白鴿票 · The Pigeon Lottery

Example payoff schemes

Below are a sampling of payoff schemes, to give a taste of the ratios used. The payouts vary based upon the number of correctly-chosen characters, in the left column:

The trend over time has been to increase the payouts on the higher end, which makes the game more attractive to players while not unduly affecting the house margin — as long as the house has sufficient capital to avoid going bankrupt when a player hits a big win. Aggregate payout limits are also used to prevent such an occurrence; for example, a casino might advertise a $50,000 limit, which is the maximum combined winnings that players can win on any single game (bigger winners being paid out first).

In the United States

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According to Encyclopedia of Keno, the game was introduced to the Western United States in the mid-19th century, and had reached the Eastern cities by 1870.

Mentions of “Chinese lotteries” begin to appear in Californian newspapers from the 1860s, and sometime around 1863 Mark Twain mentioned the game in a report for Nevada’s Territorial Enterprise, noting its popularity in that “about every third Chinaman runs a lottery”, and that “we could not see that these lotteries differed in any respect from our own… the manner of drawing is similar to ours”.40Twain, Roughing It, 396.

The view that many Chinese immigrants were involved in lotteries was not only one coloured by European eyes; LiangQichao (梁啟超, 1873–1929), who visited Canada and the United States between 1899 and 1903, claimed that almost every Chinese family was involved with gambling in some way.41Li, Betting on Empire, 191.

According to Stewart Culin,42Culin, Gambling Games of the Chinese in America, 11. by 1886 four banks were operating in Philadelphia43He provides the names “Extensive Increase” (廣泰 gwong² taai³), “Heavenly Harmony” (天和 tin¹ wo⁴), “Fortunate Increase” (福泰 fuk¹ taai³), and “Encouraging Fountain” (釗泉 ciu¹ cyun⁴). and five in New York, along with others in Boston and Chicago.

There were ten Chinese lottery banks operating in San Francisco in 1890,44John Philip Quinn, Fools of Fortune, or, Gambling and Gamblers (1890), 450. and by 1892 the same number operating in New York.45‘Fan-Tan Games to Reopen’ (1892). In 1893 a report from the San Francisco Chief of Police stated that the police had in their possession 22 tons of blank lottery tickets which had been confiscated during the previous 13 years;46San Francisco Board of Supervisors, San Francisco Municipal Reports for the Fiscal Year 1892–93, Ending June 30, 1893 (1893), 150. by 1898 this had risen to 26 tons.47San Francisco Board of Supervisors, San Francisco Municipal Reports for the Fiscal Year 1897–98, Ending June 30, 1898 (1898), 173. The police were occasionally (and unsuccessfully) sued for the repossession of these tickets.

By the time Liang Qichao visited the United States in 1903, he estimated that one in ten of the Chinese immigrants in the large cities worked in gambling houses.48Li, Betting on Empire, 191.

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In Seattle, some banks known in the 20th century were named: Union, N.P., Shanghai, New American, and Wing Tien.49Donnie Chin, ‘When Chinatown had its own lotteries’ (1983). During World War II, the army forced the closure of many lotteries to stop servicemen stationed on the West Coast from spending their money on gambling; most did not re-open after the war.50Ibid.

Other banks (often termed “companies” on 20th-century tickets) I have seen include:51The suffix of the ticket title in Chinese here indicates whether the ticket was for a day (日) or night (夜) draw. American Co. (Chinese title 花旗夜廠), Liberty Co. (自由日廠), Sun Set Co. (順式日廠), Cleveland Co. (企李倫夜廠), New World Co. (新世界夜廠), and Oregon Co. (柯利近日廠). In the Penn Museum are bundles of 19th-century tickets from Lee Kee Co. (利記廠) and Tai Kee Co. (泰記厰). Californian companies included Fook Tai (泰福夜厰), The Sun (?), Lee Tai (利泰日厰), Boston (保市頓), and American Co. (花旗).

