 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
KENO
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FEATURES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
COLUMNS |
|
|
|
| Hot Bets
Tips from our SportsBook expert
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 
How to Play: Keno
If you want to win at keno, we wish you lotto luck--you're going to need it. It's a lottery game, and like all such draws of lot, you lose way more often than you win--but with the promise of an occasional big payoff.
One appeal of keno for some is that the casino lounge where it's typically played is a quiet and relaxing place with comfortable chairs where the game is projected up on the Big Board. There's a new game every five or 10 minutes, which you can play for a dollar (or less) per game and simply enjoy the free drinks and the leisurely pace while you're preparing to face the cacophony of the pit. You can also play keno in restaurants and bars throughout the casino via closed-circuit TV.
Most people play straight keno, in which they select 1 to 15 numbers on the standard keno card, and typically play for $1 per game. You can play for larger amounts if you like, but the percentage of payback is exactly the same. (A $3 winner on a $1 bet would pay $6 on a $2 bet--there's no progressive super-jackpot, as with some slots or other games).
After you mark your card with a crayon to pick your numbers (by crossing each one out with an X), you take it up the keno window where the keno "writer" will print you a real ticket and give you back your hand-scrawled card. Be sure to check the ticket to make sure the numbers match. Then sit back and let the gods of luck have their way with you.
If you're playing keno from a remote site at the casino, like at the pool area or a bar or restaurant, there are keno "runners" who will schlepp your picks to the lounge and bring back your ticket (and run and get your winnings, if there are any).
A keno draw randomly selects 20 numbers out of a possible 80 per game, using a ping-pong-ball suction system like state lotteries. Each numbered ball sucked out of a big drum is called a "catch." If enough of your selected numbers catch, you win--the more matching numbers, the greater your winnings. The specifics of how many numbers you need to match to win and what the payouts are vary slightly by casino; details are available in each casino's keno brochure (which you can get in the lounge and elsewhere throughout the casino).
Typically, matching half the numbers you select will win your dollar back. Match more than half, and the payouts rise swiftly.
The odds aren't great, but if you do win, hurry to the window. In most casinos, you've got to cash out before the next game starts or you forfeit your winnings!
Divide and conquer. Playing more than one game on each ticket is easy. It's called playing a "combination." For instance, you could select three numbers near the top of the card (like, 2, 14 and 25) and then draw a line across beneath them as separator and then choose five numbers (or however many you choose) lower down like 31, 44, 56, 70 and 79. This signifies two cards to the ticket writer. You can cut a ticket any imaginable way, as long as the writer can understand it.
Double your fun. You can also bet the same numbers repeatedly for a series of games, just by specifying how many times you want to play in the "Number of Games" box on the standard keno card.
Another way to win? No way! Way! In keno, the "way" ticket lets you play a related series of numbers in various manners. You could, for example, play three groups of three numbers on different parts of a card by marking the numbers with an X in the usual fashion and drawing a circle around each group of three. In the "# ways/spots" box on the card you specify the many different ways you want to play these groups. Here are three ways:
• 3/3 indicates that you're betting each group individually.
• 3/6 says that you're betting three ways on six numbers each, so any two groups together could provide possible winning combinations.
• 1/12 indicates that you're betting one way to get all 12 numbers.
Casinos generally let you bet less than the usual minimum dollar wager on way tickets. However, each "way" on a ticket must be bet for the same amount. Again, casinos all have their own minimum prices and specific rules for "way" ticket procedures and payouts, so check the brochure to be certain. But to play all the seven ways we suggested in our hypothetical "three groups of three" example, typically would cost $3.50 (50 cents for each way).
"Way" bets pay off at a lower rate but with greater frequency than straight bets, so the house maintains the advantage in either case. Over the long term, it's just a question of which way of losing is more entertaining for you.
|
|  |
|
 |
| |
 For some reason, a keno game is called a race, even though the pace is slow and isn't anything like a horse race.
| |
|
If you're playing away from the lounge and use a keno runner, tip him or her on the first run and again if you win something.
|
|
Keno evolved from an ancient Chinese lottery in which 10 characters were drawn from a group of 120. The original characters told a story, and so does keno, although the modern story is simpler: There's a hole in your bankroll, and its name is keno.
|
|
According to some reports, keno began around 200 B.C. and was invented to help an emperor raise funds from over-taxed citizens whose finances had been crippled by years of war.
|
|
Keno is said to have financed the Great Wall of China.
|
|
Chinese immigrants brought the Chinese version of the game to San Francisco in the 19th century.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
