Keno is perhaps not the most well known of gambling games, but it’s actually one of the oldest gambling games in existence, reaching all the way back to Ming Dynasty China, if not earlier. Besides, even if you haven’t heard of it, you should be able to play it within a couple of minutes of first coming across it.

Keno is, basically, like every other lottery game out there, just with a few twists to keep things interesting. A Keno card is made up of 80 numbers and you pick them just like you do a normal lotto ticket. The catch is, though, that unlike most lottery cards that require you to pick 6 numbers, and an optional seventh number if you’re going for the powerball, Keno allows you to pick between 1 and 10 to 15 numbers for every draw of 20 numbers. The more numbers you’ve picked that match the winning numbers, the higher the payout. 

How to Optimize Your Keno Game

You might think that picking the maximum amount of numbers would be the only strategy to go for, but it’s actually not. Let’s say you pick 15 numbers and 6 of them match the winning combination of numbers, your payout will be significantly less than if you choose 7 numbers and 6 of them match the winning combo. Which is why most experts agree that in a game of keno, you should actually pick close to the amount you would pick in a normal lottery game as anywhere between 4 and 8 numbers is the perfect balance between a worthwhile payout and a decent chance of winning. 

Whatever your strategy, though, Keno games are actually much easier to find than you might think. First, a great many state lotteries administer Keno cards, but they’re also very common in most casinos and in Chinese gambling halls. 

This being the digital age, though, the real question is can they be played online and, most importantly, on your phone or tablet?

Yes, yes, and yes. On all fronts.

Online Options Available

There are actually three different ways you can play keno online.

• Free Keno. This is obviously the most boring version of online Keno, but playing Keno for free for a round or two is a good way to get yourself acclimated with the game and to have some understanding of how the payouts work. You won’t play this for long, though, so there’s no real reason to download a whole app. Just type in “free online Keno” and play a few rounds of whatever site comes up first.
• Live Keno. Arguably, the best version of online Keno is one where you basically join in on a live draw with other people. You join in on a video feed supplied by real world casinos and you buy a ticket online to join in on the fun. As this is a video feed, though, you may prefer to play live Keno on a laptop or tablet rather than a phone, but multiple games are available across all devices.
• Online Keno. The most common form of online Keno that you should be able to find plenty of examples of on online casinos, on your device’s app store, and on 24/7 Keno sites. Like other gambling games that you play against the computer, be it online slots or online video poker, you’re playing a simulation of the real thing rather than the thing itself (numbers aren’t literally drawn but are created by random number generators) but the experience is close enough, you can win just as much, if not more, than you can in real-world or live Keno games.

Which Version to Play on Your Mobile Phone?

So, with these options available, which is the best fit for you? 

Obviously, let’s just discard free keno as something that you would play as anything but a total beginner. Aside for practice purposes, there’s no fun and no rewards to come from playing a game of pure chance for nothing.

For the other two, it depends almost entirely on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for the authentic keno experience, but played from home or on the go, live video Keno games are the only way to go. It tends to be designed more for bigger displays than your average smartphone, but you can absolutely play it on your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy as long as you have a solid internet connection.

The most versatile online or app option, though, are online Keno games that you play against a computer. It doesn’t have the authenticity of live Keno and it works completely differently under the hood, but it offers some serious advantages by being available to play all day and night, at home or on the go, and with a few bonus features that you won’t find on any other version of Keno. 

• Easily fix a mistake without having to buy a whole new Keno card.
• Play multiple cards at the same time – which can be done live as well, of course, but it’s much harder to keep track of all of them, whereas here it all comes down to a single click of the mouse or touchscreen and the computer does the rest.
• Welcome and VIP bonuses when played through online casinos.
• Customized for mobile devices, unlike live Keno.
• Progressive jackpots. Taking a page from online slots, this form of Keno is the only version where you can make use of progressive jackpots and multipliers.

Whichever you choose, though, it has never been easier to play Keno from wherever you are in the world than it is now.