In Australia

Chinese lotteries are first discussed in Australian newspapers in the 1860s; pak-a-pu is clearly described in one article of 1863.52‘The Chinese Lottery’ (1863). The game seems to have first appeared in the goldfields of Victoria, and the aforementioned article describes three or four banks operating in Castlemaine.

Despite one newspaper’s recommendation to “take a ticket, see the drawing, and so spend a very entertaining half-hour in a Chinese lottery-office,”53‘Saturday, May 28, 1864’ (1864). by 1864 lotteries were being raided by police and the proprietors charged.54‘Police Courts: City Court: A Chinese Lottery’ (1864).

The first explicit mention of the game that I have found under the name “pak-a-pu” is in 1873, when a case was brought against the proprietors of the Heng Hi store on Little Bourke Street in Melbourne for running a pak-a-pu bank.55‘The Chinese Gambling Houses’ (1873). The bank was known as the “No. 6” or “You Lee” lottery. Picking all ten numbers on a sixpenny ticket would return £75. A similar case was brought against the “No. 2” or “Shing Lee” lottery in 1874.56‘The Chinese Lottery Cases’ (1874). Both banks were reported to carry a capital of £300, which is also reported elsewhere as the standard amount carried (and usually limited the maximum payouts).

There were perhaps attempts by the banks to make themselves publicly acceptable, as in 1874 the “Chinese Pak-Cup-Pew Trading Company” made a donation of £100 towards the hospital in Melbourne.57‘Melbourne’ (1874).

In any case, despite suppression, the game became very popular in Melbourne: in 1876 it was reported that there were 25 agents operating in the area between Swanston and Russell streets.58‘In A Chinese Lottery Shop’, 7.

By 1877 the inequality between the prosecution of Chinese and European games was noted in the papers:

One of the most humiliating anomalies in our penal code is the law which visits fantan and pak-a-pu with fine and imprisonment, and winks complacently at the wholesale public gambling of Europeans. With the Chinese, games of chance are almost the sole national recreation in this colony, and it seems scarcely fair to enforce upon them the rigid and austere virtue which we take care never to practice ourselves. On the racecourse, in the stock exchange, and in the streets, betting goes on apace, and oftener than not the worldly prosperity of a man’s family hangs upon the issue of a wager.59‘Editorial’ (1877).

However, not everyone agreed. The Bulletin60The Bulletin was an astoundingly racist publication during this period, whose motto would soon be “Australia for the White Man”. claimed the opposite to be true:

If an Australian started a fan-tan hell, Darlinghurst61i.e. Darlinghurst > Gaol would be his home, and stone-breaking his employment, within a month; and indulgence in pak-ah-pu lottery would similarly mean penal seclusion for a lengthy period. But no such just retribution overtakes the Mongolian.62‘The Chinese in Australia: Their Vices and Their Victims’ (1886).

This article was accompanied by what has been called the “most scandalous and racist cartoon ever to grace the Australian media”,63‘Racism rife aboard the Shanghai Trader’ (1986). depicting “pak ah pu” as one leg of the “Mongolian octopus”, alongside “immorality”, “small-pox” and “typhoid”, “opium”, “fan tan”, “bribery”, “cheap labour”, and “customs robbery”.64This cartoon was drawn by Phil May and is easy enough to find online.

In New Zealand

The game’s legal status in New Zealand followed a tortuous path: banned in Otago from 1862 and nationwide in 1881, challenged in courts throughout the 1900s, and finally definitively prohibited in 1907. It remained illegal until 1977, though enforcement was often inconsistent.

Throughout this period, public opinion was divided. As in Australia, racist depictions of Chinese gambling were common. And yet, while newspaper reports often decried gambling and gamblers, others came to the defence of the game. Here I focus more heavily on the counter-current, as it is all too easy to find examples of the former.

