky or skillful gambler knows how to play the game and how to manage a budget. Budget management is what keeps you in the game when things aren’t going your way.
Taking a lesson from the stock market, gamblers do well to set a stop-loss limit for themselves. Regardless of what a player’s bankroll is, if it drops below a certain level, it’s time to take a break.
Conclusion
Playing a simpler game provides a more enjoyable experience for many players. Adding extra steps to the decision-making process is too much work, and games are supposed to be fun!
One of the great things about playing keno is everyone can develop their own style of play. It makes the game more personal and players feel more directly involved.
Lottery-style games take most of the decision-making out of the players’ hands. Keno is the odd man out in this family of games. That, more than anything else, is why the game is so popular.
7 Spot 4 Card Keno Strategy
Although many gambling experts caution people not to expect much from playing keno, casinos and lottery authorities have found the game very popular. Players love the challenge of improving their methods for picking games and numbers.
The complexity of playing keno may be part of its appeal, but players who don’t know the game very well should benefit from keeping things simple.
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Introduction
Note: The page addresses the conventional keno game, known as Spot Keno, where the player picks 1 to 20 numbers from 1 to 80 and the game draws 20 balls. There are links to keno variants towards the bottom of the page.
Keno is a simple game of luck, much like most lottery games, where the player chooses numbers and hope as many as possible match those randomly drawn by a hopper or machine. The simple form with no multipliers or extra balls is called Spot Keno and is addressed on this page. See the Internal Links section below for many keno variants.
There are two formats for playing keno: live and video. In live keno, the player uses a crayon and paper to indicate his picks. Every few minutes numbers will be a live draw from a hopper filled with numbered balls. In video keno, the player touches a screen, sometimes using a wand, to pick numbers and the machine does the draw randomly.
Like most games of pure luck, the odds in keno are pretty poor. Keep reading to learn more about the rules and how much you can expect to lose on the game.
Rules
Following are the rules for basic keno:
- The player makes a wager and indicates which numbers he wishes to pick. The picks are made on a slip of paper in live keno and by touching the screen in video keno. The range of numbers the player may pick from is 1 to 80.
- The number of picks the player may make depends on the game itself. Usually the range is 2 to 10 or 1 to 15.
- The game will randomly choose 20 out of 80 balls.
- If the game chooses a number the player chose that is known as a 'catch.' The player is paid according to the number of balls he catchs.
Examples
Following are some common video keno pay tables found mostly on Game Maker machines. The bottom row shows the expected return.
Pay Table 1
| Catch | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 40 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 400 | 49 | 22 | 10 | 5 | 5 | |||
| 6 | 1,000 | 275 | 40 | 40 | 25 | ||||
| 7 | 2,500 | 500 | 400 | 120 | |||||
| 8 | 5,000 | 1,000 | 500 | ||||||
| 9 | 5,000 | 2,000 | |||||||
| 10 | 10,000 | ||||||||
| Return | 86.08% | 84.66% | 85.97% | 85.79% | 84.96% | 85.33% | 84.57% | 84.25% | 86.43% |
Pay Table 2
| Catch | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 40 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 100 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 800 | 92 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 6 | 1500 | 348 | 112 | 47 | 28 | ||||
| 7 | 7760 | 1500 | 352 | 140 | |||||
| 8 | 8000 | 4700 | 1000 | ||||||
| 9 | 9000 | 4800 | |||||||
| 10 | 10000 | ||||||||
| Return | 84.18% | 83.25% | 86.14% | 85.31% | 85.21% | 85.31% | 84.17% | 84.87% | 86.72% |
| Hit frequency | 6.01% | 15.26% | 25.89% | 9.67% | 16.16% | 23.66% | 10.23% | 15.31% | 6.47% |
Pay Table 3
| Catch | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2 | 15 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3 | 43 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | ||
| 4 | 77 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | |||
| 5 | 750 | 55 | 21 | 12 | 6 | 5 | ||||
| 6 | 1,600 | 335 | 98 | 40 | 21 | |||||
| 7 | 7,000 | 1,450 | 300 | 142 | ||||||
| 8 | 10,000 | 4,700 | 1,000 | |||||||
| 9 | 9,000 | 4,000 | ||||||||
| 10 | 10,000 | |||||||||
| Return | 75.00% | 90.19% | 87.41% | 87.74% | 88.06% | 88.02% | 87.68% | 89.07% | 87.57% | 88.80% |
Pay Table 4
| Catch | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 45 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 85 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 804 | 68 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 5 | |||
| 6 | 1,500 | 390 | 98 | 44 | 23 | ||||
| 7 | 7,000 | 1,550 | 300 | 132 | |||||
| 8 | 10,000 | 4,700 | 1,000 | ||||||
| 9 | 10,000 | 4,500 | |||||||
| 10 | 10,000 | ||||||||
| Return | 84.18% | 90.19% | 90.19% | 90.33% | 90.76% | 90.85% | 90.67% | 89.93% | 89.79% |
Pay Table 5
| Catch | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2 | 15 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3 | 46 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | ||
| 4 | 91 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | |||
| 5 | 810 | 70 | 21 | 12 | 6 | 5 | ||||
| 6 | 1,600 | 400 | 98 | 44 | 24 | |||||
| 7 | 7,000 | 1,652 | 335 | 142 | ||||||
| 8 | 10,000 | 4,700 | 1,000 | |||||||
| 9 | 10,000 | 4,500 | ||||||||
| 10 | 10,000 | |||||||||
| Return | 75.00% | 90.19% | 91.58% | 92.03% | 91.93% | 92.67% | 92.44% | 92.31% | 92.00% | 92.55% |
Pay Table 6
| Catch | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 37 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 64 | 28 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 170 | 62 | 33 | 30 | 8 | 2 | |||
| 6 | 300 | 175 | 70 | 65 | 36 | ||||
| 7 | 325 | 250 | 178 | 115 | |||||
| 8 | 350 | 325 | 225 | ||||||
| 9 | 375 | 300 | |||||||
| 10 | 400 | ||||||||
| Return | 90.19% | 92.96% | 92.77% | 92.72% | 92.66% | 92.64% | 92.62% | 92.66% | 92.69% |
Pay Table 7
| Catch | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2 | 15 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3 | 48 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | ||
| 4 | 100 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | |||
| 5 | 838 | 75 | 22 | 13 | 6 | 5 | ||||
| 6 | 1,660 | 422 | 100 | 44 | 24 | |||||
| 7 | 7,000 | 1,670 | 362 | 146 | ||||||
| 8 | 10,000 | 4,700 | 1,000 | |||||||
| 9 | 10,000 | 4,500 | ||||||||
| 10 | 10,000 | |||||||||
| Return | 75.00% | 90.19% | 94.35% | 94.78% | 94.95% | 94.99% | 94.92% | 94.90% | 93.60% | 93.20% |
The following Pay Table 8 I saw on a 25¢ Aristocrat video poker game at Binion's Las Vegas on October 13, 2019.
