Keno, like any other lottery or gambling game, is a game of luck primarily. While luck is always going to win in the long run because of the house edge, there is an element of strategy to the game nonetheless. In the case of keno, the strategy, if employed properly, will result in a house edge that is much smaller than it might otherwise be. This in turn increases your chances of winning big in the short term, something that can help you immensely if you only play keno once or twice in a while. Here are some tips to get you started on playing keno strategy properly.
Playing the Pay Table
The single most important point of keno strategy that you could ever learn is something that is known as “playing the pay table.” This is just basic strategy to any game that you might find in a casino, but because keno does not have a perfect strategy component in the way that a game like blackjack would, understanding the pay tables and using them to your benefit becomes all the more important.
In a typical game of keno, you will pick twenty numbers and then you will be paid based on how many of those twenty numbers also end up appearing in the draw that is done by the house. This means that there are twenty possibilities, starting with picking twenty and hitting none and ending with picking twenty and hitting all twenty. The odds of the first happening are approximately 1 in 845, while the odds of the last happening are approximately 1 in 3.5 quintillion. There is of course variation of the odds in between, with the lowest odds proposition being hitting five of the twenty, which has odds of about 1 in 4.3.
However, just because something has the best odds of happening does not mean that it is the best bet. What you need to do is take a look at all of the payouts that the house offers and then compare them to the odds of each particular proposition happening. While this will not help you in terms of actual betting (i.e. you just pick twenty numbers rather than betting on a specific outcome), it will allow you to computer the house edge. This is important because in keno the house edge can be as low as 4% or as high as 66% depending on where you play. Playing the pay table will allow you to find a place with a low house edge and play there to increase the chances of your short term win.
Human Error
This does not occur very often, but every once in a while you will encounter a really old set of keno equipment at a casino. This equipment will not be automated, but rather will be operated by a human being. If you are observant enough, you might catch something in the way the dealer selects the numbers that allows you to increase your odds through picking specific numbers that have a higher chance of occurring. Do not fall in love with this method however, as you will be lucky in the modern era to encounter even one casino that is run like this in a lifetime of keno playing.
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