Keno is one of the easiest games in the casino. It’s also potentially one of the most lucrative. Watching the keno balls drawn by the machine is exhilarating, and if you pick the lucky numbers, there’s no feeling like winning a big-money keno jackpot.
We’re going to tell you how to play keno, show you some strategies to help you win more often, and educate you about keno in general. You can read this from start to finish, or you can skip ahead to a particular section which you want to focus on.
How to Play Keno Online
Part of the reason for keno’s popularity is its simplicity. You can play it with zero foreknowledge or understanding. You don’t need any complicated strategies or higher-level thinking to play keno. It’s a great game to play if you want to relax, unwind, and potentially win big.
A basic understanding of how keno works will help you.
- First, you’ll need to buy your keno cards. These are cards with various numbers printed on them. You need to pick between one and twenty of these numbers. How many you pick will depend on which keno variant you’re playing.
- After you’ve made your picks, the keno machine will begin picking numbers. If you’re playing online keno, these numbers are generated by a computer system. It will randomly select numbers from 1-80.
- When the machine has made 20 picks, you’ll win (or not) based on how many matches you made. Keno payouts depend on how much you wagered, how many numbers you picked, how many numbers you matched, and various other factors.
There are lots of different types of keno. No matter what the individual rules are, they also follow the same premise: matching numbers to win real-money prizes. In the next section, we’ll look at some of the most popular keno games.
Keno Variants – The Differences Explained
All keno variants follow the lottery style that regular spot keno does. However, over time, casinos have come up with lots of different types of keno to keep things interesting.
40-Ball Keno
Whereas regular keno draws from 80 balls, this mini-keno games uses 40 numbers. Whereas a normal keno game draws 20 balls, this one only draws 10.
In this keno game, you pick between three and 10 numbers before the draw begins. Apart from this, it’s the same as regular keno. There are no special balls, bonus rounds, or extra jackpots.
Power Keno
Game multipliers are always exciting, and this keno variant has a 4x multiplier built into it. To quadruple your wins, you have to catch the last ball. For newbies, catch is a keno term for matching.
So, if the last ball which is drawn contributes to a win, your win is boosted by 400%. You can choose between two and 10 numbers from 1-80.
Bonus Spot Keno
Remember how Power Keno pays an extra multiplier if you catch the last ball? This is the exact opposite – you win the multiplier if the first ball is a catch.
Each bonus keno game is different in what it pays as a multiplier. At some casinos, we’ve seen bonuses as large as 10x. You’ll choose between two and 10 numbers, and the keno machine will pick from among 80. You can cross your fingers and hope that the first number drawn is one you picked.
Top Bottom Keno
This keno game splits the keno card into two halves. Numbers 1 to 40 are the bottom half. Numbers 41 to 80 are the top half. You’ll be paid based on the number of matches you make in your chosen half.
There’s no telling how many balls will fall into each half. They could all fall into the bottom half, all fall into the top half, or it could be a mix. There are 80 numbers on total, and you can pick between two and 10.
Progressive Jackpot Keno
Any keno variant can be a progressive jackpot game. For example, a progressive jackpot keno game could be a game of good old 80-ball keno, or it could be a game of power-keno. All that’s required is that the casino facilitates a progressive jackpot.
A progressive jackpot is a collective jackpot which every player contributes to with each bet. These can grow into tens or hundreds of thousands. Lucky players can win them either randomly or when they catch a lucky number associated with the progressive jackpot.
Live Dealer Keno
Some of the new keno sites are offering keno draws hosted by live dealers. These add an interesting social element to the game. The live dealers often call out the numbers as the machine draws them, and they congratulate winners.
Live keno games could be any of the above variants, or they could be other types of keno. Whichever variant is being played, it’s the presence of a live dealer that defines a live keno game.
Things You Need to Know About Keno
Keno is a game of pure chance. You could spend hours, days, weeks, months, or years trying to figure it out, and while you’d learn a lot, you’d ultimately conclude that the numbers drawn are truly random.
Lots of players lose themselves in trying to pick lucky keno numbers and manipulate the game with keno cheats and hacks. Let us tell you from experience that none of this works. However, there are some things you need to know about keno before you play.
