Table Of Contents
- Keno players look for ways to win big more than they should
- Combinatronics can 'solve' the game of Keno
- Use the formula in this article to calculate your Expected Return (ER) when you play real money Keno games
Keno: you either hate it or love it.
Some Casino games are just like that - you either enjoy endless sessions regardless of the house edge and your winning chances…
…or even 50 seconds at the table will feel like a lifetime.
The game of Keno is one of them.
Some play Keno for hours at land-based and online Casinos while others still wonder why a game like this one is allowed on the Casino floor.
Playing Video Keno Strategy. After the 20 numbers are drawn, winning tickets are paid according to a table that varies from casino to casino. For example, a four-spot ticket with $1 wagered might return. Like Craps or Scratch Cards, Keno is almost entirely based on luck, however, the best how to win Keno strategy tip for players is that they should always measure the risk vs rewards factors when placing. This strategy allows you to increase the frequency of correct guesses when playing with more keno cards. You ought to select up to 15 numbers and distribute them in groups between 4 keno cards. Picking Consecutive Numbers in Keno This is another number picking strategy which is grade-A nonsense. The idea is that you pick sequential numbers such as 13,14,15,16,17,18,19, and 20 rather.
I write this guide assuming you belong to the first kind.
You shouldn't be looking for the basics of Keno strategy if you weren't planning to play Keno online.
What Can You Expect From This Article?
I'll tell you what this article is not:
This isn't a guide for beginners who don't know what Keno is.
If you have never played this game before, you don't need my Keno strategy tips. You need this other guide on how to play Keno to get started with the game.
It's also not a guide to picking the lucky numbers to win at Keno every time you play.
Don't shop for Keno numbers online, please. Nothing good happens to those who do.
Even the best Keno strategy or system can not guarantee a 100% success rate. The collections of hot and Lucky Keno numbers you see online are irrelevant.
Keno is a gambling game. It's interesting, fast-paced, and loud. But it is not a predictable one.
I also don't plan on telling you how to pick lucky Keno numbers to increase your chances to win.
However, I do have more than a few Keno strategy tips to share with that will help you increase your chances to win.
Are you ready to start?
| Keno Bonus | Free Games | Multi Race Cards |
| Keno Odds | Hot and Cold Numbers | Combinatronics |
Keno Isn't for Suckers
Many self-proclaimed professional gamblers call Keno 'a game for suckers' for its horrendous house edge.
While this is theoretically correct (the 25 to 40 percent house edge of some Keno games is indeed almost criminal), those who understand gambling know that Keno offers good value.
See the contradiction here?
On one hand, the house edge is big enough to show that you are likely to lose often and never hit the life-changing jackpot the screen promises you.
But then - think about how you play Keno.
A full game of Keno can last up to 10 minutes from start to finish and it might not cost you more than $1 or $2 to play.
Meanwhile, you get treated like a king with complimentary drinks and snacks flowing to your seat. That's because Casinos love Keno players.
Now, think about Slots.
At an average of six seconds per spin, how far will $1 or $10 bring you?
Keno is a great game to chill and fantasize about big and semi-impossible wins. It is a game for dreamers who want to have interesting but don't want to spend an unreasonable amount of cash.
Make Sure You Get a Bonus to Play Keno
While land based Casinos treat you with drinks and snacks, online Keno sites keep you on their pages with bonuses and promotions.
As a Keno player, you need to spend some time to shop around for the best Keno deals, as long as they come from reputable and trusted names.
Get €500 to Play KenoSign up for a free account to activate a 100% Keno bonus!
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Play NowFinding the right bonus to play might not seem an important part of an effective Keno strategy, especially if you think it's all about lucky numbers.
But the extra bonus money you get when you register to play at a good online Casino is the best way to play some extra games and see if your numbers are drawn.
To do this well, you need to do some research and not rely on the usual suspects.
With online Keno not being the most popular gambling game in the world, the sites that specialize in it are often niche ones.
Take CasinoMulti, for example.
While this might not be the best-known gaming website the world, their welcome bonus gives you up to €500 to play Keno online and that's a lot.
Hellovalot, if you ask me.
Especially when you see how many different Keno games you can play there. Their offer is impressive.
See it for yourself. Register a free account to access the lobby and see how many (and how good) they games of online Keno are.
Play Free Keno Games Online
Keno games are so cheap that most sites don't offer a free version of this game. If you don't pay, you can't play.
That's what I like about CasinoMulti is not like that.
Before this article turns too much into a serenade for this Casino (which isn't), let me tell you this:
You can play 13 Keno games for free if you register and choose to play for interesting.
CasinoMulti is the only site to offer so many free Keno games. That's why I think they deserve a praise.
Through the free games you can:
- apply the strategy tips below
- understand Combinatronics is a real thing
- accept that Keno numbers come whenever they feel like - not when you ask them to.
Here's a handy list of 13 Keno games available for free and real money play:
Cold Numbers, You Say?
Don't base your Keno strategy on cold numbers and hot numbers - unless you want to be sure to leave your money at the Casino.
Whether you use the Quick Pick feature available at most online Casinos or you focus on your kid's birthday you have the same winning odds.
