Although the game of keno is conducted in the keno lounge, you do not
have
to go to the lounge to play. The casino provides blank keno tickets in
its
restaurants, bars, and various lounge areas. These areas are patrolled
by
attractive young ladies in very short dresses who are known as runners.
If
you want to play, simply fill out a ticket and call over a runner when
you
see one. Or have any casino employee call one for you. The runner can
also
provide you with blank tickets and crayon if need be. She will take
your
ticket and your bet to the keno lounge and register the ticket for you.
A
couple of minutes later, she will bring you the duplicate ticket.
These same lounge areas contain electronic boards, just like the one in
the
keno drawing, the runner will come around again on her rounds. IF you
have
won, she will verify the win for you using her draw ticket, and she
will
even take your duplicate ticket down to the counter, collect your
winnings,
and bring them back to you. This makes keno the only casino game you
can
play while simultaneously engaging in some other activity, such as
having a
snack in the coffee shop or trying to pick up a young lady at the bar.
However, note the disclaimer the appears in small print on each keno
ticket:
"Keno runners are available for your convenience. We are not
responsible if
tickets are too late for current game. " The keno runner will do her
best to
get your ticket in before the next drawing begins. If she fails, she
will
return your ticket and your money when she comes back on her rounds. At
that
point, you will have the option of either having her play the ticket
for the
next game of forgetting about the whole thing. However, if your numbers
have
come up on the game you missed, you can't sue the casino. If you have
had a
religious revelation that your numbers are going to hit on the very
next
game, you had better run down to the keno lounge and play the ticket
yourself.
Casinos run keno games continuously, twenty-four hours a day. There is
no
exact time limit. About eight to ten games are conducted each hour, so
that
two hundred or more games are played in each casino each day, each one
running six to eight minutes. Tickets are accepted on these games at
all
times, except during each drawing, which takes about two minutes. A
supervisor sitting behind the keno writers decides when to close each
game.
At that point, the word CLOSE is lit up on the keno board and no more
bets
can be made for that particular game. As soon as the drawing is
concluded,
tickets may be submitted for the next game.
