Keno is an ancient game of chance with origins that stretch all the way back to ancient China. It’s not perhaps one of the best known gambling games out there, but it has been around as long as it has for a reason. It’s very easy to play, if not so easy to win, and it has the advantage of being a lottery-style game so even states and countries where gambling in general is outlawed, Keno would be available from state or national lotteries.
How Keno Works
Like other lottery games, Keno is played by choosing a set of numbers on a ticket and hoping they match the numbers drawn during the lottery draw. In Keno, you can choose any number between 1 and 80, but what really sets it apart from traditional, Western lotto games is that you get to choose how many numbers you want to pick, as well as the numbers themselves.
Ultimately 20 numbers are usually drawn during the draw and you get to choose anywhere from 1 number to 20 on each Keno card. The sweet spot, however, to give you a chance of both winning and winning a sum that’s actually worth the cost of the ticket, is to pick between four and eight numbers.
The more of the numbers you picked match the winning numbers, the larger your prize. Theoretically, you can choose 20 numbers on your Keno ticket, but the odds of all 20 numbers matching are lower than pretty much any gambling game you can think of. Something in the one-in-quintillion range. Drawing that many numbers will require you needing to match something like 16 of them to even begin seeing any real winnings.
Or, to put it very simply, your winnings if you pick 3 numbers and match 2 are much, much lower than if you pick 8 numbers and 6 match, but both of these pay out much better than if you pick 20 numbers and 8 match.
Understanding Multipliers
Multipliers are a common feature in gambling games and the way they work is beyond simple: multiply your bet and if you win, multiply your winnings by the same amount.
In Keno, the way it works is that, depending on where you buy your ticket from, you will have an option to add a multiplier to the card. This could be 1.5x, 5x or 10x the base cost of the ticket and if you win, you will get paid out 1.5x, 5x or 10x the base winning. A $5 Keno card with a multiplier of 10x, for example, would cost $50, but if the normal payout for matching 7 of 8 numbers on that card is $1000, you will be paid out a whopping $10,000!
Should You Use a Multiplier
Multipliers are, therefore, ideal for people who want to win even bigger than your usual Keno payout (which is already fairly substantial) and don’t mind paying more for each card. Playing a 10x multiplier would cost the same as buying 10 cards, but the difference is that while buying 10 separate cards with different numbers selected greatly increases your chances of winning, playing a 10x multiplier on just one card will, as the saying goes, “put all your eggs in one basket” but if you win, you’ll win huge.
So, really, whether you choose to make use of a multiplier is entirely up to you and you can make an informed decision by evaluating whether you want to make a safe bet that pays out modestly or a much riskier bet that pays out exponentially better. Whatever you choose, though, make sure you’re being responsible and bet only what you can genuinely afford.
