Free Online Keno Games

A quick overview of keno and its rules

Keno is a popular game of chance that uses a lottery-style system to decide whether players win or lose. Many modern casinos offer keno games to its players, whether in traditional bricks-and-mortar venues, or online, like the games you can see on this page.

Despite its name being of Latin origin (quine or quini both refer to the number five, as in five winning numbers), many sources claim the game’s history stretches back to Ancient China, where the government used funds generated from keno players to contribute to the cost of building the Great Wall of China. The game existed there right through to the 19th century – along with its sister version Pakapoo – when Chinese immigrants took the game to the USA.

Keno’s simplicity goes a long way towards explaining why it’s so popular today. The rules are as follows:

• Players consult a board with a set number of squares, normally numbered 1-80
• They can choose between one and 20 numbers for each bet, with the potential pay-out varying according to how many they select
• A ball machine or random number generator (RNG) randomly picks 20 numbers
• The player wins or loses, with the pay-out depending on how many numbers they match and how much they have staked.

Many players enjoy the speed of the game, too, as it takes less than a minute to make their picks and then find out the winning numbers. However, this can also be risky as it’s easier to lose track of how much money you’re spending.

Keno payouts

As you’re probably aware, pay-outs and probabilities are two very different things. If you have a 5/1 chance of winning a bet, it doesn’t mean the casino will give you five times your stake back as winnings.

The keno pay-outs offered by casinos vary significantly as they’re not necessarily based on the actual probabilities of players hitting a certain amount of numbers.

Some games offer bigger prizes for matching 4 or 5 numbers but award a smaller amount for matching 2 or 3. It’s up to you to choose the one you prefer!

Different types of free keno games

Like with virtual slots, many keno games adopt special themes that are designed to grab the attention of the player and add something to the playing experience.

A quick look through the range of keno titles on Casino Guru might reveal a game based inside a chicken coop where the winning digits appear on eggs, or another in Ancient Egypt where scarab beetles uncover the lucky numbers.

While the designs may vary, the bottom line remains the same. Guess as many winning numbers as you can – the more you get correct, the more you win.

Mobile keno games

If you’re hoping to play keno on your mobile device, then you’re in luck. Most keno games in our collection support mobile play and you can find these by clicking on the ‘Advanced’ filter on this page and selecting the ‘Mobile Devices Supported’ box.

These titles translate well to tablets or smartphones thanks to HTML-5 technology which has helped boost the number of great mobile-friendly casinos. It’s likely that these will continue to grow in popularity over the next few years as casinos continue to employ the latest technology.