Keno

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Keno is a very popular game, and although not everyone has tried keno, they usually know what the game is about.

What Is Keno?

If you want to know how to win at keno, you first need to understand how the game works. Casinos can have many different versions of keno, but a normal keno ticket has 80 numbers, although you can also find tickets with up to 120 numbers. You can usually choose between 2 and 20 of these numbers, but some games might also limit the maximum number you can choose to 10 or 15.

But let’s get back to the main question: what is keno, and how do you play keno? Keno is a game where you pick numbers on a ticket and hope these numbers will match the results of the keno draw. With the help of tombola or a random number generator, the winning numbers will be revealed. If you have the needed number of matches, you’ll win a corresponding prize.

How to Win in Keno

This game is all about odds and there’s no certain way to win keno. It’s not like you always win if you have 5 correct numbers, and if you win with 5 numbers, there’s no fixed payout for this. It all depends on how many numbers you have chosen to play in the first place. If you’ve chosen to play 20 numbers, only having 5 correct will most likely not give you a win at all. But, if you’ve only chosen to play 5 numbers, your win will be massive.

There are no fixed prizes for any given result. If you play on a ticket with 80 possible numbers, you choose 20 of them, and 10 of these are correct, your win could differ from game to game. It all depends on the paytable set by the casino or game provider.

How to Play Keno Online

There’s no one way to play keno online: there are three different ways of playing. The first option is to buy a ticket for one of the weekly keno draws. The second way of playing keno is basically to play the same way you play bingo. Some casinos have keno rooms where there are different draws every 5 or 10 minutes.

Slots, or rather fully digital games where you play alone against a machine, are the most common versions of keno you’ll find at online casinos. There are plenty of different machines like these at most casinos, and you can choose the one you like best. 

Keno Slots

Nothing could be easier than learning how to play keno slots.

  1. You simply open a Keno game.
  2. You choose your numbers.
  3. As you pick them you’ll usually see the payout you can expect if you win.
  4. Click Play when you want the draw to happen.
  5. You will either lose your bet or win a prize.

As for the winning part itself, there’s no surer way to win at video keno than there is to win at any other type of keno.

House Edge – What Are Your Chances of Winning?

The house edge in keno is never fixed. It’s something each casino or game provider chooses. Truth be told, the house edge in keno is usually much higher than for most other casino games. The house can have an edge of as much as 35%, which is about 10 times higher than it is for a normal online slot machine. But, you can also find games with a much smaller house edge. Usually, though, the house edge will be at least 4% if you play live keno games, which is still high.

What Are the Odds in Keno?

Since the 80-number ticket is the most common, we’ll use it as an example for explaining keno odds. As we mentioned, getting 20 correct numbers out of 20 is next to impossible. The actual chances of this happening are 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,174,320. So, let’s forget about that. It’s simply not going to happen.

Getting 15 out of 20 numbers right is a bit more possible since this is about the same as winning any other lottery game. It’s not like it will happen often because the odds are 1 in 41,751,453, but still, you could get lucky.

The overall chance of getting a correct number is 1:80 since there are 80 numbers on a ticket. However, to win you’ll need to get several correct numbers, and it’s not like you’ll win very often.

Strategies for Winning

Having a strategy for real money keno is simply impossible. There’s no way of increasing your long term winnings. The only thing you can do is to play keno games with bigger payouts in the paytable, and that’s how to win at keno machines.

Not having any strategies to increase their winnings does not, however, stop players from thinking they can use a keno strategy. In reality, what they’re doing is playing using a pattern, but calling this a strategy is a bit of a stretch. Many players are playing the same numbers every week of every month of every year.

Eve Luneborg
Eve Luneborg
Last Update: 13 Mar 2023
Eve started working at an online casino back in 2014, and she’s been involved in the iGaming industry ever since. Here at GoodLuckMate, she’s our go-to writer for in-depth guides, specialising in anything related to payments and account verification, table game guides and even casino and slot reviews. Eve is also religiously following industry news, keeping a close eye on any regulatory changes, new game releases, upcoming trends and much more.
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