Keno Odds
Exact probabilities for every pick count, computed from combinations, not rounded estimates.
The setup
Every round draws 20 numbers from 80 without replacement. A ticket picks 1 to 10 numbers, and the payout depends on how many picks land among the 20 drawn. The tables below list the exact probability of each hit count for every pick count, the same math our odds calculator runs on demand. For paper, the printable odds card fits the 4-spot through 10-spot tables on a single page.
The major keno games at a glance
Every game below draws the same 20 of 80 numbers, so the odds tables further down apply to all of them. What differs is the dressing, the bonus feature each game funds by trimming its base paytable. Game names identify the games for comparison only; exact paytables vary by casino, denomination, and setting, so treat the payback column as the common range rather than a promise.
| Game | Where | The twist | Payback at common settings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot Keno (classic video keno) | Video keno machines | The straight game. Pick, draw, get paid by the ladder. | 84% to 95% by paytable |
| Cleopatra Keno | IGT video keno | A win completed by the last ball starts 12 free games with doubled wins. | 88% to 92% at common settings |
| Caveman Keno | IGT video keno | Three eggs land on empty numbers; hatching 2 or 3 multiplies your win. | 88% to 92% at common settings |
| Power Keno | Video keno | A win that includes the 20th ball drawn pays 4 times. | 86% to 92% at common settings |
| Super Keno | Video keno | A win that includes the 1st ball drawn pays 4 times. | 86% to 92% at common settings |
| Extra Draw Keno | IGT video keno | After the 20 balls you can buy extra draws to finish a close ticket. | 88% to 93% with smart buys |
| Four Card and Twenty Card Keno | IGT video keno | 4 or 20 tickets ride one shared draw, smoothing the swings. | Same as the base game per card |
| State lottery keno | Bars and stores in MA, NY, GA, MD and more | A draw about every 4 minutes on monitors, with multiplier add ons. | Usually in the 60s |
| Live lounge keno | Casino keno lounges | Paper tickets, crayons, way bets, and the slowest draws in the house. | Often 65% to 75% |
Rules and payouts, game by game
Spot Keno, the classic video game
Pick 1 to 10 numbers, the machine draws 20 of 80, and the paytable pays by how many of your picks land. Nothing else. A representative 10-spot ladder pays around 5 for 5 catches, 24 for 6, about 140 for 7, about 1,000 for 8, several thousand for 9, and 10,000 for a solid 10. The best full pay versions return over 94% of every wager; tighter settings sit closer to 85%. Our paytables page publishes representative tables with exact returns, and the simulator plays them all.
Cleopatra Keno
The straight game plus one twist. When the 20th ball drawn completes a winning catch, you get 12 free games, and every win during the free games pays double. The base paytable runs a little leaner than Spot Keno to fund the feature, so between bonus rounds it feels tighter, and the feature carries several points of the game's return. Common settings pay back roughly 88% to 92% overall.
Caveman Keno
Before each draw the game places three dinosaur eggs on numbers you did not pick. If 2 of the eggs are among the 20 drawn, your win for that game is multiplied, commonly 4 times, and all 3 eggs commonly multiply it 10 times. The eggs hatch on about a third of draws, so the multiplier is a regular visitor even though the base pays run lean. Common settings land in the same 88% to 92% band as Cleopatra.
Power Keno and Super Keno
Mirror twins. In Power Keno any winning ticket that includes the 20th ball drawn pays 4 times; in Super Keno the 4 times boost rides on the 1st ball instead. Since exactly one ball in twenty carries the boost, about a quarter of your picks' hits will touch it over time on a 5-spot ticket, and the base ladders are trimmed accordingly. Rules aside, the two play identically in the long run.
Extra Draw Keno
After the standard 20 balls, the machine offers to sell you extra draws, priced by how close your ticket is to a bigger catch. Turning a 7 of 10 into an 8 with a cheap extra ball is the whole appeal. Played with discipline, buying only when the price is right, it carries some of the friendliest math in video keno; buying every offer hands the edge right back.
Four Card and Twenty Card Keno
The same game multiplied. You mark 4 or 20 separate tickets and every one settles against the same shared draw, so a hot draw can pay several cards at once and a cold one costs you across the board. The math per card is unchanged; what changes is the rhythm, smaller swings and more frequent action. We cover the strategy angles on the Four Card and Twenty Card pages.
