Themestream Contributor
KENO !!
by Valerie Smith
March 3, 2001

Keno is a numbers game that I am enormously fond of with 1 to 80 numbers. The numbers are arranged in rows of 10 so that they look like this:

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to determine what combination of numbers will come out in the 20 numbers that will be drawn. You can pick any combination from 2 to a total of 10 numbers. The payouts will vary with the total numbers that you have picked. For example, you are not going to get as high a payout from picking 4 numbers if they all come out as you will get if you pick 6 numbers and all 6 come out .... and correspondingly, the chances of all your numbers coming out decreases with the total amount of numbers that you play.

There are many versions of Keno. Casinos generally have Keno parlors and Keno boards all over the place so that you can watch the numbers that are coming out in the current game. If you are eating in a restaurant, they have Keno betting slips right at the table, where you can read all the different variations of the games and look up the stupendous payouts (if you can get all the numbers of course) and Keno carts that come around while you are eating to take your bets. One restaurant patron was overheard to remark: they don't leave you alone anywhere! They even have a TV channel devoted to the results so that you can watch it in your hotel room!

I personally love to play Keno on the quarter video machines where they also have many variations of the game, including

• High Roller Keno, where you get bonuses for playing more coins,

• Powerball Keno, where you get a bonus if the last ball is one of your numbers,

• Alley Cat Keno, a cat and mouse keno game, where you get bonuses for mice, and - my all-time favorite -

• Triple Trouble, where you get 3 free games if 3 devils come out. The payouts are tripled if your numbers come out during the 3 free games

As an example of the payouts on most Keno machines, suppose you are playing 5 numbers with one quarter. One quarter will get you about $200. ($600 if it's Triple Trouble and it comes out during a free game). If you are playing 4 quarters, you will get $800. Not every machine has a cap of 4 quarters. High Roller Keno and several others allow you to play more than 4 quarters. There are also Keno machines in higher denominations - 50 cents and $1.00.

You will often see people playing one whole row across or one whole column down. That would be 10 numbers across or 8 numbers down. These combinations do come out. If you are short a number or two, the payouts drop dramatically. But I still find that the chances of winning several hundred dollars are far greater at Keno machines than at regular slot machines.

Here's a tip that I like to believe when I play Keno in Atlantic City ..... if the numbers are coming out very fast, I put in as many coins as the machine will allow. That is when the machine is going to hit. It works for me. If it doesn't, I leave.

There are keno games on many sites on the internet that you can try out for free. You can get gigantic fake payouts on these little games, but keep in mind, that in a real casino, you can not bet 50 coins on 4 numbers. You can also open up a "fun" account on many internet casinos for nothing. However, many allow you to pick 15 numbers in their Keno games and that is generally not the case in land-based casinos.

So if you want to practice and take a shot at a real video Keno machine, it is best to start out with 4 to 5 numbers until you have a better idea of how many numbers you really like to play at one time.

If you like games with numbers, you'll love Keno.