Jan 28, 2019 Other than on bonus games like cleopatra and caveman keno where I think that you need 4 of ten for even money and have incentive to get bonuses and frequent small hits, I will never understand why people play 10 spots. You have to hit 9 of 10 or 10 of 10 to hit the top prize of 10,000-1 when the payoff for 8 of 8 is the same. There are plenty of Keno strategies online that will make you lose. It's time for a no-nonsense guide on how to win at Keno. Only tips that actually work. Feb 27, 2020 Keno is a casino game with Chinese origins in which you select numbers to bet on and are paid if those numbers are randomly chosen as hits. Keno is mostly a game of luck and payouts tend to be pretty low, but you can employ a few. Cleopatra Keno by IGT leverages the popular Cleopatra brand! For those not familiar, Keno is a fairly basic game where you choose numbers between 1 and 80 after which 20 numbers are drawn. You win if a certain number of your numbers match, based on the number of numbers you play.
If you've ever taken a shot at purchasing a miracle ticket in a draw lottery game like The Pick or Powerball, you already know how to play keno.
The original lottery game, keno, has been wagered for hundreds of years — before the time of Christ, that is. You'll learn more about the history of keno a little later on, but for now, just know that this simple number draw guessing game is older than every other casino game on the floor.
Fittingly enough for a game with so much history behind it, keno also holds plenty of secrets that most players simply don't know about.
If you're interested in learning more about how keno really works and why it appeals to so many players worldwide, look no further than this list of five little-known keno secrets no one tells you about.
1 – Keno as We Know It Today Was Invented by a Chinese Warlord Strapped for Cash
All the way back in the year 200 B.C.E. — or more than 2,200 years ago — Cheung Leung found himself facing a serious dilemma. The Chinese warlord was facing an imminent invasion from rival forces, and unless he could muster up an army to defend his city, Leung would soon be out of luck — and likely without a head.
Seeking a quick and effective way to raise funds for his armed forces but unwilling to impose forced taxes on his already put-upon people, Leung directed his wisest counselors to come up with a solution. They eventually reported back with a gambling game known as pai-ko p'iao, which was essentially what you and I know as a lottery today.
Citizens of the city were encouraged to purchase playing cards outfitted with 80 squares and 20 specialized symbols. Once a sufficient number of cards had been sold, Leung conducted a royal draw to pull 20 symbols at random, and whoever showed up to turn in the card holding the most 'catches' was rewarded with food, livestock, and other valuable resources.
But the real winner was Leung, who quickly amassed the treasure needed to compensate his armies and defend the city.
The connections between pai-ko p'iao and modern-day keno couldn't be clearer. The 80-number gambling game remained a staple in China and throughout Asia, and in the 19th century, immigrants arriving in California brought what the locals dubbed 'Chinese Lottery' along for the ride.
Soon enough, like all cultural imports, the Chinese Lottery was tweaked and tinkered with until keno as it's played today was born.
2 – You Can Mint Yourself a Millionaire Thanks to Progressive Keno Jackpots
For the longest time, keno was played for fixed jackpots that averaged $25,000 for landing a perfect 8-, 9-, or 10-spot card.
But at some point, players realized that the ridiculous odds against — it's a 1 in 8.9 million shot to nail all 10 numbers — made capped payouts like that a bum deal.
Casino operators, both land-based and online, got wise to the situation too. Rather than lose lucrative keno action to lower house edge games like video poker, the casinos borrowed that fan favorite's prized element — progressive jackpots.
Today, you can take home $1.9 million like one lucky winner at the Atlantis Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, did back in June of 2017. The Atlantis is known as a keno hotspot thanks to the venue's 9-spot progressive jackpot option for $1.50 per play.
The seven-figure progressive award linked to Mega Keno, a popular jackpot network found in casinos across the country, rises even higher.
If you want to wager on amazing progressive jackpots like Mega Keno, just check this page to see if your favorite online casino sites offers the game.
3 – Online Keno Is Far From a One Size Fits All Affair
When you hop online to visit your favorite online casino site, the keno menu can be a beautiful sight to behold.
Presenting far more options than your typical casino keno parlor, or even one of the modern video keno machines, online keno sites make a point to expand the game's horizons.
The popular Golden Egg Keno game, for example, lets players earn free games when they correctly catch a specially designated 'golden number.' And in Last Blast Keno, catching the last number pulled on the draw is good for a sweet 4x multiplier on your overall payout.
