Keno Payout Odds
Posted By admin On 02/04/22Connecticut KENO is known for offering multiple ways and prizes to win. The payouts of the game feature winning amounts from $1 to $100,000 for matching some, all, or none of the numbers drawn by the computer terminal. The game gives you the option of selecting a wager from $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, or $20 to bet on your favorite numbers. With a new game every four minutes, Keno offers an entertaining chance to win nearly anytime, day or night. Play just one number or up to ten numbers from a pool of 80. Regular players call these choices “spots”, because of a bonus prize, the most popular choice is the 8-Spot. You may also opt for a quick pick and have your. Play GO Keno at all retail locations that have a Touch & Win terminal. You can wager $.25, $.50, $1, $2, $3 or $5. Choose from 2 to 10 numbers (spots) out of a pool of 80 numbers. You may also use the Auto Pick feature to select all or some of your numbers. The more numbers that are matched, the higher the payout. It is even possible to win a cash prize when none of the wagered on numbers in a 10 Spot Game are drawn. Keno is available at all Lottery Retailers, with most Keno Retailers equipped with a monitor that displays a new game every 4 minutes. For the odds to be perfect, the house should pay $4 for every $1 bet. But in reality, the house pays $3 for $1 bet. That 25 percent difference is the “edge” the house possesses. Once you figure out the odds of actually winning keno and the payoffs the casino gives, you will realize that the house does not pay what the actual odds are.
In this Article we Present to You an Extensive list of the Most Commonly Used Terminology in Keno!
Today, you can play keno both offline as well as online. If you are new to Keno, you would do well to know the different terms used in the game. What is an ‘all or nothing’? Or a ‘ball game’? What does someone mean when he uses the term ‘buy-in tournament’? This article provides a glossary of these and some other terms used in Keno.
The Most Important Keno Terms to Know
Keno: This is today’s version of an ancient Chinese lottery. You get to draw 20 numbers out of a total of 80 (nowadays the total is 120), and you win if you are able to correctly guess the numbers drawn.
All or Nothing: This is a term used in Keno to represent a ticket that pays only if you draw all the numbers picked, or if you draw none of the numbers picked.
Ball Game: This is the most common form of Keno nowadays. In this form of the game, plastic balls represent the numbers.
Blank: This is a term used to represent an unused Keno ticket.
Blower: The blower is part of the machine that is used to dispense the plastic balls used in Keno. With the blower, the game operator can force the balls into a tube, using air.
Buy-in Tournament: This is a type of Keno tournament where you have to pay a pre-determined fee upfront. Once you pay the fee, you are eligible to play in a specific number of games or play a set number of tickets. In a buy-in tournament, you get to keep any money you win.
Cage: The cage is no longer used in Keno games today. Basically, it was a wire cage used in the earlier days to hold Keno balls. Today, you mostly find plastic hoppers. The term ‘cage’ also denotes a specific area in a casino where only employees are allowed, and where you can find Keno workers.
Catch: This is a term used to denote a number that you have called in a Keno game.
Catch-all: This is a type of Keno game where you have to get all the numbers marked on your ticket. Another game is Catch-zero, where you must ensure you do not get any of the numbers that you have marked on your ticket.
Close: This is a term used to identify that period in time when the casino stops writing any more Keno tickets. The time period usually stretches from just prior to the draw till immediately after the draw.
Fractional Rate Ticket: This term is used to represent a ticket that you can play for a fraction of the standard rate.
High End Ticket: This term is used to refer to a Keno ticket that pays you more if you catch a high number of spots. However, if you catch a lower number of spots compared to the standard ticket, you win less or even no money.
High Roller Ticket: This is a Keno ticket whose minimum pricing is high.
House Edge: This term is used to represent the percentage of bets that the house, i.e. the casino, can hope to win over time. The standard house edge is 30%, though this number is not necessarily the same for all casinos.
Keno Glossary – Summing Up
The above are some of the terms that you will encounter when you start playing Keno. You would do well to read up more about the large number of terms related to Keno before going ahead and trying your luck at the game. We have further glossary lists on our site so check them out!
Keno can be very versatile in terms of pay table and house edge. Also, it depends largely on the maximum number of spots that players can choose and attempt to 'hit' or 'catch'. It is typically limited to 10, 12 or 15 numbers (spots), but it can also be 20 numbers right away. One thing is always the same, there are 20 winning numbers drawn out of the total 80. Let us put the most typical 10-Spot Keno variation under the microscope and follow some concrete calculations.
This web page is a follow-up to the general Keno rules. Of course you can find there some interesting calculations as well. This time we pick up the most typical Keno variation with 10 spots. Thus the top prize is paid out if a player manages to guess 10 numbers out of the 20 numbers drawn.
Having chosen a Ten Spot Keno game, we can now calculate all the true odds and probabilities that are valid for this type of game. We will also use some model or possible pay table, which is the last element to enable us calculate the house edge (based on this model pay table). As the pay tables vary from casino to casino, so does the house edge.
