Calculating the house percentage on each kind of keno ticket is a long
and
complex process. If first involves calculating the odds of hitting
every
possible payoff combination for that ticket. This must be multiplied
against
all the payoffs offered by the house for this ticket. Finally, it is
necessary to calculate how much it would cost to play every possible
ticket
of that particular type (for example, all possible eight-spot tickets),
and
this cost must be compared to the previously calculated payoff total.
This
process has to be repeated for each of the fifteen possible straight
tickets. Finally, since each casino has its own payoff schedule, this
process would have to be repeated at each casino you play in. It's not
exactly the kind of thing you work out in your head while filling out
your
ticket in the keno lounge.
Those who have taken the trouble to perform these calculations (with
the
help of computers) have all agreed that, as so often happens in
gambling,
the variety offered by different kinds of keno tickets and different
payoff
schedules is more apparent than real. All keno tickets in virtually all
casinos have a house percentage of just around 25 percent. To put this
in
perspective, this is about five times as high as the percentage one
faces
when he makes a bet at the roulette table and about eighteen times as
high
as the percentage on a line bet at craps. Admittedly, the player would
make
many bets at roulette or craps in the time it would take to play one
keno
ticket. This means that the percentage at those other games are applied
repeatedly far more often, which gives them that much more opportunity
to
grind down the player's bankroll. This does not change the fact that a
25
percent edge makes keno as bad a game as one will encounter in a
casino.
That 25 percent figure is the most important thing you must always
remember
about keno. It is far more relevant to you chances of success than all
the
esoterica about exotic combination tickets. It makes it clear that the
best
strategy one can ever hope to fashion for keno is to stay away from the
game. The next-best strategy is to risk as little money at it as
possible.
If you feel you have to play the game at all, you should stick to small
wagers. Fortunately, the low minimums at the game make this possible.
The answer to the often-asked question, what are the best numbers to
bet on,
is: it doesn't matter. Every number has the same chance of coming up as
every other number. If you don't buy that claim, go back and read the
section on the fallacy of the maturity of chances. Add to what we have
already learned about the mnemonic powers of dice and roulette wheels
the
following, simple but profound truth: ping-pong, balls have no memory.
