Keno

What is Keno?

Keno is kind of like the state lottery -- you pick

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several numbers on a ticket, and hope to match the numbers drawn from the ping-pong ball machine. There's another way that it's like the state lottery: the odds are very bad. Keno in the casino has the highest edge of any game in the casino -- 25% or more.

The good about this game is that it's played very slowly, and for as little as $1 a pop. If you're almost out of cash at a casino, you can always hang out in the Keno lounge and play $1 Keno games (where you have the chance of winning up to $250,000, or smaller amounts).

If you're playing online the odds are much better. For example, the Pick 13 at Captain Cooks Casino offers a return of 96.54%. Of course, the pace is much faster, so you could still wind up losing more money by playing online even though the odds are better, because you're placing so many more bets.

Never play Keno?

Many gambling authors will tell you to never play Keno because the edge is so high. In The New Gambler's Bible, Arthur Reber says, "I wouldn't play it with Monopoly money, and I hope you never will." Now, I think Reber's a great writer, and his Bible is a fantastic book, but I have to disagree with him on this. Really, is it so bad to blow a dollar on a Keno ticket for a chance to win a quarter million dolars? So you've lost a whole dollar -- so what? All educated people go into the casino with the understanding that they're going to lose some money, so what's the crime if you limit your Keno play to what you can afford to lose and you fully understand that the odds are bad? Sure the house edge is high, but playing a few cheap games is certainly not going to devastate you. You don't have to get a fantastic expected return on every dollar you spend -- for example, what's the expected return when you tip a dealer? Nothing. It's just a part of the money you know you're going to give up when you go to the casino. You can think of your Keno money the same way -- the price you pay to have a good time. As long as you understand how bad the odds are and you're comfortable losing any money you gamble on Keno, I trust you to make your own decisions about how or whether to gamble your own money.

We have a related discussion about this idea on our page where we challenge the idea of only playing the lottery when the jackpot is high.

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More on Keno:

Here are some other Keno resources:

• The Wizard of Odds. A professional actuary analyzes the holy living mortal snot out of the game.
  
• Keno FAQ. Explains various keno topics such as the odds of getting different numbers of matches , and shows you how to calculate that yourself. Contains no info on the house edge, though.
  
• The Keno Guide. The kitchen sink of Keno. Odds, casino picks, books, movies, software, what more do you want? Kind of heavy on the animation, though. (Ow, my eyes.)

See also how to play:

• Baccarat
• Blackjack
• Craps
• Roulette
• Slot Machines
• Video Poker