How to Play Keno

To play the game, you first obtain a keno blank and mark the number or numbers you've selected. These keno blanks are available in the keno lounges and can also be found on tables in the casinos, restaurants, and lounges.

A keno blank contains eighty numbers in consecutive order from 1 to 80, with ten numbers on each line. You can mark from one to fifteen numbers on each blank when playing a straight ticket.

A one-number mark is known as a one-spot, a two-number selection is called a two-spot, and so on up to fifteen. On other kinds of tickets more numbers may be selected, but payoffs are never made for more than fifteen spots.

These payoffs are based on three factors: first, the number of spots you select; second, the number of actual spots you catch; and finally, the price you pay for the ticket. In most casinos the minimum ticket is a 70¢ one, though on the Strip this price may increase to $1.40, while-in smaller casinos and those catering to lower-limit keno players, the ticket price may be as low as 35¢.

After you have selected the number of spots you wish to play, you then write in the price of the ticket in the right-hand margin of the keno blank. When tickets are 70¢, you can bet the minimum or multiples of that price. For example, a ticket may be marked for 70¢, $1.40, $2.10, $2.80, and so on, at the discretion of the player.

Once the ticket is marked with both the number of spots you wish to play and the price of the ticket you wish to purchase, the blank is taken to a keno writer or given to a keno runner, who in turn takes it to a writer.

After the keno writer is paid for the ticket, he will keep the original player-marked ticket and return a duplicate ticket on which he has marked in india ink the numbers you have selected.

play the game

the original ticket

the ticket and shows