There are many television monitors spread all over the casino halls to keep players informed of the winning numbers. But now, online keno is such a diversed game it can be played anywhere, and nowadays it’s also available at online casino!

A little like a lottery and a little like bingo, is a game of pure luck. If you’re familiar with the state lottery, you have enough knowledge already to play online keno. But, if you don’t know much about either of the 2, this is a good place to start!

PLAYING ONLINE KENO

Keno is played using a field of numbers from 1 to 80. A player will select his numbers and make a bet. Each selection is called a “Spot”, so if you select 10 numbers you are playing a 10 Spot game.

That’s it! After that, all you’ll have to do is watch the keno board and see if you’ve picked the lucky numbers by selecting 1 or as many as 15 of those numbers on the Keno Card.

You win based upon how many winning numbers you match. After clicking on the Play button, the keno number generator shoots out 20 balls with the winning keno numbers on them. If some of the winning numbers match the numbers that you bet on, you win according to the posted payout schedule.

If a winning number matches a number you selected, it is called a “hit!” Your hits will be highlighted in red on the keno board. Once the drawing is complete, the more of your numbers that won, the more money you make!

The minimum bet amounts are $1, $5 and $10 and stay the same heedless of how many numbers are chosen. Like bingo, the online keno randomly chooses the winning numbers in keno. But, similar to the lottery, a player chooses the numbers he or she wants to select.

The game varies from casino to casino but, at most, a player can choose between 10-15 numbers. Payouts are based on the amount of money a player wagers, multiplied by the amount of selected numbers that are drawn.

The popularity of keno is sometimes an paradox to many casino players. Online keno players are often considered odd, especially when it is discovered that keno has the worst odds out of any casino game.

Despite the fact that there are other online casino games but the game of online keno is like two peas in a pod of the game lotto and bingo. Online keno is one of these online casino games that enable players from any location to join casino-like gaming events by just going online.

So if reading about it got you interested, try it and play online keno today!

Playing online keno is without a doubt the easiest way of winning game of keno without taking any effort of driving to a busy and crowded casino, where players are often found lost in the noise around them. Online keno has been becoming more and more popular now, with lots of online casinos giving free play option and some presenting easily down-loadable software for playing online casino games with a superb graphics and sound effects.

Online keno is an easy way of playing keno by sitting at home with many online casinos giving best of bonuses and winning amounts. Playing keno on internet is similar to playing keno in any Nevada based casino with same game play and even better winning chances. Online keno casinos also provide the benefits of access to tutorials and rule book for a quick grasping of the game and its rules. Some online casinos also provide free keno games for those looking for simple keno fun.

Keno is perhaps the most relaxing of online casino games. Learning how to play keno requires very little effort. The rules of keno do not require incisive reasoning or science and easy to recall and understand. Similar to state-run lotteries, the rules of keno are comprised of number selection, a drawing and results. In recent years, keno games have enjoyed a renaissance in brick and mortar casinos. For younger casino patrons, it is now quite fashionable to play this “vintage” game. There is nearly always a crowd at the keno table and a noticeable camaraderie can be felt amongst players. But keno isn’t only popular at casinos; it is now a popular party game and many restaurants and bars host keno night. Because the game is so hot, an online version of it exists and numerous players keep the game going 24 hours a day. Learning how to play keno gives you an automatic in to several social settings.

Playing Keno

The rules of keno are obvious and easy to learn. Keno is played with keno cards or tickets. Each ticket displays the numbers from 1 to 80. The numbers on the tickets correspond to the numbers on ping-pong balls inserted in an aerated machine on the keno table. The keno machine selects a random twenty balls from the eighty in the machine.

Players pre-select 20 numbers and mark them on their keno cards. They then determine how much money they would like to wager and how many games they would like to play. This should be displayed on the blank space furnished on the ticket. Tickets are then given to a runner who issues an electronic ticket in return. It is vital that players give their tickets to the runner since the payments due the winners hinge on the numbers inserted into the computers. Next, the house draws 20 numbers randomly, generally picking out balls from a bin or utilizing computer software known as Random Number Generator (RNG). If the numbers the house selects match the numbers on a player’s ticket, you win.

