The D in downtown Las Vegas offers keno for as little as a penny per game or per way as long as the total ticket cost is at least $5.
You may use the regular or the Candyman rate for ways of less than a dime. The Candyman rate pays $175 for a penny 7-out-of-7. If you are playing a dime or more, play their “Deano” rate which has the lowest house edge of all, less than high roller tickets in Las Vegas.
Here is a fun way ticket where you can get a lot of action for 100 games at just $50. This is about 10 hours of play! Play a ticket of 8 groups of one and play them at 6 cents, the 7s at 2 cents and the 6s at 1 cent. Thus 50 cents per game, 100 games will cost $50.
Let’s see what happens on some of the better hits. In an 8 king ticket there is one 8, eight 7s, and 28 sixes, 37 total ways.
The beauty of this type of ticket is if you hit most of your numbers you will have multiple pays. Let’s say you hit 6-out-of-8. With kings there is no such thing as hitting numbers the “wrong way.”
If you hit 6-out-of-8 you get paid $4.50 (6 cent way). You also will have two 6-of-7’s totaling $7. In addition you will have six 5-of-7’s paying $1.80. For the 6-spots (there are 28) you will have one solid 6 paying $25, twelve 5-out-of-6 totaling $9, and 15 4-out-of-6’s totaling 30 cents. Grand total for a 6-out-of-8 hit with the 8 at 6 cents, the 7 at 2 cents, and the 6’s at 1 cent is $47.60.
Let’s say you hit 7-of-8. Nice hit! You will have one 7-of-8 paying $105, one solid 7-out-of-7 paying $350, and seven 6-of-7s paying $24.50. You will have 7 solid 6-out-of-6s paying $175, twelve 5-out-of-6’s paying $9 and 15 4-of-6’s paying 30 cents for a grand total is $663.80.
If lightning strikes (I have seen it strike outside during a thunderstorm and inside when a person hit 10-out-of-10) and you hit all 8 numbers you have won 37 different ways as follows: $1,800 for 8-of-8, $2,800 for the eight 7-of-7’s, and $700 for the 28 6-of-6’s for a grand total of $5,300. You are playing ways from one cent (6s), two cents (7s) and six cents (the 8) and can win over $5,000.
How much better can it get? Will $50 last long at a blackjack table? $50 will get you a pass line bet with double odds and two come bets with double odds at the standard $5 minimum crap table you find in most casinos in downtown Las Vegas. $50 will not last long even at the $3 minimum tables at the El Cortez and Fremont unless you win initially. Here $50 lasts 10 hours.
Here are the payouts from The D pay book. They are at the 10 cent rate; divide and multiply accordingly for the pays on a penny, 2 cents and 6 cents. At the 10-cent Candyman rate the 8-of-8 pays $3,000, the 7-of-8 pays $175, and the 6-of-8 pays $7.50.
At the 10-cent rate the 7-out-of-7 pays $1,750, the 6-of-7 pays $17.50 and the 5-of-7 pays $1.50. At the 10-cent rate the 6-of-6 pays $250, the 5-of-6 $7.50 and the 4-of-6 pays 20 cents.
Keno is great fun at these rates. The only downside is you will have to find a place to wait between games. The D allows smoking throughout their keno lounge, something 80 percent of the population does not like, including yours truly. The restaurant near the keno lounge is good and is non-smoking as is the Coney Island snack bar on the lower level.
If you are staying on the Strip, the SDX (Strip Express) and The Deuce (buses) can get you downtown and back quite easily so you need not use a high priced taxi. Downtown has so many good eateries and buffets it would take more than one column to describe them all.
You can put in your ticket and come back later to see the results. If staying at The D, TV channel 20 broadcasts all the keno games. At The D you have one week to collect on tickets of one to nine games, and 360 days on tickets of 10 games or more.
Important: 360 days is 5 short of a year. Do not miss the deadline as it will be costly!
The D uses their regular slot card to track keno play so be sure to hand it in for each ticket you buy to get appropriate comp credit and offers. It is OK to bet over your head when you enter as keno is on the second floor.
Best of luck to you!
Pesach Kremen is a former UNLV Masters Gaming student, has won and placed in multiple local keno tournaments, and has written several academic papers on Keno. You can reach him at [email protected].