Legality and Hypocrisy

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Pakapoo was illegal from 1862 in Otago,65Lynette Shum, ‘Remembering Chinatown: Haining Street of Wellington’ (2003), 93. and would be made illegal nationwide with the passage of the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1881, where it was listed alongside Fan-Tan. The addition of the games was made despite the lawmakers’ lack of knowledge about what the games actually were:

Our representatives in Parliament seem to have had a good deal of fun over the Gaming and Lotteries Bill on Friday night. […] considerable amusement was caused by the numerous enquiries of Colonial Secretary Dick as to the meaning of the Chinese game of ‘fan-tan’. One after another of the members impressed upon him the necessity of giving full explanations, as no doubt he knew all about it, and badgered him on all sides. Amidst considerable cheering he shortly rose, and with signs of conscious ignorance, yet inward satisfaction, protested that he really did not know anything about it. Then numerous questions were asked as to who did know, and other members rose, and each gave delightfully varied descriptions, each member beseeching the Committee not to let words pass of which they did not know the meaning, as they might play ‘fan-tan’ without knowing it, which, in the light of subsequent and apparently authoritative explanation, seemed quite possible, seeing that it is simply termed ‘odd or even.’ Mr Barron increased the dilemma by moving that ‘pakapoo’ be inserted after ‘fan-tan’. The Colonial Secretary intimated that he did not know its meaning, but thought it a good word, and after the mover had satisfactorily explained that his knowledge was as exhaustive of ‘pakapoo’ as that of the Colonial Secretary of fan-tan, the words were added.66‘Political’ (1881).

By 1902 and 1903 there was some legal tussle over the status of the game due to unclear definitions in the Act.

Firstly, a case in 1902 concerning one “Joe Quick” (who had been fined several times for the game previously) reached the Supreme Court, and had its conviction quashed upon insufficient evidence.67‘Chinese Gaming Cases: Appeal to the Supreme Court — When Does A Man Play Pak-A-Pu?’ (1902); ‘Supreme Court: Sitting in Banco — Important Judgement’ (1902).

At the time, Wellington’s Evening Post opined that:

… it seems the essence of petty spite to start a crusade against the cottager’s Christmas goose or the Chinaman’s pakapoo.68‘The Policeman and the Geese’ (1902).

John Liddell Kelly’s bitingly sarcastic poem “In China” (1901) contains the following verse upon the topic:69John Liddell Kelly, Heather and Fern: songs of Scotland and Maoriland (1902), 56.

The practice of gambling’s a terrible vice
  ’Mong the sin-sodden people of China!
Fan-tan, pak-a-pu, and a species of dice
  Are all known to the gamblers of China.
True, we bet in our streets, and play cards in our pubs;
We have poker and nap in our big, toney clubs;
But we cannot attend to our own dirty dubs
  While we’re preaching reform—out in China.

The decision of this case, wherein the Chief Justice mentioned — obiter dictum — that pakapoo was defined by the Act as a “game of chance” and not a lottery,70C. J. Stout, ‘Joe Quick (and others) v. Cox’ (1905). was to have a lasting effect on other cases. In 1903 a case in the Magistrate’s Court was dismissed on the basis that pakapoo was a game of chance, and not a lottery;71‘Pak-A-Poo Is Not A Lottery: The Chief Justice’s Recent Dictum — Followed By The Magistrate’ (1903). taken at face value, the Act stated that games of chance were only illegal if played in public places.

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With the game seeming to be on the verge of becoming legal, in 1904, the “Gaming and Lotteries Act Amendment Bill” was introduced to parliament by James McGowan. The bill sought — among other things — to declare pakapoo a lottery, and thus ban it outright. By the reception of this bill in the newspapers, it is clear that this was felt to be inconsistent with laws governing games played by Europeans:

For a country which not only countenances the totalisator, but also derives revenue from it, it is the height of inconsistency to discriminate between different forms of gambling. Why should fan-tan be more wicked than bridge, or pakapoo than poker, and why should not both be legalised if it is legal to gamble by means of the totalisator?72‘Daily Notes: Inconsistent Legislation’ (1904).

During parliamentary debate on the proposed bill,

Mr Hone Heke73i.e. Hōne Heke Ngāpua, a Liberal party member and great-nephew of the more famous Hōne Heke Pōkai. wanted to know why the Chinese were to be limited in their games and recreations, when lotteries at church bazaars were allowed to proceed without interference.

