Keno
Keno is a gambling game popular at the modern casinos. The game had its origin in ancient china, over 2000 years back. It can be traced back to 205 to 187 B.C. during the Han Dynasty. There is a legend that this game helped to save an ancient city during war. The story goes that its popularity heaved up such a huge amount of money that the Great Wall was built with it. The game was brought by the Chinese immigrants in the 19th century to America. The word ‘keno’ is said to have French or Latin roots. (In French, ‘quine’ means five winning numbers, in Latin; ‘quini’ means five each.)
Keno is a bingo like game played in a circular glass enclosure called the ‘bubble’. It contains 80 ping pong –like balls which determine the ball-draw result. Every ball has a number imprinted on it between 1 and 80. The system is to push air through a blower and randomly mix the balls inside the bubble. A lever which opens a tube is pressed by the ‘caller’ and the balls get lifted one at a time into the ‘rabbit ears’, a V-shaped tube. Each of the 20 balls drawn gets recorded by the ‘caller’ and the ‘verifier’. The wagers are calculated based on the numbers drawn by the computerized Keno system.
The pay scale choices are called ‘pay tables’ and every casino has its own series of ‘pay tables’; no two casinos have identical pay tables. The players mark an ‘X’ on the ‘spot’ choices on a blank keno ticket. There are 80 numbered selection boxes. After the wagers are placed the casino draws 20 balls at a random. The customers can choose from different pay tables to different keno bets and each has its exclusive house edge. The house edge ranges from 4% to 66%. For a non-slot casino game, the usual house edge is between 0% to 5%.
Keno is fairly simple and easy to play game. You need to decide the numbers and the amount of the wager. There is an option of ‘quick pick’ where the lottery’s computer chooses 20 winning numbers from 1 to 80 randomly. The winner is decided on the basis of matching of the winning numbers. You have chance to win about $100,000 per draw. It is a fast paced game played at your convenience.
How is the game played?
You select your wager amount from the top right of the keno card. You can either go for the Quick Pick option or use the mouse to select 1 to 15 numbers on the keno card. To deselect a number, you need to click the number again and the pay table will change accordingly. After the bets and the number selections are established, you are required to click the $$$ button. The 20 numbers will now roll out in random. After this has been completed the Results Table on the lower end of the keno card will show how many you have been able to match, the total bet amount and the total payout amount.
The players have the option of playing the multi-race keno in the modern keno game. Here you can book a keno ticket for a number of sequential keno which can race up to 1000. After the sequence of the wagered games is completed, the player redeems the winnings within the time constraint. It is specified in the casino’s rule book and is distinctive for each casino.
