Ways To Win Keno

Table Of Contents

Oct 11, 2015  Genius strategy to catch the elusive 7 spot when playing Four Card Keno. Win more jackpots on all four cards! Takes nine numbers and reduces them.

  • 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.

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 and (perhaps) win some money, too.

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 fun, 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 BonusFree GamesMulti Race Cards
Keno OddsHot and Cold NumbersCombinatronics

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 a great value for money.

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 fun 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.

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Finding 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 money you get when you register to play at a good online Casino is the best way to fight house edge and variance, and win money when 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 of money.

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 fun.

CasinoMulti is the only site to offer so many free Keno games. That's why I think they deserve a praise.

How to win keno easy

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 fun 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.

How To Win Keno Lottery

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 **

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).

CATCHPAYOUT ON $1 BETPROBABILITYODDS
0-0.166021 in 6
1-0.363491 in 2.75
2-0.308321 in 3.25
3$10.129821 in 7.7
4$50.028541 in 35
5$750.003101 in 322.5
6$2.0000.000131 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 free 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.

Because that's where the real money is.

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:

HITSODDS
01 in 843.380 (0.11857057%)
11 in 86.446 (1.15678605%)
21 in 20.115 (4.97142576%)
31 in 8.009 (12.48637168%)
41 in 4.877 (20.50318987%)
51 in 4.287 (23.32807380%)
61 in 5.258 (19.01745147%)
71 in 8.826 (11.32954556%)
81 in 20.055 (4.98618021%)
91 in 61.420 (1.62814048%)
101 in 253.801 (0.39401000%)
111 in 1,423.822 (0.07023351%)
121 in 10,968.701 (0.00911685%)
131 in 118,084.920 (0.00084685%)
141 in 1,821,881.628 (0.00005489%)
151 in 41,751,453.986 (0.00000240%)
161 in 1,496,372,110.872 (0.00000007%)
171 in 90,624,035,964.712
181 in 10,512,388,171,906.553
191 in 2,946,096,785,176,811.500
201 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 SpotsPayoffProbabilityExpected Return
3$10.08390.0839
4$110.01210.1331
5$7500.0006450.4838
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!

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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.
Laura Klusaite

Table Of Contents

  • This is the most complete collection of Keno tips on the web
  • It's a perfect article to know how to win at Keno machines
  • It covers the best Keno numbers and the top bonus you can use to play Keno online

Keno is probably the most underrated Casino game out there. Many players still imagine it as a game only played at the elderly home. Or that there is no way how to win at Keno other than being extremely lucky.

Let's get it clear from the get-go: that is not the case.

Contrary to the popular belief, you CAN use your smarts and skills to win at Keno.

And since you're reading this guide on PokerNews (and not some suspicious site promising to tell you how to win at Keno every time), it seems you're already using them to choose trustworthy sources on how to win at video Keno.

The Best Keno Games Online!

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Good for you!

You can find plenty of Keno strategies that are created to make you lose every time. That's what many Casinos want, after all.

And while you can't really beat the house edge at any Casino game, I prepared a few tips for you that actually work to win more at Keno.

It's not a betting system with a funny name. Neither it is a strategy cheatsheet what to do every single bet. And it's not the kind of tips that would get you kicked out of a Casino in Las Vegas.

But these are the Keno strategy tips that were proven to work by many players worldwide. And there's no harm in trying them yourself, especially since you start by playing Keno for FREE here.

1. Choose Casinos (and Games) With Better Payouts

This may seem obvious to you but you'd be surprised for how many players it's not.

Even when you have your favorite online Casino to play Slot machines or other Casino games, it may not be the perfect fit to play Keno there.

You need to check how many variants of Keno they have and what are the payouts for guessing the right numbers.

In most online Casinos you can either choose up to 10, 15, or 20 numbers to bet on and 20 numbers out of 80 are drawn.

The best payouts online usually look like this.

How many numbers chosenHow many of them get drawn & Payout
OneOne 1 to 1
TwoOne 1 to 1, two 9 to 1
Three One 1 to 1, two 2 to 1, three 16 to 1
Four One 0.5 to 1, two 2 to 1, three 6 to 1, four 12 to 1
FiveOne 0.5 to 1, two 1 to 1, three 3 to 1, four 15 to 1, five 50 to 1
SixOne 0.5 to 1, two 1 to 1, three 2 to 1, four 3 to 1, five 30 to 1, six 75 to 1
SevenOne 0.5 to 1, two 0.5 to 1, three 1 to 1, four 6 to 1, five 12 to 1, six 36 to 1, seven 100 to 1
EightOne 0.5 to 1, two 0.5 to 1, three 1 to 1, four 3 to 1, five 6 to 1, six 19 to 1, seven 90 to 1, eight 720 to 1
NineOne 0.5 to 1, two 0.5 to 1, three 1 to 1, four 2 to 1, five 4 to 1, six 8 to 1, seven 20 to 1, eight 80 to 1, nine 1200 to 1
TenOne 0, two 0.5 to 1, three 1 to 1, four 2 to 1, five 3 to 1, six 5 to 1, seven 10 to 1, eight 30 to 1, nine 600 to 1, ten 1800 to 1

This progression can follow further if you can choose more than ten numbers. For example, if you can choose 15, for guessing all of the right you'd be paid out 10000 to 1.