To see just how diverse the online keno world can be, get a load of the eclectic list below.
Popular Online Keno Games
- Bonus Keno
- Fire Ball Action
- Firefly Keno
- Golden Egg Keno
- Grand National
- Keno Live
- Keno Pop
- Keno Universe
- Last Blast Keno
- Luck of the Bonus
- Lucky Keno
- Magic Keno
- Super Keno
- Tropical Vacation
- Turbo Keno
- Tutan Keno
- Jackpot Keno
- Instant Keno
- Klub Keno
- Krazy Keno
- Power Keno
- Super Keno
- High/Low/Middle
- Extra Draw Keno
- Jumbo Keno Progressive
- Triple Trouble Keno
- Fremont Super Eight
- Cleopatra Keno
- Triple Power Keno
- Jackpot Party Keno
- Caveman Keno Plus
- Keno Exacta
- Triple Diamond Keno
- Keno Draw Poker
- 40-Ball Keno
- Klub Keno
- Bonus Spot Keno
- Top Bottom Keno
- Balloon Game Keno
- Circus Keno
- Critter Country Keno
- Crossroads Keno
- Fire Power Keno
- Golden Hits Keno
- Liberty Stars Keno
- Redneck Keno
- Super Spot Keno
- Thunder Power Keno
4 – NetEnt Online Casinos Offer the Best Keno Odds on the Internet
Speaking of online keno, the various iGaming operators out there are free to set their own payout odds for various winning combinations. What is perfect pairs in blackjack.
As a result, one online keno game is not like the next. As a sharp gambler, it's your job to put your bankroll to bear behind bets that offer the best possible payback percentage rates.
Thankfully, I 'know a guy,' so to speak, so I've been able to track down the average keno payback percentages offered by all the major online casinos.
As you'll see in the tables below, Net Entertainment (NetEnt) is the best keno provider with a 93.80% payback rate — which is more than 20% better than some of the lower-ranking sites.
Payback Percentages on Keno (by Online Casino Game Developer)
Draftkings defense scoring. Net Entertainment (NetEnt)
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 93.30% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 96.2% |
| 3 | 94.35% |
| 4 | 95.13% |
| 5 | 95.24% |
| 6 | 95.29% |
| 7 | 95.38% |
| 8 | 95.53% |
| 9 | 95.58% |
| 10 | 95.29% |
Odds On
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 92.85% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 92.09% |
| 3 | 93.04% |
| 4 | 93.79% |
| 5 | 93.87% |
| 6 | 93.79% |
| 7 | 96.35% |
| 8 | 92.9% |
| 9 | 92.86% |
| 10 | 94.54% |
Playtech
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 90.71% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 92.09% |
| 3 | 92.96% |
| 4 | 92.03% |
| 5 | 92.58% |
| 6 | 92.67% |
| 7 | 92.44% |
| 8 | 92.75% |
| 9 | 92.00% |
| 10 | 92.55% |
Real Time Gaming (RTG)
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 83.89% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 84.18% |
| 3 | 83.25% |
| 4 | 84.51% |
| 5 | 84.10% |
| 6 | 81.42% |
| 7 | 85.16% |
| 8 | 85.41% |
| 9 | 85.03% |
| 10 | 86.64% |
Cryptologic
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 72.86% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 72.15% |
| 3 | 73.54% |
| 4 | 73.79% |
| 5 | 73.22% |
| 6 | 71.61% |
| 7 | 72.41% |
| 8 | 72.71% |
| 9 | 71.87% |
| 10 | 72.35% |
And one last thing about online keno to keep in mind is just how good a 90+ payback percentage really is in this game.
While the brick and mortar casinos are skinning players alive with average keno payback rates of only 65% to 80%, adding an extra 10% payback equity to your ledger by playing keno online offers a huge helping hand.
5 – Landing a Perfect 20-Spot Card Is Essentially Impossible
For recreational gamblers living anywhere in America, their personal benchmark for longshot odds likely comes from the Powerball lottery.
Winning the absurd billion-dollar jackpots paid out every so often by Powerball requires the player to beat odds of 1 in 292,201,338.
That's a longshot if I ever saw one, but it can't compare to the infinitesimal chances keno players have of landing a perfect 20-spot card.
