Keno is such fun with way tickets that we simply have to find some more!
For those new to keno, a way ticket is a way of putting multiple tickets on the same ticket through groups of numbers that are combined, played by themselves or both to form multiple “ways” to play the game.
If there are three groups with four numbers each, you can play a 12-spot ticket using all the numbers, three different 8-spots using two of the groups of numbers, or three 4-spots using each by itself.
There are keno machines called 3-6-9 and 2-4-6 that work exactly the same “way” but they are groups of three in the first example and two in the latter.
Casinos will allow you to play way tickets for lower amounts for each “way.” Of course, the payoffs are adjusted proportionately.
You need not play all possible ways but you must play all possibilities for each number of ways. Sound like gibberish? It’s not.
In the first example above, if you have three groups of four, you can play a 12, three different 8-spots, and three different 4-spots. But you don’t have to play all these spots. However, if you play the 8-spots you must play all possible 8-spots (in this case three).
If, for example, you only wanted to play the 8-spots from the first two groups you would have to convert your way ticket to separate straight tickets.
Since we were at the El Cortez for the last column, let’s stay there. Why not? They have 10 different rates in their keno games, 9 in the book and a special 75-cent rate on a Promo card as well as Megakeno (10-spot over $2.3M now).
Their best rate for low level play is the 40-cent rate that allows way ticket play of 20 cents as long as the total ticket cost is $2 and you play at least 10 ways. Try a grouping of 2-2-2-2-1-1 by circling four groups of two numbers (deuces) and two groups of a single number (kings). This gives you one 10-spot, two 9-spots, five 8-spots, and eight 7-spots.
You could play the 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s as well but here we are concentrating on the big pays as at the 20-cent rate the 10 will pay $12,500, the 9s will pay $4,500 for each solid hit, the 8s will pay $4,000 for each solid hit, and the 7s will pay $3,500 for each solid hit. The definition of a solid hit is hitting all your numbers in that particular way.
You get paid for all wins up to the amount of the aggregate limit for the game, in this case $100,000. Let’s say you hit them all (10 spots do get hit and they have had several hits lately at the El Cortez). You would win $12,500 for the solid 10, $9,000 for the two solid 9s, $20,000 for the solid 8s and $28,000 for the solid 7s.
Your grand total would be $69,500! Not too bad for a ticket costing you $3.20 per game (20 cents per way).
For those who want to play the 6s, there are 10 of them, thus the added ticket cost would be $2, giving you a total ticket price of $5.20. Heck, let’s play the 5s as well as the 5s have a payback of over 82%.
There are 12 fives, adding a cost of $2.40 to your ticket that would now cost $7.60. Each solid 6 would pay $500 ($5,000 total) and each solid 5 would pay $200 ($2,400 total) thus if you played the 5s through 10s (The Woolworth Ticket) your total win would be $76,900.
I would avoid the 1s through 4s as the added payouts would not add much to a big win and just add a higher cost to your ticket. The number of 4s is the same as the number of 6s, the number of 3s is the same as the number of 7s, the number of 2s (deuces) is the same as the number of 8s, and the number of ones (kings) is the same as the number of 10s.
If you have 10 numbers and choose eight, two are left. If you have 10 numbers and choose two, eight are left. Not quite the simple logic James T. Kirk used in Star Trek 4 when he told Spock they could find the humpback whales named George and Gracie at the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito, but logic is logic even if you do not come from a planet 16 light years away.
Question to the readers of this column, How long would it take to reach Vulcan at Warp 6? Answer in the next column if I remember.
Have a good time at keno, enjoy the excellent food at El Cortez and other downtown casinos. Try Slotzilla downtown if you want to get high.