Keno is an interesting game simply because it is perhaps the only game to become extremely popular without being the top game of any particular establishment. Over the years, keno has become a popular lottery game as well as a popular casino-based game and while many people play both versions every single day, the lottery and/or the casino that hosts the game usually makes more of a fuss over the other games that they have. No other game in history has ever achieved this distinction and a lot of it has to do with the particulars that make the game of keno unique.
The Setup
Setting up a game of keno is relatively simple, especially if it happens to be an online casino that is creating the game. All that is required is a number of different cards with the numbers 1 to 80 written on them for selection as well as numbered balls with the numbers 1 to 80 on them for selection purposes. In this sense, the setup of a keno game is actually not that different from the setup of any other lottery. Lottery games are primarily games that rely on quick and easy setup and playing to draw people to them and keno is no exception to this rule.
The Game Play
Playing keno is relatively simple. All you need to do is select a preset amount of numbers from the card. These numbers will be the numbers you wager on. Then, when the casino draws their balls for the calculation of this particular keno round (traditionally there are twenty numbers drawn), the players compare their selections with the balls drawn in order to see who ends up winning and who ends up losing. In this way, keno is pretty much like any other lottery that you can play.
The Winnings
The winnings of a particular keno match depend entirely on the casino that you are playing at. Most casinos have their own way of paying different keno bets and while there are a number of different standardized pay tables that casinos will utilize, you will find that the variation in paying out bets for keno is actually quite diverse; more so than for any other casino game that has been brought online from its original offline form.
The Edge
Because of the extreme diversity that exists within the keno pay tables, being able to cite a definitive number as being the exact house edge in the game is quite difficult. Indeed, keno house edges are quite varied and depending on where in the world or online you play keno, the house edge could be anywhere from 4% all the way up to 66%. The latter is quite rare of course, but it has been known to happen, particularly within casinos that are not heavily regulated. Online the edge tends to be smaller than offline, simply because of the intense competition for players that occurs within the marketplace. This is perhaps one reason as to why online keno is relatively more popular than its offline counterpart.
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