With 80 numbers to choose from and a 20/20 draw needed to claim the game's largest payout — one casinos don't even bother calculating because they've never been won — a 20-spot card clocks in at a 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,174,320 chance.
That ridiculous string of digits can be read as 3.5 quintillions, and just in case you're not a math major, that means hitting a 20-spot is 12 billion times harder than cashing in that giant Powerball paycheck.
Conclusion
Keno really does represent the best of both worlds when it comes to casino gambling.
The game is easy to learn and quite entertaining when Lady Luck is looking your direction. A small stake of only a few bucks can be parlayed into big winnings when you catch a bunch of numbers. And the pace of play ensures you won't be stuck sitting at a table waiting for dealers and fellow gamblers to make their move.
Cleopatra Keno Slots
On the flip side, though, keno offers by far the worst odds on any casino floor, making it quite difficult to eke out a profit over the long run. Keno can also be a bit boring if you prefer skill-based gambling.
This duality is what makes keno such an interesting game, and now that you know five of its most closely guarded secrets, making sense of its intricacies should be a breeze.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Cleopatra Comes Bearing Gifts
The game of Keno has a rich history, dating all the way back to Ancient China, and Keno is even said to have helped fund the building of the Great Wall of China. So it is somewhat fitting that, after all this time, a variation of it has emerged that involves a character out of ancient history, Queen Cleopatra.
Cleopatra was the last ruler of Egypt's Ptolemaic Dynasty, and although she lived over two thousand years ago, her legend lives on, and is particularly embodied in modern casino gaming, such as the popular Cleopatra slots. It's not just the legend that Keno game makers were looking to capture here, although there's no doubt that many find Cleopatra's famed allure quite appealing.
Cleopatra Keno's beauty is more than just skin deep, as this variety of Keno, like all Keno game variations, offers a twist to it, and an interesting one at that. Should the final number drawn contributes to a win for you, you not only win 12 free games, but the payouts at these free games are doubled.
If you've ever taken a shot at purchasing a miracle ticket in a draw lottery game like The Pick or Powerball, you already know how to play keno.
The original lottery game, keno, has been wagered for hundreds of years — before the time of Christ, that is. You'll learn more about the history of keno a little later on, but for now, just know that this simple number draw guessing game is older than every other casino game on the floor.
Fittingly enough for a game with so much history behind it, keno also holds plenty of secrets that most players simply don't know about.
If you're interested in learning more about how keno really works and why it appeals to so many players worldwide, look no further than this list of five little-known keno secrets no one tells you about.
1 – Keno as We Know It Today Was Invented by a Chinese Warlord Strapped for Cash
All the way back in the year 200 B.C.E. — or more than 2,200 years ago — Cheung Leung found himself facing a serious dilemma. The Chinese warlord was facing an imminent invasion from rival forces, and unless he could muster up an army to defend his city, Leung would soon be out of luck — and likely without a head.
Seeking a quick and effective way to raise funds for his armed forces but unwilling to impose forced taxes on his already put-upon people, Leung directed his wisest counselors to come up with a solution. They eventually reported back with a gambling game known as pai-ko p'iao, which was essentially what you and I know as a lottery today.
Citizens of the city were encouraged to purchase playing cards outfitted with 80 squares and 20 specialized symbols. Once a sufficient number of cards had been sold, Leung conducted a royal draw to pull 20 symbols at random, and whoever showed up to turn in the card holding the most 'catches' was rewarded with food, livestock, and other valuable resources.
But the real winner was Leung, who quickly amassed the treasure needed to compensate his armies and defend the city.
The connections between pai-ko p'iao and modern-day keno couldn't be clearer. The 80-number gambling game remained a staple in China and throughout Asia, and in the 19th century, immigrants arriving in California brought what the locals dubbed 'Chinese Lottery' along for the ride.
Soon enough, like all cultural imports, the Chinese Lottery was tweaked and tinkered with until keno as it's played today was born.
2 – You Can Mint Yourself a Millionaire Thanks to Progressive Keno Jackpots
For the longest time, keno was played for fixed jackpots that averaged $25,000 for landing a perfect 8-, 9-, or 10-spot card.
But at some point, players realized that the ridiculous odds against — it's a 1 in 8.9 million shot to nail all 10 numbers — made capped payouts like that a bum deal.
Casino operators, both land-based and online, got wise to the situation too. Rather than lose lucrative keno action to lower house edge games like video poker, the casinos borrowed that fan favorite's prized element — progressive jackpots.
