Usually I do not suggest playing more than 10 spots due to the very long odds but as the saying goes, “There is a time and place for everything.”
I have mentioned in prior columns if you are playing a lot of ways and have a lot of spots on your ticket you may hit quite a few spots but spread over several groups. This is where playing the higher number of spots comes in handy and your wallet would appreciate the gesture.
Let’s say you are at either The Orleans (Tropicana and Arville, buses 201 or 104) or Gold Coast (Flamingo and Valley View, buses 202 or 104) and are playing their $1 Eight Spot Progressive. They both offer an 8-spot progressive that resets at $50,000 and rises from there. There is a free shuttle between the two properties if you want to play them both as they are under the same ownership, Boyd Gaming.
The best way to hit an 8 is to have more than 8 numbers to work with when you play. Commonly you will see players having tickets with a grouping of 4-4-4 giving you three ways to make a solid 8 spot. It would be great if you hit your 8 as 4-4-0, 0-4-4, or 4-0-4 but there are 495 different ways to hit an 8 out of 12 and only three them catch the progressive.
Thus, I believe putting another dollar for the 12-spot might be worth your while. For example, let’s say you hit 8 numbers like this: 3-3-2. There is a small win here as you will get two 5 out of 8 hits paying $5 each and one 6 out of 8 paying $75 for a total of $85.
However, should you also bet the 12-spot and catch eight numbers you get an added win of $200. Thus for $4, you have three 8s working on the progressive and a 12-spot.
The same logic applies if you play a grouping of 4-4-4-4 where you have six ways of hitting the 8-spot. Of course, if you also play the 12-spot, you would have four. Thus with the six 8s and the four 12s your total ticket cost is $10. Now they do offer a Sweet Sixteen ticket but this is a $5 ticket thus if you want to win with a real scattering of numbers it will cost $15 per ticket. Eight out of 16 pays $50.
Of course, in both of these examples you might hit more than eight numbers, such as a 3-2-3-2 in your four groups giving you a 10 out of 16 that pays $250. You can see that in some cases playing a high number of spots might make sense (actually dollars).
Now for those of you who are interested in going for the 10-spot statewide Megakeno the progressive is currently at $2,291,000 and rising. As a side note, the Boyd Casinos have generally resisted the trend of high priced buffets and both Orleans and Gold coast offer a good quality buffet at reasonable prices with a $1 discount if you have a player’s card.
Please be aware they run two different games and be aware of the boards while you eat. Both casinos have some video poker machines that return in excess of 99% with proper play if that is also your game. Have fun and bet with your head, not over it.
The D has the only game as far as I know where you can bet over your head as the game is on the 2nd floor. Keno is fun, enjoy!