How to Play Keno Online | Canadian Casino Games

Playing Keno online has become increasingly popular thanks to the boom of the online casino industry. In case you didn’t know, Keno is a lottery-themed casino game , popular among Canadian gamblers.  Keno has been around for thousands of years; rumour has it that the ancient Chinese used it to help fund the Great Wall of China. After that, the game became a favourite at local lotteries. Now, with online casinos, Keno in Canada has become a mainstay.

Top Online Casinos with Keno

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What is Keno?

Fingers holding pen while filling out keno ticket.

Like a lottery, players bet which numbers they think will win.  The bets are marked on a ticket. Then, with online keno games, the numbers are drawn using Random Number Generators (RNG). These RNG’s help ensure that the game is fair and free of bias. In fact, some provincial lottery corporations are offering online keno, BC Lotto being one of them.

When RNG’s aren’t used, physical keno balls are drawn from a cage or bubble. The winning numbers are marked on the keno board. The total number of balls drawn depends on the keno variant you play. It can range from 5 to 20 of the 80 numbers used.

Previously, it was common to have daily keno draws, weekly draws and even monthly ones. With online casinos, the draws happen every few minutes, increasing your opportunities to play and win.

Learn How to Play Keno

Playing keno online is pretty simple.

Step 1 Step 1
Buy a keno ticket or make a bet.
Step 2 Step 2
Select the numbers you think will come up.
Step 3 Step 3
Cross your fingers.

That’s all there is to it … sort of. While the basics of Keno are straight forward, there are intricacies to it that can affect your gaming experience. For instance, what Keno variant are you playing?

Keno Variants

When deciding to play keno, there are a number of variations you should consider, each with their own bonuses:

Live Keno Live Keno
Offered at a select number of online casinos, like PlayAmo Casino , Live Keno is the closest you’ll get to a real-world game. Keno balls are drawn via a live feed, and players bet on their tickets. Depending on the casino, you’ll see a number range of 5 to 20 ball draws.
Power Keno Power Keno
Power Keno is like normal keno; you pick your winning numbers, place your bet and cross your fingers. The bonus with Power Keno is that if you catch the last ball called, you can multiply your winnings by 4.
Super Keno Super Keno
Essentially the reversal of Power Keno in that with Super Keno, the winning number with the multiplier is the first keno ball drawn and not the last.
Combination Keno Combination Keno
With combination keno, it works like a combination ticket. That means you can make bets involving groups of numbers, instead of “straight up” bets, on single numbers. It comes with better odds, but a worse payout.

Keno Ticket Types

To understand the game of keno, it’s important to know how it works, both online and offline. While online keno doesn’t have ticket types, traditionally, the game is played using tickets. The same way you would pick lottery numbers.

We’re going to look at the top 4 keno ticket types:

Combination Ticket Straight Ticket Split Ticket Computer Ticket
In Keno, a combination ticket involves betting on a group of numbers, increasing your chance of a winning bet. The downside to these combos is that they reduce your payout. This is like an inside bet in roulette , where you would place a trio or quad bet.
These are tickets where you make straight up bets, meaning that you place bets on up to 12 numbers.
A split ticket involves the player make two sets of straight up bets on the same ticket. These sets cannot share numbers. Essentially, you as the player get a better chance of winning at the cost of a second bet.
Not unlike lottery or bingo, a computer ticket is one in which a computer randomly picks your keno numbers for you.

How to Win Keno

Keno is a game of luck—plain and simple. There’s no real strategy when it comes to picking winning numbers, both in person and online. With that being said, you can do some things to increase your odds of winning when playing keno online.

Playing a combination game, where you’re betting on a group of numbers rather than individuals, is going to offer you better odds. It will however, reduce your potential payout, which is the case with any casino bet that involves better odds.

To increase your potential payout, consider one of the variations we talked about above. Power Keno and Super Keno won’t give you better odds, but they will increase your potential payout with that multiplier on the first and last keno balls.

Demo of Monkey Keno

Some online keno games will keep track of “hot” and “cold” numbers. These are winning numbers that have or have not been showing up in the previous draws. Don’t let yourself get sucked into this trap. These games are all powered by Random Number Generators. In using an RNG to power the keno game, it’s impossible for a number to go hot or cold.

Understanding Keno Payouts

When trying to understand the payouts in Keno, you first need to know the odds. Depending on the keno variation, you could be looking at winning numbers that pay millions of dollars. Things like the number of keno balls (5, 10, 15, 20), multipliers and variant rules, all play a role in your odds of winning. But, what are the odds of you catching 20 numbers in keno online?

  • 0 catches – 1 in 843.380
  • 1 catch – 1 in 86.446
  • 2 catches – 1 in 20.115
  • 3 catches – 1 in 8.009
  • 4 catches – 1 in 4.877
  • 5 catches – 1 in 4.287
  • 6 catches – 1 in 5.258
  • 7 catches – 1 in 8.826
  • 8 catches – 1 in 20.055
  • 9 catches – 1 in 61.420
  • 10 catches – 1 in 253.801
  • 11 catches – 1 in 1,423.822
  • 12 catches – 1 in 10,968.701
  • 13 catches – 1 in 118,084.920
  • 14 catches – 1 in 1,821,881.628
  • 15 catches – 1 in 41,751,453.986
  • 16 catches – 1 in 1,496,372,110.872
  • 17 catches – 1 in 90,624,035,964.712
  • 18 catches – 1 in 10,512,388,171,906.553
  • 19 catches – 1 in 2,946,096,785,176,811.500
  • 20 catches – 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,173,800.000

Take a look at that number. The odds of hitting 20 are astronomical, but the payout would be unheard of. To date, nobody has ever caught all 20 keno balls, EVER. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play, it just means that your chance of hitting a massive win like that, are low.

Where to Play Free Keno

Most online casinos offer free play options for their games. That will generally extend to keno games. So, if you’re looking to play keno games for free, your casino will likely let you.

Free Play / Demo Mode

Casinos developed this so that you, as the player, can experience a game without putting money on the line.

If you’re new to keno online, then definitely try playing a few games for free before spending real money on it. This lets you try 5 number, 10 number and 20 number keno without ever betting a cent.

Any time you’re new to an online game that involves betting, you should try it out before you play for real.

Play Keno Live Now

For some players, nothing beats the feeling of a real casino or bingo hall. Well, that’s what live casino games are for, and Keno is part of that. Online casino’s like PlayAmo casino, offer you the ability to enjoy a live draw experience.

With these casino games, you as the player get to play your ticket and watch live as keno balls are drawn. In cases like this, rather than using an RNG, the casino has a live video feed with a person drawing the winning numbers from the cage/bubble.

Keno Glossary

If you want to fully grasp the game of keno, you should know the terminology before you start playing online or offline. This will help you understand the game better.

Cage / Bubble
This is the container that the casino uses to store the Keno balls.
Catch
This refers to when one of the numbers you picked comes up at the casino.
Deuce
When you play two side by side keno spots, like a split bet in roulette.
Keno Balls
There are 80 of these keno balls, all of which are numbered and drawn from the cage / bubble.
Keno Board
The board is used to record the winning numbers that have been drawn by the casino.
Random Number Generator
Casino games of all types use random number generators (RNG) to help ensure that games are fair to the player. These generate the winning numbers rather than a person drawing them from the cage.
Quick Pick
This online Keno feature has the game select random numbers for you. It’s like a computer ticket from your local lottery corporation where a computer picks our winning numbers.

Keno FAQ

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