Keno is a lottery style game that is played by millions around the world. Whilst the game is considered one of pure chance, players with a keno strategy can create an edge in the game for those looking to win big. Whilst keno has been compared to bingo, it is unique in that players choose the numbers for each card.
How to play
Players decide how much they want to bet on a round and how many numbers they want to choose. Players can choose between one and 20 numbers between one and 80 in a Keno Game or the numbers can be randomly selected by computer. Once the numbers are selected, the machine pulls out 20 numbers and a payout is awarded dependent on how many numbers have been picked and how many are matched.
Keno Strategy
There is no magical Keno strategy that will guarantee you a win since the numbers are chosen using a computerised random number generator, which means that each number has an equal chance of being picked.
Payouts
There are variants to the game of Keno which means that payouts are different across casinos. You can usually find the payout structure for each casino on its website to ensure you are getting the best payouts on your favourite game. There are also variants based on where you play whether brick-and-mortar casinos, online casinos or Keno scratch cards.
House edge
The house edge means that the casino takes a percentage for running costs, which means the odds offered are not the true odds. Generally, keno has a larger house edge than most other games in a casino, ranging from 4 per cent up to 35 per cent. Most other casino games have a house edge under 5 per cent with some slots having a house edge of 1 per cent.
Video keno
The average casino advantage on a live keno game in a brick-and-mortar casino is 28 per cent. Yet video keno has an average house edge of 7.5 per cent due to better payouts. It is worth bearing in mind that live gameplay is slower at a casino, with about 15 games per hour. In contrast, an average video keno player can easily play 15 games in three minutes. Playing USD1 per game, you could lose either USD15 or USD300 in one hour.
Odds
The best keno strategy is to use the odds to decide how many numbers to pick. Players usually pick between two and eight numbers for the best odds.
The odds of picking one correct number out of 20 is around 1 in 86 (1.15 per cent). For two or eight correct numbers out of 20, the odds are around 1 in 20 (5 per cent) and for three or seven correct numbers the odds are around 1 in 8 (12 per cent). The odds of picking four, five or six correct numbers fall between 1 in 4.2 and 1 in 5.2 (19 to 23 per cent). Once you get to picking nine correct numbers the odds are around 1 in 61 (1.62 per cent) and 10 correct numbers have odds of around 1 in 253 (0.39 per cent).
The reason for not going any higher in picks are due to the odds being so low. The odds of picking 12 correct numbers is around 1 in 10,968, rising to odds of 1 in 41.75 million when choosing 15 numbers (0.00000240 per cent) and 1 in 3.5 quintillions (3,535,316,142,212,173,800) chance if a player was to choose all 20.