Pay Table 8
| Catch | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2 | 15 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 3 | 45 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | |
| 4 | 85 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | ||
| 5 | 804 | 68 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 5 | |||
| 6 | 1,500 | 390 | 98 | 44 | 23 | ||||
| 7 | 7,000 | 1,550 | 300 | 135 | |||||
| 8 | 10,000 | 4,800 | 1,000 | ||||||
| 9 | 10,000 | 4,500 | |||||||
| 10 | 10,000 | ||||||||
| Return | 90.19% | 90.19% | 90.19% | 90.33% | 90.76% | 90.85% | 90.67% | 90.26% | 90.28% |
Surveys
In 2001 I did a survey of every live keno casino game in Las Vegas. The returns ranged from 65% to 80%. In other words, the house edge was 20% to 35%, making live keno among the worst bets you can make in Las Vegas.
In 2012 I did a similar survey of live keno in Laughlin, which showed a range of return of 50% to 74%.
In 2008 I did a survey of video keno in San Diego. The returns ranged from 84% to 95%.
In 2017 I redid my Las Vegas video keno survey, which can be found at Wizard of Vegas.
Advice
If you must play keno, the only skill is choosing where to play to play and then how many numbers to choose. It makes no difference which numbers you choose. Contrary to popular myth, legitimate keno games, like those in Las Vegas, are fair and every ball has a 1 in 80 chance of being drawn each game. To determine the odds of any keno game you can use my keno calculator. Just put in the pay table and you will see how much you can expect to get back every bet.
However, I tend to think anybody who would take the trouble to analyze the game is probably not playing it in the first place. The odds in video keno are about as bad as slot machines. If you want to lose a lot less money gambling I would highly recommend converting to video poker. For live keno players, I would suggest converting to bingo.
Practice Game
Get your keno fix right here on my practice game.
Calculators
We have calculators to determine the payback for any pay table for the following keno games:
- Keno.
- Power Keno/Super Keno.
- Cleopatra Keno.
- Caveman Keno.
- Caveman Keno Plus.
- Triple Power Keno.
- Extra Draw.
Scouting Guide
When you're in the casino it would take a long time to put in every pay table through my many calculators above to determine the best game to play. That is why I created two printer-friendly guides you can print out and take with you:
- My Keno Scouting Guide is a short reference to the best available game for any pay table for all the most popular forms of keno. Each game has a table showing the possible pick-10 pay tables available and the best number of picks for that game and its return. See the last page of the guide for a full explanation how to use it.
- My Full Pay Table Report is a longer guide showing every known pay table for all the major keno games and their associated return. For those who want to know the return for any number of picks, not just the best number (which the Keno Scouting Guide provides).
For a printer-friendly document showing keno pay tables and returns for several major keno games please see my Keno Scouting Guide (PDF). Perfect for printing and taking to the casino to find the best game and pay table available.
Popular Keno Variants
- Caveman Keno.
- Triple Trouble Keno.
- Power Keno.
- Super Keno.
- Extra Draw Keno (three extra balls).
- Ultimate X Keno.
- Book of Keno.
- Alien Attack Keno.
- Wolf Run Keno.
Internal Links
- Las Vegas Hilton keno games.
- Atlantic City Tropicana keno.
- Jumbo Keno Progressive/Mega 10 — Progressive keno games found at Station Casinos of Las Vegas.
- Progressive keno games at the Boyd and Station casinos.
- Nevada numbers — a progressive lottery game.
- High/Low/Middle Keno — keno game seen at the Lisboa in Macau.
- Extra Draw Keno (two extra balls).
- Jumbo Keno Progressive — kenogame at the Station Casinos.
- Laughlin keno survey.
- Keno sums — Math behind the sum of all 20 balls drawn
Keno games by U1 Gaming
Following are keno games by U1 Gaming.
External Links
- German translation of this keno page.