Progressive Keno

There are several progressive keno games in Las Vegas, however most of them stop the meter at a certain point, well before the odds turn in the player's favor. Two exceptions are the Orleans and Gold Coast. They claim there is no maximum to high how the meter can go. Both casinos have the same rules but the meters are independent.

The progressive is on the $2 pick-8 and pick-9 game. Both games share the same meter. The progressive is exactly 6 times easier to hit on the pick-8, so I'll save my discussion for the pick-8 game. The following table shows the expected return at the reseed amount of $100,000 is $1.45 for a $2 bet, or a return percentage of 72.7%.

The general formula for the return percentage is 50.97% plus 2.17% for each $10,000 in the meter.

From my main keno section we see the best return for a $1 pick-9 ticket is 79.85% at the Silverton. The meter needs to only reach $132,914.57 to surpass the Silverton's return. At $225,650.75 the odds turn in the player's favor.

So far there have been five progressive winners, all with pick-8 tickets. The winning meters have been $185317.09, $106373.66, $172616.09, $118454.00, and $160380.48. So in the history of this game the meter has never gone positive.

It should be noted there is a maximum payout to all players of $500,000. In the unlikely event the meter ever grew beyond $500,000 the expected return would be 159.61%, assuming no risk of sharing the jackpot.

Other Keno Links

Keno appendix 1 features an analysis of the top/bottom/left/right as as well as edge tickets as played at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Keno appendix 2 features an analysis of Caveman Keno as played on IGT's Game King.

    See important note about Bodog payouts & deposits.