Today, you can take home $1.9 million like one lucky winner at the Atlantis Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, did back in June of 2017. The Atlantis is known as a keno hotspot thanks to the venue's 9-spot progressive jackpot option for $1.50 per play.
The seven-figure progressive award linked to Mega Keno, a popular jackpot network found in casinos across the country, rises even higher.
If you want to wager on amazing progressive jackpots like Mega Keno, just check this page to see if your favorite online casino sites offers the game.
3 – Online Keno Is Far From a One Size Fits All Affair
When you hop online to visit your favorite online casino site, the keno menu can be a beautiful sight to behold.
Presenting far more options than your typical casino keno parlor, or even one of the modern video keno machines, online keno sites make a point to expand the game's horizons.
The popular Golden Egg Keno game, for example, lets players earn free games when they correctly catch a specially designated 'golden number.' And in Last Blast Keno, catching the last number pulled on the draw is good for a sweet 4x multiplier on your overall payout.
To see just how diverse the online keno world can be, get a load of the eclectic list below.
Popular Online Keno Games
- Bonus Keno
- Fire Ball Action
- Firefly Keno
- Golden Egg Keno
- Grand National
- Keno Live
- Keno Pop
- Keno Universe
- Last Blast Keno
- Luck of the Bonus
- Lucky Keno
- Magic Keno
- Super Keno
- Tropical Vacation
- Turbo Keno
- Tutan Keno
- Jackpot Keno
- Instant Keno
- Klub Keno
- Krazy Keno
- Power Keno
- Super Keno
- High/Low/Middle
- Extra Draw Keno
- Jumbo Keno Progressive
- Triple Trouble Keno
- Fremont Super Eight
- Cleopatra Keno
- Triple Power Keno
- Jackpot Party Keno
- Caveman Keno Plus
- Keno Exacta
- Triple Diamond Keno
- Keno Draw Poker
- 40-Ball Keno
- Klub Keno
- Bonus Spot Keno
- Top Bottom Keno
- Balloon Game Keno
- Circus Keno
- Critter Country Keno
- Crossroads Keno
- Fire Power Keno
- Golden Hits Keno
- Liberty Stars Keno
- Redneck Keno
- Super Spot Keno
- Thunder Power Keno
4 – NetEnt Online Casinos Offer the Best Keno Odds on the Internet
Speaking of online keno, the various iGaming operators out there are free to set their own payout odds for various winning combinations. What is perfect pairs in blackjack.
As a result, one online keno game is not like the next. As a sharp gambler, it's your job to put your bankroll to bear behind bets that offer the best possible payback percentage rates.
Thankfully, I 'know a guy,' so to speak, so I've been able to track down the average keno payback percentages offered by all the major online casinos.
As you'll see in the tables below, Net Entertainment (NetEnt) is the best keno provider with a 93.80% payback rate — which is more than 20% better than some of the lower-ranking sites.
Payback Percentages on Keno (by Online Casino Game Developer)
Draftkings defense scoring. Net Entertainment (NetEnt)
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 93.30% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 96.2% |
| 3 | 94.35% |
| 4 | 95.13% |
| 5 | 95.24% |
| 6 | 95.29% |
| 7 | 95.38% |
| 8 | 95.53% |
| 9 | 95.58% |
| 10 | 95.29% |
Odds On
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 92.85% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 92.09% |
| 3 | 93.04% |
| 4 | 93.79% |
| 5 | 93.87% |
| 6 | 93.79% |
| 7 | 96.35% |
| 8 | 92.9% |
| 9 | 92.86% |
| 10 | 94.54% |
Playtech
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 90.71% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 92.09% |
| 3 | 92.96% |
| 4 | 92.03% |
| 5 | 92.58% |
| 6 | 92.67% |
| 7 | 92.44% |
| 8 | 92.75% |
| 9 | 92.00% |
| 10 | 92.55% |
Real Time Gaming (RTG)
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 83.89% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 84.18% |
| 3 | 83.25% |
| 4 | 84.51% |
| 5 | 84.10% |
| 6 | 81.42% |
| 7 | 85.16% |
| 8 | 85.41% |
| 9 | 85.03% |
| 10 | 86.64% |
Cryptologic
| SPOTS | PAYBACK |
|---|---|
| Average | 72.86% |
| 1 | 75.00% |
| 2 | 72.15% |
| 3 | 73.54% |
| 4 | 73.79% |
| 5 | 73.22% |
| 6 | 71.61% |
| 7 | 72.41% |
| 8 | 72.71% |
| 9 | 71.87% |
| 10 | 72.35% |
And one last thing about online keno to keep in mind is just how good a 90+ payback percentage really is in this game.
