Understanding Keno Odds
Everyone knows that his or her odds against winning the lottery are pretty long. Although Keno is a lottery-style game, the odds are a bit different. This is because keno allows you to choose how many numbers you need to try to pick successfully in order to win; and unlike lottery games, you can win by correctly guessing as few as one or two numbers.
Here are how some of the odds work in Keno:
Understanding Keno Odds
Your odds in Keno are somewhat dependent on how many numbers you pick. The more numbers you pick, the more you have to correctly catch to get paid off. Getting a payout on all 15 or 20 numbers is very difficult relative to the odds, and the odds against correctly selecting all 15 are 20 are astronomical, even though the payout is huge.
Sample Keno Odds
In keno, a popular strategy is to pick an amount of spots on the high side closer to the middle, like eight, nine or 10. A sample payout table for picking nine numbers may be as follows:
Catch four spots: Pays 1-to-2. Catch five: Pays 3-to-1. Catch six: Pays 40-to-1. Catch seven: Pays 300-to-1. Catch eight: Pays 4000-to-1. Catch nine: Pays 37,500-to-1. The true odds of catching four spots are about 8-to-1 against. The odds of catching five are about 30-to-1, six, 174-to-1, seven, around 1700-to-1, eight around 30,000-to-1 and nine over a million-to-1.
Analysis of Keno Odds
As you can see, the odds in keno are not particularly favorable to the player. However, the possibility of winning thousands for a bet of only $2 is what appeals to many about keno. If you are only for fun, and not with a winning expectation, this prospect of winning big for a minimal investment may make keno an enjoyable play.