Understand the Keno House Edge
Most players don’t know that keno has one of the biggest house edges. What does this mean? It means the casino has a huge advantage when you consider keno odds.
The house advantage in keno can be between 20% and 35%. The exact house edge depends on the keno variant, the casino you’re playing at, and various other factors. Either way, this is still a huge advantage. Compared to blackjack, in which the house edge is about 2%, keno is not in the player’s favor.
Why do people play keno if the house edge is so big? Because of the potential payouts. While blackjack and other games like it may only have a house advantage of 2%, you can’t turn $1 into $10,000 or more during a single hand of blackjack, but you can with a single keno ticket.
The casino will win most of the time when you play keno. But when you do win, it could be a huge payout. That’s a risk-reward scenario you’ll have to assess for yourself.
Get Familiar With Keno Payouts
Before we talk about keno payouts, let’s make one thing clear: each variant is different. The paytable for a game of spot keno will be different to the paytable for a game of Cleopatra keno.
The following is a typical keno paytable. As you can see, it depends on the number of picks and catches.
*The above is an example of a keno paytable from a randomly selected game. It is not representative of all keno payouts. Much depends on the game, the casino, and other factors. Always consult the paytable before playing keno online.
Grasp How Keno Numbers Are Picked
Some keno players are 100% convinced that there are patterns in the way numbers are picked. They use keno systems, look for hot numbers, and obsess over recent stats to try to discern which numbers will come out next.
If you understand how online keno works, you’ll know that this is futile. Each number is generated by a Random Number Generator. These algorithms can’t be hacked, cheated, or even understood by the human mind. They randomly select from billions of potential numbers every second. Each number will be connected to one of the 80 keno numbers, and that’s the number which is “picked” by the online keno machine.
Each number has the same probability of coming out on any pick – one chance in eighty. If you think you can see keno patterns, it is your mind looking for something which isn’t there. If you can prove us wrong, we’d love to hear from you.
Does that mean that all keno strategies are junk? Not necessarily. It depends on how they work and what they claim to be capable of.
Keno Tips
Find the Sweet Spot
One keno strategy which works is picking between four and eight numbers. Many players feel this is the sweet spot. How so? Well, you have a realistic shot at matching between four and eight numbers. You also will receive a nice payout for doing so.
If you pick too many numbers, your chances of matching them all are extremely slim. If you pick too few, your payouts will be too small to get excited about. Picking between four and eight seems to be optimal.
Play Games With the Lowest House Edge
If you didn’t read this whole keno guide, we discussed the house edge above. We said that it can be between 20% and 35%. That’s a huge difference. You want to reduce the house edge to as small a number as possible.
Tip: progressive jackpot games will almost always have a higher house edge. That goes for slot machines, too. It’s tempting, but your chances of winning the progressive jackpot are slim indeed. It’s probably better to pick a regular spot keno game instead.
Play Free Keno First
You could just jump in and play keno for real money right away. As a wise man once said, that wouldn’t be wise. Try the different keno variants and understand how they work by playing free keno games first.
You won’t only learn keno by doing so, but you’ll also have an opportunity to test different strategies out. If there’s anything to a particular keno strategy, you’ll know by playing the free versions first. If you think it’s working, that’s the time to take it into a real money game.
Capitalize On Keno Bonuses
If you want to play real money keno for free, casino bonuses are one way to go about that. You can claim no deposit bonuses or deposit match bonuses and use the extra cash to buy keno tickets.
Before you accept a casino bonus, make sure keno is eligible in the terms of use. Some casinos do exclude it, but not many do. Another thing to watch for is in-game bonuses – things like keno games which offer free tickets as prizes. We found one variant which offered 12 free games (yes, a dozen) if you matched the last ball which the machine picked.
Manage Your Keno Bankroll Effectively
If you have $100 to play keno with, it could be wise to split that into 50 games of $2 each. You can use multi-race cards if you want to play the same numbers throughout, or you can use auto-pickers to help you make picks before each game.
The point is this – don’t blow your entire keno bankroll on one game. Find a bet size which will return decent payouts and spread your bankroll across as many games or cards as possible. Not only will you increase your chances of winning, but you will also be entertained for longer. That’s one of the best things about playing keno whether you win or lose.
