Best Keno Strategy, Tips, and Tricks (2024)

A solid keno strategy can be the difference between you walking out of the casino with a bunch of cash or empty-handed.

Although the game itself is rather simple, there are certain ways to improve your chances of winning at the top online casinos. You can continue to read the following keno strategies, or you can head to the below sites to play right now!

1. Shop the Pay Tables

Now that you know where to play, let’s get into my keno casino tips. You can play keno in a couple of different ways, primarily at a casino or online.

If you’re playing electronic keno, select the machine offering the best pay tables. Don’t expect all the keno machines in the casino to have the same pay table.

Here’s an example of the information for a ten-spot card:

Note that any number of spots hit below five pay nothing. Naturally, as you play, you’ll notice a ten-spot card consistently hits three and four spots. “Oh, so close!” you’ll cry. Later, you’ll mutter words you haven’t heard since you visited that naval shipyard.

Incidentally, note that in the above pay table, the best number of spots to pick is six, which offers a 92.67% RTP. The worst number of spots to pick (with that pay table) are two: 90.19% RTP.

Sure, it doesn’t seem like that much of a difference, but remember: Our job here is to last as long as possible with the bankroll we came here with.

Sure, it doesn’t seem like that much of a difference, but remember: Our job here is to last as long as possible with the bankroll we came here with. This information is incredibly important, whether you’re looking for a 7 spot keno strategy, a 5 spot keno strategy, or any other.

Here’s a useful quick reference to the RTPs for various pay tables in keno.

Shopping the pay tables is a lot like shopping for a good online casino. For some extra advice in that regard, refer to our sign up guide below.

2. Pick Fewer Numbers

I’m reiterating that last point here with its own section – because it’s that important. As you might have heard before, less is more. This old saying is also one of my tips to win at keno.

The house edge in keno changes depending on the total number of spots you’ve picked. This means that you’ll have a slightly better chance of winning (in the long run) with a 4 card keno strategy than a 9 card strategy.

Why? The payout table tells you why. The most you can win by hitting all your spots is much bigger at the higher end of the selected numbers scale. Ten out of 10 typically pays 10,000x your bet.

I once had a slot host tell me that he never had—not once—seen anyone hit ten out of ten numbers in his twenty years in the business.

This alarmed me so much that I started selecting only nine numbers. For some reason, however, this didn’t change how much I won or lost.

In truth, the odds of hitting all ten spots in a standard game of keno is 8.9 million to one. Sure, it could happen in any of those millions of plays, but after the 10,000th pressing of the PLAY button, you’ve officially entered Loserland.

Simply put, sometimes the best keno strategy is to make sure you aren’t going overboard. You can practice for free, or play for real money at DuckyLuck Casino, one of the top sites for keno gambling.

DuckyLuck Casino is a great place to play any casino game. They have over 440 slot games and a sick 500% up to $7,500 welcome bonus. They’re also one of the leaders in terms of Keno games offered (3).

3. Budget Your Play

You’ll be happy to know that my casino keno tips and tricks apply to other games as well. Self-control is one of the most important things for gamblers.

Set a limit for yourself and stick to it.

If you are visiting Vegas, for example, and planned on gambling $200 each day of your two-day visit, then once you’ve run through your daily $200, see a show, drive out to Hoover Dam, and visit the Neon Museum.

Also, don’t bet above your pay grade.

Sure, paying electronic keno at the $20 machine can be a giddy adventure, but that two hundred bucks you brought will last less than three minutes unless you win.

Five out of ten hits slightly more often than once every twenty plays. Two hundred bucks at $20 a pop last five plays.

One way to reduce your spending is to play keno online. The top casinos even provide you with welcome bonuses, and the gambling experience is just as fun.

New to Keno or gambling online in general? Managing your bankroll is just one important online gambling tip to keep in mind. Here are 14 others.

4. Slow Down

Managing your budget isn’t the only thing about self-control on my tips for playing keno. Hand in hand with that last tip is this often-ignored keno betting strategy: Slow the heck down.

Remember that all forms of gambling are a battle to conserve resources until a victory arrives.