While the brick and mortar casinos are skinning players alive with average keno payback rates of only 65% to 80%, adding an extra 10% payback equity to your ledger by playing keno online offers a huge helping hand.
5 – Landing a Perfect 20-Spot Card Is Essentially Impossible
For recreational gamblers living anywhere in America, their personal benchmark for longshot odds likely comes from the Powerball lottery.
Winning the absurd billion-dollar jackpots paid out every so often by Powerball requires the player to beat odds of 1 in 292,201,338.
That's a longshot if I ever saw one, but it can't compare to the infinitesimal chances keno players have of landing a perfect 20-spot card.
With 80 numbers to choose from and a 20/20 draw needed to claim the game's largest payout — one casinos don't even bother calculating because they've never been won — a 20-spot card clocks in at a 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,174,320 chance.
That ridiculous string of digits can be read as 3.5 quintillions, and just in case you're not a math major, that means hitting a 20-spot is 12 billion times harder than cashing in that giant Powerball paycheck.
Conclusion
Keno really does represent the best of both worlds when it comes to casino gambling.
The game is easy to learn and quite entertaining when Lady Luck is looking your direction. A small stake of only a few bucks can be parlayed into big winnings when you catch a bunch of numbers. And the pace of play ensures you won't be stuck sitting at a table waiting for dealers and fellow gamblers to make their move.
Cleopatra Keno Slots
On the flip side, though, keno offers by far the worst odds on any casino floor, making it quite difficult to eke out a profit over the long run. Keno can also be a bit boring if you prefer skill-based gambling.
This duality is what makes keno such an interesting game, and now that you know five of its most closely guarded secrets, making sense of its intricacies should be a breeze.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Cleopatra Comes Bearing Gifts
The game of Keno has a rich history, dating all the way back to Ancient China, and Keno is even said to have helped fund the building of the Great Wall of China. So it is somewhat fitting that, after all this time, a variation of it has emerged that involves a character out of ancient history, Queen Cleopatra.
Cleopatra was the last ruler of Egypt's Ptolemaic Dynasty, and although she lived over two thousand years ago, her legend lives on, and is particularly embodied in modern casino gaming, such as the popular Cleopatra slots. It's not just the legend that Keno game makers were looking to capture here, although there's no doubt that many find Cleopatra's famed allure quite appealing.
Cleopatra Keno's beauty is more than just skin deep, as this variety of Keno, like all Keno game variations, offers a twist to it, and an interesting one at that. Should the final number drawn contributes to a win for you, you not only win 12 free games, but the payouts at these free games are doubled.
Free Cleopatra Keno
Cleopatra Keno Secrets Play
Does This Mean We Should Pick More Numbers?
The first thing that comes to mind when considering playing Cleopatra Keno is the fact that picking more numbers gives one a better opportunity to win more bonuses, the free games and the extra payouts.
This is true, but game designers don't want to make it this easy for you, or else it wouldn't even make sense to pick less than 10 numbers. It actually may not make sense, but not for this reason.
The way the payouts are set up, it actually turns out that it doesn't matter how many numbers you pick, from one to ten, as the pay tables are constructed to provide a similar edge to the casino regardless.
So the house edge with Cleopatra Keno is about 10%, which tends to be more than you see with slots or video poker, but certainly better than you would see in traditional Keno drawings, the brick and mortar kind. If you are looking for keno with better odds you can check our Top 7 Keno games list.
More Bonuses Can Be More Fun Though
If you like bonuses and free games, you can't hurt yourself odds wise by selecting more numbers with your Keno games, but you can certainly increase your fun by picking more, and even going with 10.
So the payouts may be distributed in such a way that it doesn't really matter as far as your returns go, but more numbers picked means more catches and more prizes in Keno generally, and when you throw in more bonus games with Cleopatra Keno, then this can be a great way to go indeed. Battleship jackpot command.
When you add in the fact that video Keno is simply more fun overall, with all the Keno you could ever possibly imagine playing just sitting there waiting for you, rather than the other way around, it's no wonder why Cleopatra Keno is such a hit.