This isn't to say you should just use the Quick Pick option every time you play. Part of what makes Keno interesting is the idea to call luck with what is dear to us.
So - make each game special.
Write down a list of numbers that mean something to you, perhaps make each group challenge each other taking notes on how often one prevails over the other and, don't stress too much about the results.
In lottery-like games like Keno, you just need to sit back and wait for the numbers to be drawn.
Multi Race Cards
The best way to save some time, especially if you plan on playing the same numbers all over again, is to pick the Multi Race Cards that most online Keno sites offer you.
The Multi-Race cards allow you to play the same numbers over a series of consecutive Keno games.
Multi-Race Cards don't increase your chances to win money at Keno but help you save time and spare you from the annoyance of having to click on the same numbers times and times again.
Winning Odds in Keno
Your interests in Keno strategy tells me you don't know much about the odds in Keno and your true chances to win big on this Casino game.
** Spoiler Alert: these numbers might kill your love for Keno **
Best Keno Numbers To Play
But since I promised to tell you everything you need to play Keno with the best strategy there is - let's have a look at some scary numbers.
What are the chances you will hit all the 20 numbers?
The key to winning big and to bring home the seven-figure top prize offered in many Keno games is to play for 20 numbers and nail all of them. So, the question is: how likely is this to happen?
To paraphrase Joan Kung, here's where 'Learning Mathematics Helps Us Be Virtuous.'
Numbers show there are 3,535,316,142,212,172,000 different ways for a group of 20 numbers to be picked from a total of 80 numbers.
Theoretically, you have more chances to win at Roulette by throwing your chips on the table while blindfolded than to hit 20 numbers and win the jackpot in Keno.
But you don't need to play all the 20 numbers, do you?
If the 20-spot ticket isn't going to be included in our games for obvious reasons, let's see what happens when you play Keno with a 6-spot ticket.
Your winning chances increase (but don't jump from your chair just yet).
| CATCH | PAYOUT ON $1 BET | PROBABILITY | ODDS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | 0.16602 | 1 in 6 |
| 1 | - | 0.36349 | 1 in 2.75 |
| 2 | - | 0.30832 | 1 in 3.25 |
| 3 | $1 | 0.12982 | 1 in 7.7 |
| 4 | $5 | 0.02854 | 1 in 35 |
| 5 | $75 | 0.00310 | 1 in 322.5 |
| 6 | $2.000 | 0.00013 | 1 in 7,962 |
If you sum up the probabilities you have to catch 0, 1, or 2 numbers (the three occasions where you don't win anything) - things get a little on the sad side.
That's because you discover you have 83.78% chances to lose your game. And that's not to mention the 13% on the table, because that's when you win nothing more than your initial bet.
That's why a good bonus is SO important.
Adding bonus money to your bankroll you finance your losing games in the hope that when Lady Luck decides to smile at you, it's with a win of 4, 5, or 6 numbers.
In case you are curious to see the odds of hitting all the numbers, including those in between 6 and 20, the table below is for you:
| HITS | ODDS |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1 in 843.380 (0.11857057%) |
| 1 | 1 in 86.446 (1.15678605%) |
| 2 | 1 in 20.115 (4.97142576%) |
| 3 | 1 in 8.009 (12.48637168%) |
| 4 | 1 in 4.877 (20.50318987%) |
| 5 | 1 in 4.287 (23.32807380%) |
| 6 | 1 in 5.258 (19.01745147%) |
| 7 | 1 in 8.826 (11.32954556%) |
| 8 | 1 in 20.055 (4.98618021%) |
| 9 | 1 in 61.420 (1.62814048%) |
| 10 | 1 in 253.801 (0.39401000%) |
| 11 | 1 in 1,423.822 (0.07023351%) |
| 12 | 1 in 10,968.701 (0.00911685%) |
| 13 | 1 in 118,084.920 (0.00084685%) |
| 14 | 1 in 1,821,881.628 (0.00005489%) |
| 15 | 1 in 41,751,453.986 (0.00000240%) |
| 16 | 1 in 1,496,372,110.872 (0.00000007%) |
| 17 | 1 in 90,624,035,964.712 |
| 18 | 1 in 10,512,388,171,906.553 |
| 19 | 1 in 2,946,096,785,176,811.500 |
| 20 | 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,173,800.000 |
Cold / Hot Numbers in Keno
Since I mentioned them earlier, let's go a little deeper on the concepts of Cold Numbers and Hot Numbers in Keno.
Cold Numbers: These are the numbers drawn less frequently. Usually, a number is added to the list of the cold numbers when it isn't drawn for 15 consecutive times.
Hot Numbers: These are the numbers that are drawn most frequently in a sequence of five Keno games. Some will tell you there are numbers that are hotter than others: don't believe them. It isn't true.
Combinatronics to Win at Keno
Here's where things get a little more complicated. If you made it till this part of my Keno strategy guide, take a deep breath and get ready to swim through numbers and calculations.
What is Combinatronics? 'Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics about counting – Combinatorics can help us count numbers of orders in which something can happen.' (Source: Mathigon)
I am not going to go into all details of Combinatorics (after all, even the MIT says 'it is not an easy task' to define it), but I want you to learn this:
The way Keno works allows you to calculate your expected return every time you play - and this doesn't often happen in gambling.
