Keno

The Casino Game

Keno is a gambling game, played with cards bearing numbered squares. A number on the card may be marked, when an announcer selects and calls that number, which is selected randomly. Keno, in its standard version, is indistinguishable from lotto or bingo, except that numbered balls are rolled out of a container called the keno goose.

The most widely used form of Keno is a variation called Race-horse Keno, or Nevada Keno, played in gambling casinos, in which any number of players, even one, may play against the house. In Race-horse Keno the player is given a card with 80 squares numbered from 1 to 80 in rows of 10. The player may bet on any number or numbers, but not more than 15, marking them on his card or ticket, which a clerk then records as the player pays for his wager for each number selected.

Numbers are drawn by the operator from a blower device in which ping-pong balls numbered 1 to 80 are agitated by a jet of compressed air. They are picked one at a time until 20 have been called. In casinos nowadays, rather than being called aloud, these numbers are generated randomly by a computer, and displayed on electronic boards, large enough to be seen from almost anywhere in the casino.

Keno players bet on numbers singly (a one-spot ticket), several at a time, or in various combinations. With a five-spot ticket, at least three of the numbers picked by the player must be called to win; then the house pays off at 3-1 odds; four out of the five numbers called pays at 26-1; and all five at 332-1. Actual odds, of course, are significantly higher, favouring the house by from 20 to 25 percent.

Play for fun or for real!
TheGamesForum Casino 1.8Mb