State lottery keno
Massachusetts KENO, New York Quick Draw, Georgia KENO!, Maryland Keno and their cousins run a televised draw about every 4 minutes in bars and stores. Paytables are fixed statewide and published by each lottery, and most states sell a multiplier add on that doubles your wager for a chance at 3, 4, 5, or 10 times the base win. Paybacks usually sit in the 60s, the leanest keno there is, which is the price of playing anywhere a monitor hangs. We track the real winning numbers on our live results pages, with each state's official paytable linked at the source.
Live lounge keno
The original. Paper tickets, crayons, a writer's counter, and a draw every few minutes. Lounges shine at way tickets, one slip carrying many bets at once, and house paytables vary more here than anywhere else, often paying back 65% to 75%. Slow, social, and mathematically the most expensive seat after the state lottery.
Game names are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification and comparison only. Want to feel any of these curves without spending a cent? The simulator's game styles include flavours modeled on each family's pay shape.
The exact odds by pick count
These probabilities are identical in every game above, because every 20 of 80 draw obeys the same combinations. Only the paytables differ.
1-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 75.00% | 1 in 1.33 |
| 1 | 25.00% | 1 in 4.00 |
2-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 56.01% | 1 in 1.79 |
| 1 | 37.97% | 1 in 2.63 |
| 2 | 6.01% | 1 in 16.63 |
3-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 41.65% | 1 in 2.40 |
| 1 | 43.09% | 1 in 2.32 |
| 2 | 13.88% | 1 in 7.21 |
| 3 | 1.39% | 1 in 72.07 |
4-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 30.83% | 1 in 3.24 |
| 1 | 43.27% | 1 in 2.31 |
| 2 | 21.26% | 1 in 4.70 |
| 3 | 4.32% | 1 in 23.12 |
| 4 | 0.3063% | 1 in 326 |
5-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 22.72% | 1 in 4.40 |
| 1 | 40.57% | 1 in 2.46 |
| 2 | 27.05% | 1 in 3.70 |
| 3 | 8.39% | 1 in 11.91 |
| 4 | 1.21% | 1 in 82.70 |
| 5 | 0.0645% | 1 in 1,551 |
6-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 16.66% | 1 in 6.00 |
| 1 | 36.35% | 1 in 2.75 |
| 2 | 30.83% | 1 in 3.24 |
| 3 | 12.98% | 1 in 7.70 |
| 4 | 2.85% | 1 in 35.04 |
| 5 | 0.3096% | 1 in 323 |
| 6 | 0.0129% | 1 in 7,753 |
7-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 12.16% | 1 in 8.23 |
| 1 | 31.52% | 1 in 3.17 |
| 2 | 32.67% | 1 in 3.06 |
| 3 | 17.50% | 1 in 5.71 |
| 4 | 5.22% | 1 in 19.16 |
| 5 | 0.8639% | 1 in 116 |
| 6 | 0.0732% | 1 in 1,366 |
| 7 | 2.44e-3% | 1 in 40,979 |
8-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 8.83% | 1 in 11.33 |
| 1 | 26.65% | 1 in 3.75 |
| 2 | 32.81% | 1 in 3.05 |
| 3 | 21.48% | 1 in 4.66 |
| 4 | 8.15% | 1 in 12.27 |
| 5 | 1.83% | 1 in 54.64 |
| 6 | 0.2367% | 1 in 423 |
| 7 | 0.0160% | 1 in 6,232 |
| 8 | 4.35e-4% | 1 in 230,115 |
9-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 6.37% | 1 in 15.69 |
| 1 | 22.07% | 1 in 4.53 |
| 2 | 31.64% | 1 in 3.16 |
| 3 | 24.61% | 1 in 4.06 |
| 4 | 11.41% | 1 in 8.76 |
| 5 | 3.26% | 1 in 30.67 |
| 6 | 0.5720% | 1 in 175 |
| 7 | 0.0592% | 1 in 1,690 |
| 8 | 3.26e-3% | 1 in 30,682 |
| 9 | 7.24e-5% | 1 in 1,380,688 |
10-spot odds
| Hits | Probability | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4.58% | 1 in 21.84 |
| 1 | 17.96% | 1 in 5.57 |
| 2 | 29.53% | 1 in 3.39 |
| 3 | 26.74% | 1 in 3.74 |
| 4 | 14.73% | 1 in 6.79 |
| 5 | 5.14% | 1 in 19.44 |
| 6 | 1.15% | 1 in 87.11 |
| 7 | 0.1611% | 1 in 621 |
| 8 | 0.0135% | 1 in 7,384 |
| 9 | 6.12e-4% | 1 in 163,381 |
| 10 | 1.12e-5% | 1 in 8,911,711 |