Combinatronics helps calculate the different ways you can arrange a portion of a larger group of items - exactly what happens with the numbers in Keno:
There's 80 of them, but only 20 help create a winning combination.
After you apply Combinatronics to understand the probabilities in Keno you can calculate the Expected Return (ER) and figure out how much money you are likely to win (or lose) in a given number of games.
Here's how you calculate : ER = Payoff x Probability
Using an example provided by the always useful Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling (see here) by Andrew Brisman, we can proceed to calculate the E (Expectation), the exact amount of money we can expect to win or lose over the long run with a given bet:
| Winning Spots | Payoff | Probability | Expected Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | $1 | 0.0839 | 0.0839 |
| 4 | $11 | 0.0121 | 0.1331 |
| 5 | $750 | 0.000645 | 0.4838 |
| Total ER:0.7008 |
For the table above, we have that:
E = Total ER - Amount Bet: 0.7008 - 1 = 0.2992
(And that's also how you calculate the House Edge, which here is of 29.92%)
Play Keno Online
This concludes our journey through the bizarre world of Keno strategy.
If you have questions, remarks, or you would like to talk about Combinatronics and its applications to win at Keno, you are welcome to leave a comment below - I would love to talk Keno and Keno strategy with you.
Otherwise, just play it!
(Cit. Mad Men: Season 5, Episode 8)
CasinoMulti features the best Keno games you can find on the internet and they welcome you with €500 as a welcome bonus.
Can it get any better than that?
It Kennot!
The promotion presented on this page was available at the time of writing. With some Casino promotions changing on daily basis, we suggest you to check on the site if it still available. Also, please do not forget to read the terms and conditions in full before you accept a bonus.What can You Do to Win More at Keno?
Let’s say it straight away, Keno is, like any lottery, basically a guessing game. Winning keno numbers are selected completely at random. So the bottom line is that no keno strategy is ever going to be really successful at predicting what will come out.
Best Way To Win At Keno
Having said that, there are some things you can do to edge the odds in your favour. In short, our top tips for winning at keno are as follows:
Look for the best payout schedules
By analysing the payout table you can find out before you play what the expected payback over time will be. Not a clue how to do that? Well luckily, we’ve done it for you – at least if you want to play online! If you’re playing keno online the pay schedule is determined largely by what type of gaming software the casino runs on. And we’ve worked out the expected payouts on all the main software brands and listed for you which casinos run on each type.
Play the right number of spots
How many keno numbers should you pick? Most keno games allow you to choose 1 to 15 spots (numbers). You might also find special games that allow a lot more numbers to be chosen. The numbers of spots you pick doesn’t affect the cost of your bet.
The more you pick the better your chances that at least some of them will be drawn out. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have a better chance of winning because you will need to catch more of them before you win anything.
For instance, if you pick a 6-spot, in most casinos you wouldn’t win anything unless at least 3 of them were drawn. So it’s a balancing act between selecting enough numbers to give you a reasonable chance of catching a few, but not so many that you have to catch lots before you get a payout.
Regular players tend to opt for between 4 and 8 numbers. If you choose less than 4 spots, the payout schedules mean that it isn’t worth it – the payouts are relatively low and the house has too large an advantage.
If you choose more than 9 spots, the odds of all your numbers actually getting picked are so small that it’s hardly worth even trying. In the extreme case, the odds of getting 15 catches out of 15 spots are about 428 BILLION to 1 (pretty much impossible)!
If you play a high number of spots, some casinos pay out if none of them come up, but you’d need to check their schedule to make sure of this. If you’re a Jackpot hunter: On any pay schedule the BIGGEST jackpot is on maximum spots. But sadly, the more spots you pick, the more remote your chances of winning.
Play several ‘ways’
You can increase your chances of some kind of win from the set of numbers you have selected by betting on a variety of ‘ways’. If, for instance, you have selected 8 numbers as an 8-spot, you could at the same time group them as two 4-spots.
You would then have 3 separate wagers on the same set of numbers. If all 8 came up you would collect 3 lots of winnings (But of course if none of them came up you would lose all three stakes!) You should note that these multi-bet options are usually only available in live, offline keno. But we’ve found one site where you can bet several ways on the same keno draw.
Keno Strategy Books
Set a good wager level
How much to wager? Well it depends on such factors as what you can afford, how much the casino will allow, the details of the payout schedule.
Choose lucky numbers!
Keno Strategy Four Card 6 Spot Keno
Everyone has their own superstitions and favoured methods of picking numbers. How about trying some of these:
Keno Strategy Tips And Tricks
- try our picker.
- family birthdays or ages (although this is likely to slant your picks towards
- smaller numbers)
- telephone numbers or street address numbers
- a particular layout of numbers on the card
- a ‘psychic feeling’ – just close your eyes and see what comes to mind
- a ‘quick pick’ where the computer picks your numbers for you at random
Keno Strategy 2019
Statistically it really shouldn’t make any difference how you pick your keno numbers – but who knows?