Keno Vs. Lottery Winning Odds

With the surge in digital trends, both Keno and the lotteries have changed in recent years to offer an online format in addition to their regular physical gambling styles. This digitisation process has somewhat changed how we play both games but what it has not altered is the lottery or Keno odds. Here we will take a look at both games and how they are played to determine whether your Keno or lottery odds are better.

What is Keno?

Keno is a game that has migrated from Ancient China, through the US and eventually found its way to Australia. It is a game of random numbers which are selected by the players in draws that occur every 5 minutes or so, which operates in a similar way to the lottery. The main point of difference between Keno and the lottery is that there is no qualifying Powerball number like you will find in a Powerball draw or supplementary numbers that you find in an Oz Lotto draw.  

How does Keno work?

To try your luck at a Keno game, you simply need to select up to 10 numbers between 1 and 80 before the game is drawn. Many like playing Keno due to the fast-paced nature of the game with regular and ongoing draws that can keep you entertained for hours at a time, as opposed to the lottery which can only be played on certain days and at certain times. One of the main differences between the lottery and Keno is the ‘house edge’ which typically sits at 25%. This is applied to all Keno games but is not a factor in the lottery.

Though the numbers are chosen by a randomly computer-generated system, your Keno odds are usually pretty low when it comes to winning the larger jackpots. Keno games work on a mentality of high risk, high reward so even though we know that the chances of winning Keno are quite slim, the large jackpots keep us coming back for that slim chance at becoming an overnight millionaire. This is similar to the lottery odds, which again are low, but the stories of Aussie lottery winners are what keep our dreams alive.

What are the odds of winning Keno in Australia?

The Keno odds of getting all 10 numbers in one game are almost 9 million to 1, which leaves individual players with incredibly low chances of winning at Keno. Of course, if you’re not looking for that once in a lifetime big jackpot win, then your odds become marginally better. With the lack of supplementary numbers to be achieved in order to win at Keno, technically this game can be easier to play and understand than the lottery but with the amount of press that lottery winners receive in Australia, games like Powerball, with their huge jackpots, are still the national favourite.

Though the Keno odds are not perfectly structured to favour the players, the chances of winning the ultimate jackpot are always lingering, encouraging people to give it a go. Keno has long been a favourite pastime in Australian gaming centres and players enjoy the opportunity to partake in the game, especially the ones with the progressive jackpots. There is a range of Keno games that can be played online too and with the connectivity of winnings being allocated to a wallet and the ease of transferring them to your personal bank account, playing Keno has never been simpler.

What are the similarities between Keno and the lottery?

Basically, if you have played the lottery, you will be able to understand how to play Keno. The concept of both games is very similar in that if you have a certain amount of the numbers which are drawn on your entry, you will win to some degree. The chances of winning at Keno and winning the lottery could very well be placed in similar categories with both being unlikely, but people choose to play both games for that win of a lifetime.

There is little difference between Keno and lottery odds when it comes to the major prizes, but how each game awards winners who have less than all the numbers they require does differ somewhat. In Keno, you can win by selecting one of the numbers correctly, albeit a very small amount, whereas the lottery varies per game. In Saturday Lotto, you only need 3 winning numbers. However, for Oz Lotto, you need 3 winning numbers plus 1 supplementary number. For Monday and Wednesday Lotto, you need 1 winning number and 2 supplementary numbers. And for Powerball, you only need 2 winning numbers plus the Powerball. As with all games of chance, there are no guaranteed winners, the best we can do is just to buy our tickets and hope for the best.