What is Keno?
Keno seems to find its way in the most unexpected of casino locations. It is not uncommon to sit in a little diner at one’s favorite casino, and play a few rounds while enjoying the Blue Plate Special. Keno’s ease of use, as well as its accessibility in play has made it a popular favorite among casino patrons.
Keno has enjoyed a long and storied history, which finds its origins in ancient China during 205 and 187 B.C. However, while the game’s roots can be traced back to an Asian heritage, the game’s name strangely comes from a French or Latin background, each translation loosely meaning “five”, for possible winning numbers. Eventually, the game did make it over to America during the 19th century.
Keno is very similar in play to Bingo, as it is a lottery style game that makes the use of small ping pong balls to establish the numbers for use in play. Similar to a Bingo setup, there is a device called a “bubble”, which houses the balls that circulate into play. A person in charge of the bubble (referred to as a “caller”), releases the balls at random to the caller (as well as a “verifier”, who backs up the validity of each number released).
There are a total of eighty balls that are kept in play. Only twenty are actually used/called during an actual gaming session, however. As the balls are released from the bubble, and then called and verified, players mark the called number spots with a Keno crayon. The goal of the game is for players to accurately predict how many selected numbers will match their bet. In most Keno games, players can bet on different combinations and odds – for example, picking five numbers, and hitting all five, might pay 20-1 (etc). Picking four out of five might pay 2-1. Picking 15 out of 15 might pay huge (hundreds to one). In other words, the higher the correct numbers, the better the payout. Most venues allow a player to choose 1-20 numbers on their ticket (but some might limit players to 12 or 15).
What is interesting about Keno is that the amount of payout varies from casino to casino. In other words, Keno odds are like snowflakes: No two are alike.
So the next time a player finds themselves either in the Keno area of the casino, or a game in progress tucked away at one of the little eateries, it’s always worth a look - who knows, maybe it’s your lucky day?