Mr W. Fraser74William Fraser, at this point an independent, later a member of the conservative Reform party. thought it was right to punish Europeans found in a Chinese gambling house, but seeing that Europeans were allowed to participate in various games of chance, he objected to punishing Chinese for doing the same thing.75‘Parliamentary: House of Representatives’ (1904).

As noted in that last paragraph, it was often considered that the game was suitable for Chinese people but not Europeans. Robin Hyde, writing later in 1934, noted:

… the Chinese quarter in most cities suffers from its hangers-on. Auckland’s pakapoo dens receive such loving care from the police for much the same reason. No harm in a friendly all-Chinese game of fantan and pakapoo — and ninety-nine games out of a hundred are ‘on the level’ — but the drawing of the tickets induces whites of the very worst class to make the site thereof their little home away from home.76Gillian Boddy and Jacqueline Matthews (eds.), Disputed Ground: Robin Hyde, Journalist (1991), 235.

At one point it was even suggested by a police inspector that only Europeans should be fined for playing pakapoo, and that “it would be as hard to stop such recreation amongst the Chinese as to stop whist and other games amongst Europeans.”77‘Political Gossip: Gambling Among Chinese’ (1904).

In any case, McGowan’s 1904 bill was subsequently withdrawn and this version of the amendment was never passed.

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Only a year later, in 1905, the Supreme Court again heard a case regarding Pak-A-Poo (Lee Sun v. Daniel Conolly),78J. Williams, ‘Lee Sun v. Daniel Conolly’ (1905). and this time Justice Williams determined that not only was Pak-A-Poo a game of chance, but it was also a lottery, and therefore illegal.79Apparently Williams and Stout were pro­fes­sion­al rivals — Williams had been passed over when Stout was selected as Chief Justice — and I am tempted to wonder if this had some part to play in the overruling of the earlier obiter dictum.

Finally, in 1907, the Gaming and Lotteries Act Amendment Act was passed, which declared all games of chance to be explicitly unlawful. The game was to remain illegal until the passage of a new Gaming and Lotteries Act in 1977.

Even after all gambling was made illegal, protests were made about the inequal application of the law, and these would continue throughout the twentieth century; in 1933, one businessman complained about the effect the ban could have upon trade with China:

“It is well known,” [Mr. John MacGibbon] said, “that in most homes in New Zealand the gambling laws are broken with impunity. This harrying of Chinese who play pakapoo and fan tan has an effect on Chinese who are likely to buy our products. It is well known that the Chinese are among the most law-abiding people in the world, and it should be remembered that we forced opium on them because of the profit in it. It is utter hypocrisy.”80‘Harrying of Chinese’ (1933).

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Now that we are able to look back with the benefit of time and more sources, it is clear that, despite lurid newspaper and magazine reports of pakapoo dens and the supposed conditions thereof, the pakapoo shops functioned not only as a gambling house but as a meeting-place with a convivial atmosphere, providing a safe ‘third place’ for Chinese (men, at least) to gather, catch up on news from home, drink tea, and eat.81Shum, Representing Haining Street: Wellington’s Chinatown 1920–1960 (2007), 52, 62. Interviews with ex-police officers indicate that they thought it a “clean and well-run game”, and only raided the game when specific complaints had been made.82Ibid., 59.

During the remainder of the 20th century, pakapoo slowly dropped out of the public eye. I am not aware of any current use of the game — although it is now legal. Despite this disappearance, it was to have ongoing influence upon New Zealand: Allan Highet, who was responsible for early attempts to introduce Lotto as a government minister, had gained his appetite for gambling by purchasing pakapoo tickets in Haining Street during the 1930s.83David Grant, On A Roll: A History of Gambling & Lotteries in New Zealand (1994), 247.

In the United Kingdom

Pak-a-pu seems to have reached London later than the other locations discussed here; it doesn’t begin to appear in the newspaper until the early 1920s. Even as late as 1924 it is described as a “new gambling game”.84‘New Gambling Game’ (1924).

