KENO Playing Rules and Playing Tips

The game originated in China and has swept the world. Like all games, the rules vary slightly from casino to casino. The great thing about Keno is that it offers very substantial payouts in both physical and online casinos for a small outlay.

The game is played with a card that has 80 numbers on it that are set out in a grid. You have to select a few of those numbers and then bet that they will come up in the round in which you have chosen to play. You can play individually at a screen against a machine but I have only played at the casino usually whilst partaking of a meal. In these cases the results are displayed on a large screen in the room.

Cards are validated by a machine at the casino before the draw at the time you pay your bet to ensure that no alterations can be made to the card after the draw. Your betting options are only limited by how much you wish to wager. A basic bet is to choose ten numbers at random from the card and pay your bet. If all the numbers come up you have hit the jackpot. If only a few numbers come up it will be a little prize or nothing depending on how many numbers you got in that round.

The numbers on the cards are divided into groups. You can select combinations of numbers from each group. The amount you wager depends on how many possible combinations you selected. It is necessary to read the rules for the casino where you are playing in order to properly place such a bet.

You will not see much difference between the online keno and the real thing at the casino.

There are a few little things you need to keep in mind. Some casinos enforce a rule that winnings must be collected before the start of the next game so don't forfeit your winnings by visiting the loo at this crucial time. This rule also often applies to other group games.

When they finish paying out, you can have your numbers validated for the next round.

Some regular video keno players think that these machines are more likely to select a series of numbers instead of randomly selected numbers. I suspect that if this was the case some one would have got a system going and this 'feature' would have been fixed yesterday! It is quite simple to program a machine to generate random numbers. For it to regularly produce a series of consecutive numbers would require a serious programming error.

Video keno is really just another form of slot machine. Most regulars think that the more money preceding players have put into the machine since the last payout, the greater their chance of a serious prize. That is why you see players waiting to pounce on machines that others have just put a substantial amount of money into and not won anything. The logic behind this thinking used to be very sound in the days of the mechanically operated machines. As far as I am aware all these machines are now just a computer with a big monitor enclosed in a fancy case. When lady luck is riding on your shoulder, it will make little difference which machine you select to play.

May lady luck always ride upon your shoulder!