Playing Keno: is it a game of luck or strategy?

Keno is one of the oldest casino games. While it may not have the same notoriety and popularity as some of the more prominent casino games, such as poker or blackjack, Keno is a game that maintains stronger popularity outside of Europe and Western culture and still has a sizeable market in the East, where the game first originated.

From the offset, it’s vital to note that Keno is a game of luck – as are all casino games. Poker is a game in which you can apply strategy, and benefit from experience and skill. However, in the world of casino gaming, poker is very much the exception to the rule. So long as you understand this before you participate in your chosen casino game, you will be able to enjoy Keno and not get too tied up with chasing money or seeing it as a form of income, which is never a good sign.

What is Keno?

Although different game variations exist, they don’t stray too far from the original design, which has some similarities to a lotto game. Still, there are a lot more numbers involved. However, you’ll be given a ticket, usually numbered from 1 to 80, and you must select your numbers before 20 are randomly chosen.

It doesn’t matter if you buy a Keno ticket in a casino in Macau or have a game of online Keno in Australia; the rules remain mostly the same. It’s a pretty simple set of rules to follow, and if enough of your numbers are drawn, more than the other participants in the game, you’re usually in line to win the main prize. Rarely, some casinos will offer terms where you can win a prize for having the least numbers, but winning at Keno overwhelmingly relies on having the most numbers on the ticket.

Casino games that involve strategy

The only casino game that involves any level of effective strategy is poker. This doesn’t mean you’ll be able to just sit down and start playing at an elite level. It takes years to hone your skills to an even competent degree, and some of the world’s finest poker players have refined their skills over several decades.

Some of the most prestigious poker tournaments on the planet have eight-figure prize sums, and although luck plays a considerable role in determining the winner of these tournaments, being able to unsettle your opponent psychologically, keep a stern poker face and have the ability to psych out other players and calculate the odds of them having a better hand than you, are all critical if you’re going to become a professional player.

So Keno is all just luck?

If you look at some other casino games, such as roulette, this game involves selecting from a broad range of individual numbers, and they all have just as much chance of being drawn as the others. The main difference between Keno and roulette is that you select from numbers 0 to 36 in roulette. However, as Keno has more than double that, the probability of correctly guessing a specific number is much lower.

While some people online on podcasts or YouTube videos may claim to have a strategy that works for Keno, there is no such thing. It is essentially the same as being blindfolded and throwing a dart at a dartboard. In Keno, no number has a better chance of appearing, and there’s no way of knowing what numbers will come up in a particular round.

Poker has a decent level of strategy but it is specific to the top players; you also need to combine high strategic intelligence with other components of the game, such as the ability to read your opponents and guess the strength of their hand. Some games, like blackjack, have a limited, incremental amount of strategy. However, roulette, Keno and slot machines are games with zero strategies and nothing that can really sway the odds in your favour.

Final thoughts

Any game in which you must select numbers, such as a lotto or roulette, is a game of luck. There’s no way to tell whether or not your numbers will come up, and it is mathematical probability in its purest form. The key thing to remember when you’re betting on Keno is that betting games are designed as a form of enjoyment, not as a way to make money.

It isn’t just casino games like Keno that are pure luck – lotto games, which are similar to Keno, also involve zero strategies. If you put aside a suitable amount of money for your venture and don’t spend too much money or time betting on casino games, you’ll be able to enjoy Keno to the fullest.