Introduction
Keno has it’s origins in China, where it was used to raise money
for national defence. It is rumoured to have funded the building
of the Great Wall of China!. It was taken to the US by eastern
railroad workers in the 1800s.
Because keno is entertaining and easy to learn, it has
become widely popular. Like bingo, keno is a lottery-type
game of chance where anyone can win big. Keno’s popularity
in the US is driven by it’s quick and simple gameplay.
Visit any Vegas casino and you can play Keno in the cafe’s,
bars and many restaurants! However, visit an Atlantic
City casino and you won’t find it anywhere – it’s outlawed!
The following rules are taken from William Hill Casino,
they give a good outline to the rules of the game, but
you should double check the actual rules in your chosen
casino if you choose somewhere other than William Hill.
Aim Of The Game
The objective of Keno is for the player to guess which numbers,
from 1 to 80, will be randomly selected by the Keno machine.
Each time the game is played, the player chooses 1 to 10 numbers
(between 1 and 80) and the wagering amount. The Keno machine
indicating the winning numbers will then randomly select 20 numbers.
The objective is to have as many matches as possible between
the numbers chosen by the player, and those randomly selected
by the machine. The number of matches will be highlighted and
a possible payout will be rewarded based on the number of matches.
How To Play
Begin by depositing money into the Keno machine. To do this, you
must select a bill type (GBP100, GBP50, GBP20, GBP10, GBP5) from
the panel at the top right hand corner of the Keno screen. You
can toggle through the different bill types by clicking on the
panel. Once you have made your selection, deposit the bill into
the Keno machine by clicking on the bill deposit area. The amount
of coins within the Keno machine is based on the amount deposited
and the coin denomination selected and is shown in the Credit
field in the middle right hand side of the Keno machine. For
example, if you deposit GBP100 when the coin denomination selector
(ball in the top left corner) is set to GBP1, you will see 100
coins in the Credit field.
Similarly, if you set the coin denomination to GBP2
(by clicking the left arrow button), you will see that
the Credit field has changed to 50 coins. The Bet field
displays the amount of coins you have selected to bet
that turn. Please note that the Balance field will not
change when you change the coin denomination since they
show your balance in dollars (not coins). The player
may select coin denominations of GBP0.25, GBP1, GBP2,
or GBP5.
Once you have deposited money into the Keno machine,
the next step is to place a bet using the Bet or Bet
Max buttons. If the Bet button is selected, 1 coin will
be bet per game while the Bet Max button allows for 5
coins to be bet per game. Intermediate amounts (e.g.
GBP2, GBP3, and GBP4 per game) can be selected by pressing
the Bet button multiple times. Once the bet amount has
been selected, you then choose the 1 to 10 numbers you
believe will be randomly selected by the Keno machine.
This is done by simply clicking on the desired number
in the Keno number grid. A number may be unselected by
clicking on the same number again. Once you have chosen
between 1 and 10 numbers, you now select how many games
you would like to play consecutively with those selected
numbers using the Play One, Play Five, or Play Ten buttons.
The Play One option plays the game once, Play Five plays
the game five times, and Play Ten plays the game ten
times consecutively.
Selecting either the Play One, Play Five, or Play Ten
buttons starts the game. The numbers randomly chosen
by the Keno machine are shown by a Keno ball landing
in the space of a particular number. Any matches with
the player's selections are shown with in flashing bright
yellow. The payoffs are dependent on the total numbers
selected by the player and the total number of matches.
For the sake of comparison, land-based casinos generally
pay back about 70 to 75 cents on the dollar in keno.
Online casinos can pay more or less than that, depending
on where you play. |