More evidence for this is that, although Fan-Tan is a feature of several stories in Thomas Burke’s 1917 collection Limehouse Nights — set in Limehouse, London’s main Chinese community at the time — Pak-a-pu is not, but it does make an appearance in his short story “The Yellow Box” which was first published in 1938.

In South Africa

According to The Bantu In The City (219), four syndicates were operating throughout the Johannesburg area in 1935.

In Canada

Visiting in 1899, Liang Qichao stated that there were more than 15 pigeon lotteries operating in Vancouver.85Li, Betting on Empire, 191.

“Chinese Keno”

As early as 1899, the Chinese game had been referred to as “Chinese Keno” to distinguish it from the existing Keno game.93‘Chinese Gamblers Raided By Police’ (1899). Despite this, earlier attempts to run the Chinese lottery under the “keno” name had failed: in 1932, one Woo Sing had purchased a Keno license under which to operate the “Chinese lottery” in the Henry Club94One of the earliest licensed gambling establishments in Reno, located at 133 Lake Street. (located in Reno, Nevada), only to have the license revoked by the Reno city council and his staff arrested.95‘Lottery And Keno Contrasted At Trial Of Chinese’ (1932). While the case against the staff was eventually dropped, Woo Sing was unable to recover his $300 ($6870 in 2022 dollars) license fee. In May 1933, a J. B. Crane, an associate of Woo Sing’s, attempted to procure a license to run the game as “keno”.96At the Lucky Club, 233 Lake Street. Crane stated (correctly) that the game was not actually a lottery and hence not illegal, and that his game would use numbers in place of Chinese characters, and the license was subsequently granted.97‘Crane Is Issued Keno License By Council’ (1933). By the middle of June the club had been ordered to stop the game,98‘Chinese Lottery Ordered Closed By Official Of City’ (1933). then permitted to reopen it,99‘Chinese “Keno” Games To Operate’ (1933). until finally Crane’s licenses were revoked and his club was ordered shut.100‘Mayor Decides Who’s Who’ (1933). Crane had previously boasted that the council did not have the power to refuse a license, which must not have helped his cause.

Another operator named Walter Tun, who had watched the proceedings closely, also chose to close his “lottery” operation.101‘Council Revokes Crane’s Game Permits’ (1933). While all this was going on there seems to have been something of a turf war between Tun and Sing,102‘Chinese Dispute Settlement Is Tried But Fails’ (1933). and in July, Woo Sing was shot by an unknown assailant.103The case was never solved, despite a $500 ($11,400 in 2022) reward being offered for information by the Yick Keong Benevolent Association. Crane again sought licenses in July,104‘Chinese Gambler Is Wounded By Gunman At His Home’ (1933). and August,105‘Council Adjourns And Crane Fails In License Plea’ (1933). at which point the petition was referred to a grand jury in September,106‘Washoe Co. Grand Jury Will Make Its Report Today’ (1933). but I cannot find any further trace of it.107Perhaps the death of Crane’s wife’s father in September brought an end to his pursuit of the matter.

A newspaper report of the time shows the confused reaction to Crane’s August application, as Crane’s lawyer James T. Boyd debated the meaning of “keno” with City Attorney Pike:108‘‘We Are Recessed,’ Says Mayor: And Recess Was Taken as His Honor Marched Out — Council Holds Hectic Session’ (1933).

Pike—“Does the license ask for keno? Do they intend to play keno or Chinese keno?”

Boyd—“Try and find a definition for keno?”

Pike—“I can show you one in Corpus Juris and it does not include the Chinese game.”

Boyd—“Does it include the games played in places on Virginia street. Any time you take numbered balls out of—”

Pike—“They call the games on Virginia street tango—I don’t think they’re legal either.”109Tango (from Spanish tengo, “I have it”) at this time also referred to a version of the Bingo-style Keno game (‘You Can’t Miss’ (1932)). It had been played since 1931 at the Reno Club on Virginia Street, (‘Open Today: The Reno Club (Advertisement)’ (1931)) and the name was probably influenced by the tango (dance) which was popular at the time.