If you need to slow down to a playing speed that is slower than electronic keno games can offer, switch to the keno lounge. Consider dropping your base bet amount from a dollar to fifty cents or a quarter. Or, God forbid, a dime.

Going from two games a minute to two games every 15 minutes can take some adjustment, as can dropping your wagered amount. But if you’re unlucky today, you’ve made a good choice because now you’re unlucky only six to eight times an hour, instead of being unlucky 100 times in that same hour.

You can try out a lot of these keno strategies by playing online. This one is particularly great because you get to play at your own pace at the best gambling sites.

If you don’t like how fast the games go in the casino, try visiting a top site like Wild Casino to slow things down. There are a ton of awesome games at Wild Casino if you’re in search for more than just Keno, while their welcome bonus alone (250% up to $5,000) is worth the visit.

5. Choose Your Numbers However You Wish

Here’s another keno strategy – regardless of whether your choice for keno is a brick & mortar casino or it’s one of the many safe online casinos we’ve vetted, the odds are the same: with 80 numbers on the standard keno card, each number has an equally poor chance of 1 in 80 of hitting.

It doesn’t matter whether you picked ten consecutive numbers or hit the “Quick Pick” button and let the machine choose up to ten random numbers for you.

I’ve hit good jackpots (9 out of 10 hits), selected the bottom row of the card (71 through 80), and I’ve had as much luck using the Quick Pick button. It really doesn’t matter.

Another method of number choice that won’t affect your success rate is choosing ‘cold’ numbers, i.e., numbers that have not been hit recently.

The odds of any particular number being hit is always 1 in 80 chance—every time you hit the PLAY button.

Incidentally, if you enjoy math, here’s a very in-depth look at keno odds.

6. Select the Most Rewarding Keno Variations

While you should stick with the standard 20-spot keno games, some variants don’t change the pay tables and may be worth a try.

I’m talking, of course, about the multi-card games, such as four-card keno and the one that allows you to play up to 20 cards per game.

Remember to check the pay tables and pass on the game if it offers worse returns than the single card version.

Why the pass? Think of it this way: If the pay table on the 20-card game is not as generous as that of the single-card game, you’re paying more for the opportunity to win less.

If you’re looking to play keno variations, I recommend Keno Draw from Bovada, as they’re one of the best Keno mobile apps you can use.

7. Avoid Gimmick Keno Games

Our last of the keno casino tips is that it’s not house-friendly enough that it can’t improve that edge just a skosh by entertaining you a bit.

There are plenty of keno games that feature dinosaur eggs, scarab beetles, bonus rounds, and triple payoffs if the last number selected by the RNG hits one of your chosen numbers.

How can the casino afford to pay out this much money? Look at the pay tables for Cleopatra or Caveman keno (two of the most popular keno variants).

Sure, they each offer bonus rounds and multiply wins under certain circ*mstances. But guess what: The pay table for regular play is where you’ll spend most of your time—it is pretty stingy with the payouts.

That is not to say you can’t win on these machines. Random is as random does, and occasionally, the good luck fairy sobers up enough to grant the wish of someone, and today might be your day.

Back to reality land. Play keno like you intend to win, minimizing your vulnerability to loss.

And if you’re that starved for entertainment, subscribe to Netflix or take up skydiving. Both are cheaper, and you’re more likely to survive than in a late-night battle with Caveman or Cleopatra keno.

The best keno strategy, in this case, is to play a more standard version of the game.

What is the Best Keno Strategy?

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to improve your chances of winning at keno. If you noticed, none of them are guaranteed to make you win. It’s more about reducing your chances of losing, while maintaining your betting upside.

The best keno strategy is to shop around for the best possible odds. Some casinos will offer better keno odds than others, so make sure you are always getting a fair price. After that, make sure you aren’t picking too many numbers.

It’s very easy to get carried away when playing keno, which applies both to the numbers you choose and the amount of times you play. Keno tricks that guarantee wins don’t exist, which is why you should stick to the strategies I mentioned above.

If you are looking for a Keno online casino to play at, I recommend playing Vegas Jackpot Keno at SlotsandCasino. They have great odds and you still have the chance to win big. They also have a rewarding welcome bonus and tons of other great games.

Footnotes:

• Further insight about “less is more” is from The Minimalists.