Before betting the amount of prize money depends on how many numbers are matched. If your ticket has the winning numbers, make certain to get hold of the runner and get your profit.All casinos provide standard keno tickets in addition to some specialized tickets; you have the choice to purchase whichever one you wish.

Edge Ticket – This describes a ticket where all of the numbers marked are on the edge of the ticket.

Exacta — A keno ticket that is good for two games, sometimes offering a special bonus payout on certain numbers or outcomes.

Free Play — A keno ticket that gives you the chance to play again rather than a cash payoff if you win a certain kind of selected play.

Group — A collection of spots that are circled on a ticket.

Hit — A number marked on a ticket matching that of a drawn number.

Inside Ticket — This is the name for a ticket that has been marked by the player and turned into the Keno window. The ticket is “inside” while the player is waiting for the verified computer print out of his or her selected numbers.

Jackpot — The amount of “bonus” money, that is paid off as the top prize in a progressive game of keno.

Keno Board — Also known as the “Big Board,” it is the display that shows the numbers drawn for each game of keno. It can be found in various locations in the casino such as the keno lounge, the casino, lobby, bars and anywhere else that players might be found.

Keno Lounge — This is a centralized area where participants can sit, relax and watch the casino’s computer or apparatus divine the winning numbers. games. In the lounge you will find all the necessary things that you need to play the games such as brochures, blank keno tickets and crayons.

Keno Writer – This is the nickname the “clerk” who accepts the wagers, pays off the winners, prints the tickets, and interacts with the customers and the keno runners.

King — One single number that is circled on a keno ticket.

Left-Right Ticket — A ticket where the player bets on whether numbers drawn will be on the left side or right side of the ticket.

Multi Game Keno Ticket – This is a ticket, which can be used for a number of keno games, sometimes as many as a thousand.

Paybook — This is a brochure that explains the rules of the games as well as the casino’s payout structure. It is usually found in the keno lounge or at the keno windows and counters.

Payoff — The amount of money a player gets paid when he wins.

Pay Table — A printed or posted schedule detailing the payoffs for each individual winning scenario.

Progressive — A game where the top prize is not automatically won at the conclusion of each game, but instead continues to increase in value until that ultimate prize is won.

Quick Pick — A ticket where the player chooses the option of having the casino’s computer generate the selection of numbers, as opposed to the player himself making those selections manually.

Random Number Generator — A program designed to select numbers at random for a keno game.

RNG Game — A keno game that uses a random number generator to draw the numbers.

Runner — An employee that picks up wagers and pays winnings to people who are sitting in areas of the casino other than the keno lounge.

Spot – A number that is marked by the player on a ticket.

Top-Bottom Ticket — Type of ticket where the player bets on the top 40 numbers or bottom 40, and gets paid depending on how many of them hit.

Video Keno — Keno, which is played on an electronic machine, and is governed by a random number generator.

Wager — The amount the player decides to put at risk in a keno game.

Way — Another method of betting on a keno ticket, usually the product of grouping two or more numbers or spots on a combination ticket.

Way Ticket — A ticket, which allows for many different wagers – groups or combinations of numbers – creating a number of different “ways” a player can win.

The History of Keno

Keno was originally known as The Chinese Lottery. It acquired the name because this simple form of gambling finds its origins in ancient China. The original Chinese Lottery was actually a teaching aid that was based on a children’s rhyme. The purpose of this lengthy rhyme was to teach children the thousand characters that they needed to learn to read. This poem is known as “The Thousand Character Classic” and contained one thousand non-repeating rhymes.