By July 1934, things seem to have calmed down somewhat, as both Walter Tun and Woo Sing were simultaneously granted keno licenses, to operate at the Star Club and Public Club, respectively.110‘Chinese Granted Keno Licenses By Council’ (1934). Despite one councillor immediately attempting to revoke these licenses, and the debate reopening upon “Chinese keno”,111‘Keno Discussion Again Heard By Council’ (1934). they were apparently able to operate unmolested until May 1935, at which point the District Attorney stepped in and ordered them to shut down.112‘Chinese Lotteries Ordered Closed by District Attorney’ (1935). Woo Sing would eventually be arrested on narcotics charges in 1937 and the Public Club closed down permanently.

Despite the repeated failure of these previous cases, Francis Lyden proposed running a “keno” game in Reno based upon the Chinese lottery, and contacted Warren Nelson, whom he knew from Butte, to run it at the Palace Club.113Kathryn M. Totton, Silvio E. Petricciani: The Evolution of Gaming in Nevada: The Twenties to the Eighties (1982), 26. At the time Warren was running games in Great Falls.

Warren had at first run the game in the backroom of the Mint Cigar Store in Butte.114Warren states his father and a man named Cal Lewis ran the game together in the Mint Cigar Store, but that he was taught the game by a younger man named Jimmy Shea after his father refused to teach him (Ken Adams, Robert Thomas King, and Gail K. Nelson, Always Bet on the Butcher: Warren Nelson and Casino Gaming, 1930s–1980s (1994), 29). Initially, they had used the same method of drawing the numbers as in the Chinese version of the game (paper strips rolled and placed in four containers), but eventually moved on to using balls which were jumbled in a tumbler. The number of drawings was also increased to a much faster pace of one every fifteen minutes. It was this version of the game that was taken to the Palace Club in Nevada.115Ibid., 34–5, 50–1.

Thus, the first publicly played version of the Americanized game appears to have been “Race Horse Keno”, which was launched by the Palace Club in Reno in 1936. The game was given a horse-racing theme, and the Chinese characters were replaced by the numbers 1 to 80. Balls with these numbers could then be drawn to determine the “winning horses”. It is interesting to note that this inadvertently returned the game to its pigeon-racing roots.

Racehorse Keno

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As a game of chance and not a lottery, the “new” game was legal under Nevada laws.116Totton, Silvio E. Petricciani, 26. Warren describes in his own words how the game was lifted from the Chinese:117Adams, King, and Nelson, Always Bet on the Butcher, 30.

Keno, which was originally a Chinese game, was well known throughout the West. Everywhere you’d go, Chinese could be found running illegal keno games. Some of them had tried to start games in Butte, but their competition, white professional gamblers, would get their games closed up. Then a fellow went in partners with a Chinaman, and when he learned everything he could from him, he kicked him out. The Chinese were looked down upon so much that you could do anything to them and no one would say a word.

Despite purposefully divorcing the game from its Chinese origins, the keno “writers” who marked the tickets still used hair brushes imported from China,118Kling, Every Light Was On, 129. and the ink was purchased from Chinese suppliers.119Adams, King, and Nelson, Always Bet on the Butcher, 50.

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In this “racehorse” version of the game, each number had a horse’s name assigned to it, and the names were announced in a similar way to the way that “bingo calls” are now performed. Warren gives an example of the patter (or “ballyhoo”) that was used to announce the game, mimicking the style of a horse racing commentator:120Ibid., 158.

All right, they’re off and running!
Jockey number 1 on Nanny Dee.
Jockey 16 on Mainstreet,
Right down the main drag.
You’ve got a hell of a race,
And a hell of a bunch of horses!
Jockey number 69 on Kay Dugan,
That old Irish girl again.