A Model Paytable
Let us start with the pay table. Table 1 shows the payout ratios (the multiples) for all combinations of spots and successful hits. If you e.g. tried to catch 10 numbers and succeeded to hit them all, you would receive $200,000 for a $1 ticket. If you were less successful and hit 'only' 9 of 10, the win would be $10,000 and so on. You can see that if you attempted to hit 10 to 6 numbers and hit no number, your bet would be returned.
The color key is simple. The payouts in green are winning, those in bright red are losing. The same logic is used for the remaining tables related to probability, odds and house edge as well.
Table 1 – A model 10-spot Keno pay table
Note: The model pay table was actually borrowed from the Czech lottery game Šťastných 10 (meaning 'Lucky 10' in English), which is virtually a ten spot Keno game that fits perfectly for our needs. The calculations of odds and probabilities below are 100% valid for any ten spot Keno game. The model pay table will also be used demonstrate the calculation of the house edge (see Table 4, but let us not skip over).
Ten Spot Keno Probabilities & Odds
The probabilities for all combinations of spots and hits are shown at the Table 2. It is a very valuable source of information. First of all, as always, the total of probabilities in a column must equal one (or 100% if you like). Then you can see, which outcomes are the most probable. For instance if you chose to catch 10 numbers, the most probable outcome would be hitting 2 numbers out of 10 (0.2953 or 29.53% to be exact).
You can also sum up the green values in a column to arrive at a winning (or actually 'not losing' probability, because if you manage to catch zero numbers your bet will only be returned), in case of the 10-spot ticket it is 0.1105 or 11.05%. Now you can sum up the red values or deduct the winning probability from 1 or 100% and you get the probability to lose 0.8895 or 88.95%.
Table 2 – Ten spot Keno probabilities
For an exhibit we can calculate the probability of the least probable outcome, that is to catch all 10 numbers out of 10 (please note that for space purposes there are only 7 digits displayed in the Table 2). We already know that probability can be defined as the number of positive possibilities (the nominator) divided the total number of possibilities (the denominator).
It is easier to determine all possibilities (combinations) – they are the same for all-spot Keno games. We may use the Excel function =COMBIN(80,20) and get the result of 3,535,316,142,212,180,000 combinations (the denominator). To calculate the number of all winning possibilities is a bit harder as we have to catch 10 numbers out of 10, but there are 20 winning numbers drawn out of 80. Thus, with the use of Excel, the nominator is the following: =COMBIN(10,10)*COMBIN(80-10,20-10) = 396,704,524,216.
Now we can put it together and calculate the probability to get the top prize in ten spot Keno. That is so close to zero that it is almost impossible:
396,704,524,216 ÷ 3,535,316,142,212,180,000 = 0.000000112211895134156 or 0.0000112211895134156%.
You may think that the standalone probabilities in the Table 2 are not enough to decide whether they are that good or that bad. And you would be right. They need to be matched with the payouts. That is the only fair way to assess it and that is actually how the house edge is being calculated. But let us not jump forward.
First we can have a look at Table 3, the odds. They are just another and perhaps better-arranged presentation of the probabilities (the relation is: Odds = One divided Probability).
Table 3 – Ten spot Keno odds or the probability in the format '1 in ...'
Keno Payout Odds
10-Spot Keno House Edge
The calculation of house edge in ten spot Keno is simpler as it seems. We will determine it based on the concept of expected value. We will take the net payouts from the Table 4 and the probabilities from the Table 2. The procedure to arrive at the expected outcome is as follows: the net payouts are simply multiplied (weighted) by the probabilities and added up.
Table 4 – Ten spot Keno net payouts (considering the $1 invested in the game)
Let us take e.g. a ten spot column as an example and suppose we bet a dollar. We may win $199,999 netto with the probability 0.000000112211895134156, so the partial expected outcome is 199,999 × 0.000000112211895134156 = approx. 0.0224 (see the coordinates 10×10 in the Table 5). Now we slide a row down, that is to hitting 9 out of 10 and the net win $9,999 with the probability 0.0000061 and the next partial expected outcome is approx. 0.0612 (due to rounding) and so on. Then we add up all partial results and get the value –0.5016 or –50.16%. That is quite high compared to Craps for instance (<2%).
Table 5 – Ten spot Keno house edge
The expected outcome for a player is negative. It is no surprise as it is the essence of all gambling and lottery games. House gets what a player loses—that is where the house edge comes from. Thus if you played 10 spot Keno with this pay table (Table 1), then, in the long run, you would likely lose about 50 cents per each dollar wagered in the game.
Keno Odds Chart
It is needed to highlight, however, that the expected value is related to the long-term period and that it does not mean that you could not be lucky enough to win the top prize with your first Keno ticket. It is just a lottery. You mostly lose, but if you win it is usually worth it.
Keno Pay Chart
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