The Chinese Lottery evolved from this simple nursery rhyme when in 200 B.C., Cheung Leung, the legendary Chinese general invented the gambler’s game. He employed the first 120 characters of the Thousand Character Classic to create a system of betting. People who marked the right characters with ink and brush would win prizes. The funds that were raised as the result of this game were to keep Cheung Leung’s precarious power safe from invading barbarians.

How Ancient Keno Was Played

Chueng Leung’s ancient Chinese lottery required the players to pick a set of characters from the selected 120 Chinese symbols. These 120 characters were also subdivided into eight more sub categories. Twice a day the emperor would then draw random combinations. If the gamblers lost one subcategory they would lose three more bets. If they won one subcategory then they would win ten more bets.

As there was no electricity or phones in ancient China, messenger doves were sent to deliver the lottery’s results over the imperator’s vast domain. Over time, the game became to known as the White Pigeon Game.

The game that was usually played once in the morning and once in the evening. It was so popular that Chueng Lueng’s government was able to reinstate its army after just ten lottery drawings. Some Chinese scholars called this form of lottery “idiot taxes”. The indirect tax gathered from this type of gaming over the long term managed to totally fund the construction of the Great Wall of China.

In modern day China, this form of keno is still called the Thousand Character classic and is still played twice a day. Eighty characters are chosen from a thousand characters and arranged in divisions on a card. Ten characters make up one division. Players can wager whatever amount of money that they like on each subcategory, depending on what kind of variation of the game they are playing to increase their winnings.

Keno Arrives in North America

Nobody in North America had heard of the Chinese lottery until the nineteenth century, when the game was brought by Chinese immigrants to California. These immigrants were lured to North America by the Gold Rush. Instead of mining gold, they found themselves working as low paid laborers building the North American railroads. It was not long before the Chinese lottery soon caught on in California and also in Nevada, which was already developing its lucrative gambling industry.

The term keno was actually the original name for bingo. The Chinese Lottery was nicknamed “Horse Race Keno” in America by gaming businesses in Nevada to evade criminal prosecution. Lotteries were considered illegal at the time but horse races weren’t. Casino operators operated fictional horse races and each number was representative of a fictional horse. The challenge for the players was to pick the winning “horses.” Even today keno is sometimes called “the races”. Casino players might say they are “off to the races” or to “the race game.”

To play original Horse Race Keno eighty numbers were written on pieces of paper and then deposited into cardboard tubes. Twenty numbers on these slips of paper were drawn for each game from the stacked rows of tubes. Eventually these stuffed paper tubes were replaced by wooden balls that were subsequently nicknamed “peas”. These balls would subsequently be replaced by bouncing plastic ping-pong balls with numbers on them.

In the American version of the Chinese Lottery, the quantity of numbers that you select on a keno ticket is nicknamed a spot. For example, a player who marks a keno ticket and picks 8 spots on a $4 ticket would be playing a $4 eight spot ticket. If you choose 30 numbers at $1 each you would be playing a $1 thirty spot ticket.

The term “spot” was first used in the original Chinese Lottery. Because in ancient China, the numbers chosen were marked with a brush and ink, they were called spots. The reason ink was used is that it made the bet indelible, so that it could not be changed at the last moment. There are still a couple of casinos in Las Vegas that mark “spots” on keno cards in the traditional fashion. Still other casinos punch a hole through the paper slip on which the numbers are written.

Keno in Modern America

By 1963, the United States government decided to tax the proceeds of horse track racing, including revenue earned from Keno Horse Racing. At this point the casinos in Nevada dropped the Horse Race part of the game’s name and just called it keno. Until 1989, nobody was allowed to win more than $50,000 playing keno in Nevada but since then the amount of the jackpots have zoomed sky high.

Since then keno has also become a popular game on the Internet. Lottery versions of keno are also very common around the world. These lottery style games are also used by governments to raise money for all kinds of civic, military and charitable purposes. These games are offered daily or weekly and the winning numbers are usually published in the newspaper or announced on the radio and television.