Not bad, right?

These are the optimal payouts when playing Keno online. Don't go for anything offering less.

As a rule, online Casinos have better payouts than the brick-and-mortar ones. Thus, it's always better to play online.

And let's be honest, much more easier, too.

The best payouts I've seen are available at Quickfire (Microgaming) Keno platforms. There is a simple classic platform to play. Also, a colorful and cheerful one, called Monkey Keno.

If you play the later one, the numbers are not drawn but thrown to the board by a monkey. And they come in a form of coconuts.

But essentially, both of the platforms have the same payouts and odds of winning, and the return to player ratio is 94.9 percent.

Though, you may prefer Monkey Keno because of a few special features:

  • you can choose games randomly instead of selecting individual numbers
  • you can choose to autoplay the game
  • it shows hot and cold maps (the numbers which were drawn most and least in the game)

2. Play For Free to Get A Hold of The Game

Keno is not a complicated game. Thus, many Keno players dive right into the real money play. And they lose, a lot.

No matter what Casino game it is, always play it for free first to get a hold of the game.

There may be some major differences in payouts or minor differences in the game platforms. Casino may be lagging a lot and thus restarting the game before it's finished.

While it makes little difference when playing for free, it may cost you lots of bets when playing for real money.

And even if you learn the best tips on how to win at Keno and you're 100 percent sure of your skills, still practise for free first. You never know what can happen.
But it's always better if something wrong happens and yoou don't lose your cash in the process.

3. Select Between Four and Eight Numbers

When you have an option to choose up to 15 or 20 numbers with the same wager, the logical question is how many numbers is the right number?

Many Keno beginners believe the more, the better. It makes sense, considering the more you choose, the better chances of getting more of them correct you have.

But keep in mind that the payouts change depending on how many numbers you choose in total.

If you guess five out of five chosen, your payout may be 50 to 1. That's really sweet. But if you guess five out of 10 chosen, that reduces to 3 to 1.

So, what's the optimal number?

How to win keno lottery

Think about it. When you choose less than four, any chance of winning is extremely low. There are 80 numbers in the Keno machine (or RNG), after all.

Best Way To Win Keno Lottery

Then again, if you choose more than eight, you will always need to hit at least four or more numbers to get any extra money above what you've already spent for the wager.

And that's not that easy either.

Though, if there is a progressive jackpot attached to the game, it may be worth to choose more numbers. Especially if you play the the saying win big or go home.

4. Choose Consecutive Numbers or The Cold Ones

How To Win At Keno

The next tip related to numbers is which numbers to choose when betting. A common advice is to choose the consecutive numbers.

When it comes to playing video Keno, the numbers are drawn by a random number generato, thus the outcomes are random. But many Keno players researched the outcomes and believe playing consecutive numbers can help you win a lot more.

Same goes for the cold numbers - the numbers that haven't been drawn the longest period of time.

Does it work betting like that?

How To Win On Keno Winning Numbers

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. If you don't have a different betting strategy, you may as well try it.

If you play for free, you have nothing to lose. And maybe you'll discover what Keno numbers are most worthy of betting on.

When it comes to betting on cold numbers, or opposite, choose a platform that shows what were the most and least drawn numbers in the game.

One of such platforms is Monkey Keno.

5. Play at a Reliable Casino

If you want to know how to win at Keno game, many of your choices need to be related to a specific game platform and Casino. Since we talked about the payouts and platforms already, it's time to cover the Casinos.

The Casino needs to be trust-worthy. Even if you discovered a brilliant strategy on how to win at Keno every time, it's pointless if all your money will go to the illegal Casino and you'll never see your winnings.

My advice?

Not only it has both of the Keno platforms mentioned (the classic game of Keno and Monkey Keno), but there are also great Keno variants you can try for free and for real money - if you are not in the United States.

Yes - you can play all of these games FREE. No registration or deposit necessary.

And once you're ready to play for real money, check out this surprise bonus!

So - you only have one decision to make:

What Keno game will you play first?

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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.

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