Other examples of horse names include:

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The Bank Club (the next-door rival of the Palace Club) and Harolds Club were soon to follow by installing Keno games of their own.130Ibid., 53. In 1938 Warren opened the game at the Nevada Club in Lake Tahoe.131Keith Becker, Warren Nelson: Gaming From the Old Days to Computers (1978), 10.

The racehorse version of the game died out some time in the mid 1950s.132Kling, Every Light Was On, 128. However, keno games are still referred to as races.133David W. Cowles, Complete Guide to Winning Keno (1996), 23.

Catches, Spots, & Ways

In modern parlance the traditional ticket would be called a 10-spot ticket, as ten numbers were chosen. Many casinos or other operators allow players to choose 1-spot to 10- or 15-spot tickets, or even higher — some offer 20-spot tickets.

The payoff tables vary depending on the number of spots chosen and are usually arranged by the number of catches: that is, numbers chosen that match the drawn numbers.

The basic ticket with a certain number of spots chosen is now called a straight ticket. Other ways of marking tickets indicate multiple simultaneous bets being placed. These bets could be placed as separate bets, but it is more convenient to mark them on one ticket.

The simplest form of this is a split ticket, which has a line (or multiple lines) drawn across it to separate two or more distinct bets on one ticket.

A way ticket has multiple circled groups of numbers written on it.134Some writers distinguish between way tickets and ‘combination’ tickets, where a way ticket has all groups of the same size. However, this seems to be an unnecessary distinction. The player must then condition the ticket by indicating what their intended bets are. For example, if a ticket has three circled groups of four, this can be used as a 3-way 8-spot ticket (there are three ways of forming eight spots by combining the groups) by writing “3/8” and the amount bet on each way on the ticket. The total cost of the ticket is the amount bet per way multiplied by the number of ways. The same could also be used as a 3-way 4-spot ticket (by writing 3/4), and/or also a one-way 12-spot ticket (1/12), if the player wanted. On a way ticket an individual circled number is called a king, as it greatly increases the number of possible bets.

Extreme versions of the way-ticket include the 190-way 8-spot ticket, where all 80 numbers on the ticket are marked by dividing them into twenty groups.135Cowles, Complete Guide to Winning Keno, 119. At a rate of 10¢/way, this costs $19 per race!

Casinos provide ‘keno books’ which indicate various ways to mark way tickets and the corresponding payoffs depending on what catches are made.136Examples can be found here for Bally’s Las Vegas or the Sahara Las Vegas. See Complete Guide to Winning Keno for more examples. In some cases certain payoffs are “enhanced” and pay more than they would on a straight ticket.137Cowles, Complete Guide to Winning Keno, 128. It has also happened that paybooks have contained mistakes, which has allowed players to capitalize on better odds for themselves.138Ibid., 189.

Alternative bets

Other ways of placing bets change how the game works: a catch-all ticket only pays if all of your selected numbers match. Conversely, a catch-zero only pays if no numbers are matched. An all-or-nothing ticket combines both of these and wins if either all or none of the numbers match.

A top or bottom or left or right ticket is placed by dividing the ticket in half horizontally (or vertically, depending on the bet to be placed) and then writing T/B/L/R on the appropriate section to indicate which half of the ticket has been chosen. No spots are picked for this bet, and it wins if more numbers are drawn on the chosen half than the non-chosen half, paying more if more numbers end up there.139Ibid., 90.

A top-or-bottom or left-or-right (also called top-and-bottom or left-and-right) bet is placed by marking both sides of the divided ticket. This bet wins if the distribution of numbers drawn is inequal, and wins more the more inequal the distribution is (usually requiring at least 13 on one side to pay out).140Ibid., 91.

Other Keno games

There are many other Keno variants which are invented on a month-by-month basis by casinos. Wizard of Odds has an extensive list on their Keno page.

Outside the casino: “Lottery” Keno

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Keno is also run as a large-scale operation by lotteries operators. In this form of the game, only ‘straight’ tickets may be played — due to the number of different ways a ticket may be marked, the job of the ticket writers is highly skilled and not easily constrained to a computerizable form.