Keno
Keno traces back roughly two thousand years to China — supposedly used to fund construction of the Great Wall, though that story is more myth than ledger. Today it's the fastest-moving game on most state lottery menus. Pick anywhere from one to ten numbers (spots) out of 80; the lottery draws 20.
How it works: Keno
Choose how many spots to play (anywhere from 1 to 10). Pick that many numbers from the 80-ball pool, or take Quick Pick. Wager between one and twenty dollars per game. Twenty numbers are drawn. Match your spots to win — prize amounts scale with both wager and spots played.
The real odds of Keno
These figures come straight from the game's official number matrix, so they're fixed by math — not by which numbers you pick. A quick pick has exactly the same chance as any other combination, and no generator can change that.
- Match all 10 main numbers
- 1 in 1,646,492,110,120
Putting those odds in perspective
- Total possible combinations
- 1,646,492,110,120
- Tickets for a 50% chance of the jackpot
- 1,141,165,192,500
- Tickets for a 1% chance of the jackpot
- 16,546,404,243
Playing one line per draw, you'd expect to hit the jackpot about once every 1,646,492,110,120 draws.
How Keno compares
Among the 14 games we generate, Keno ranks #1 by jackpot difficulty (1 = hardest to win).
| # | Game | Jackpot odds (1 in) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keno (this game) | 1,646,492,110,120 |
| 2 | Powerball | 292,201,338 |
| 3 | Mega Millions | 290,472,336 |
| 4 | Bank a Million | 130,504,920 |
| 5 | Super Lotto Plus | 41,416,353 |
| 6 | Lotto America | 25,989,600 |
| 7 | Lotto Texas | 25,827,165 |
| 8 | Bonus Match 5 | 19,575,738 |
| 9 | Wild Money | 16,564,086 |
| 10 | Match 6 | 13,983,816 |
| 11 | Classic Lotto 47 | 10,737,573 |
| 12 | Tri-State Megabucks Plus | 4,496,388 |
| 13 | All or Nothing | 2,704,156 |
| 14 | Texas Two Step | 1,832,600 |
Prize tiers
| Match | Approx. odds | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 10 of 10 spots | 1 in 8,911,711 | Top prize |
| 9 of 10 spots | 1 in 163,381 | Mid tier |
| 8 of 10 spots | 1 in 7,384 | Mid tier |
| 0 of 10 spots | 1 in 843 | Catch-zero bonus (where offered) |
A brief history
Massachusetts brought keno to the modern US state lottery scene in 1993, with bar-and-restaurant monitors driving adoption. Michigan, Maryland, Ohio and New York followed. The Massachusetts version draws every four minutes, making it more like a casino game on screens than a traditional lottery.