Less than a month after it launched, Keno is already being hailed a hit in Pennsylvania,
The Pennsylvania Lottery rolled out its own version of the lottery-style gambling game found traditionally in casinos across the country on May 1. Now, Pennsylvania Lottery spokesman Gary Miller tells PennLive.com ticket sales have gone over $2 million in the first 17 days. Plus, all indications are sales will continue to grow.
Keno is now available at any one of 9,400 lottery retailers across the state. Additionally, it’s in 600 bar and restaurants around PA. Locations sell tickets and give players the chance to watch the drawings on large-screen monitors. Miller said that wing of Keno is steadily growing as bar and restaurant owners across the state realize what a draw the game can be.
The first 17 days of Keno
In the first 17 days, the game has been available, it appears the Pennsylvania Lottery aren’t the only ones profiting from it. More than $1.3 million in Keno prizes have been won already. Including $10,000 collected by one Lancaster County woman.
Wawa convenience store staff showed Irene Grant from Adamstown how to play Keno and she gave it a try. Hours later when she checked the results of the draw on the Pennsylvania Lottery website, she was notified a claim form was required to collect her prize. In fact, it turned out Grant won $10,000. A prize she collected at Pennsylvania Lottery headquarters last week.
Keno is a relatively easy game to play. Players choose numbers from 1 to 80. They can choose anywhere from one to ten numbers. PA’s central gaming system then draws 20 random numbers and a Keno Multiplier number of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10.
Payouts are based on how many numbers selected by a player are among those drawn. Additionally, the amount wagered, and any multiplier, if selected, is a factor.
In Pennsylvania, the minimum bet is $1. Pennsylvania Lottery Keno draws go off every four minutes, seven days a week. Players can win up to $100,000 on each draw.
The Pennsylvania Lottery uses a central gaming system provided by Scientific Games to run the Keno games and put out a feed of the draws to monitor game locations across the state.
The Pennsylvania Lottery website’s Keno page also posts drawing results. Plus, an animated depiction of each draw is available on the Pennsylvania Lottery mobile app.
Virtual Sports and Keno
Virtual sports lottery games will launch later this year using the same system. According to the Pennsylvania Lottery website, Xpress Sports by the Pennsylvania Lottery will launch in the summer of 2018 featuring Inspired Entertainment’s Stock Car Racing and 1st Down Virtual Football.
Gov. Tom Wolf approved the launch of Pennsylvania Lottery monitor games, including Keno and virtual sports, in November 2017. The day after he signed a comprehensive gambling expansion bill into law. A bill that included approval for online lottery sales and online gambling.
It has yet to be determined if virtual sports can match Keno’s initial success. However, it should be easy to see if players are interested right away. Just as it was with Keno.
Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko said Keno sales got off to a strong start on just the first day.
He said the first ticket was sold prior to the 5:49 a.m. first drawing and kept on coming:
“We watched sales rise steadily through the morning, which shows that our players are excited to try this new game. By lunchtime, Keno was selling at a clip of about 8,200 tickets per hour and still rising.”