Most casinos have a minimum bet of either seventy cents, one dollar or more. They will also allow bets at two or three other fixed increments. This is indicated by the chart above, which allows wagers at one dollar, one dollar and forty cents, five dollars, and ten dollars. For the specific sums allowed as wagers in a particular casino, you must consult its keno brochure.
Although there is a maximum bet allowed on a single straight ticket, this does not function as a limit in the same manner as the table maximum at other games. A player who wanted to circumvent the limit could simply fill out several identical tickets and take each one to a different keno writer, betting the limit on each one. For that reason, the casino employs a different kind of maximum limit at keno. On each keno ticket, you will find a small-print statement to the effect that the house pays "$50,000 limit to aggregate players each game." What this grammatical monstrosity is supposed to mean is that the casino is not about to pay out more than $50,000 in winnings on anyone keno game, no matter what happens. If the total amount won on the game exceeds this sum, the house will prorate the $50,000 among all the big winners. For example, if two players were to win the $50,000 prize, they would each receive half of it - $25,000. If one player were to qualify for the $50,000 prize and two players were to qualify for $25,000 payoffs, the big winner would receive $25,000 while the two lesser winners would receive $12,500 each. In this way, the house protects itself from a catastrophic loss on any one game just as it does at the table games - by imposing maximum limits on individual bets.
However, the house very seldom has to invoke the aggregate limit rule. In most games, the total amount paid out comes nowhere near the $50,000 limit. On those occasions when the aggregate limit does have to be applied, it affects only the large payoffs; the small payoffs are always paid in full. Some smaller casinos have a $25,000 limit, while a few large ones have $100,000 limits. In each case, the betting limits are adjusted accordingly. However, $50,000 is the norm found in most casinos.
Many keno players have favorite number or combinations that they pick every time they play the game. If you are one of those people, there is no need to fill out a new ticket each time. After the first time you play the tickets, if you wish to bet the same combination again, simply take your duplicate ticket and turn it in to the keno writer with a new wager. He will accept this replay ticket as an original ticket for the next game and will issue you a new duplicate, on which he will mark the same numbers but which he will stamp with the number of the next game.
You can repeat this process as often as you wish. It is simply a labor - saving device for the player. In fact, every time a player comes to the window to collect a payoff, after receiving his winnings he will be asked by the writer if he wishes to play the ticket again. Even when a player wins, the casino does whatever little it can to get some of the money back.
