There are seven video lottery racinos in Ohio. Properties include MGM Northfield Park and Belterra Park. These gaming establishments may only have slots and keno. Video poker, poker rooms and table games of any form may only be played in the four full-service Ohio casinos.
Most of the machines at an Ohio racino are video slots and reels. The pay tables are not helpful in determining the payback on these games.
The keno games have pay tables and are manufactured by companies that use proper random number generators. We can take the pay tables and compute the theoretical return percentage to the player.
Each racino offers keno at its bars. There are usually another couple of banks of machines on the racino floor. Denominations generally start at nickel or quarter and go up to $5. There are some keno machines in high limit areas of Ohio racinos.
We sampled three Ohio video keno games to determine the payout percentage a player receives. Those results are listed below. They are sorted by number of spots picked.
Traditional Keno
- 2: 90.2%
- 3: 87.4%
- 4: 87.7%
- 5: 88%
- 6: 88%
- 7: 87.7%
- 8: 88.2%
- 9: 87.6%
- 10: 88.8%
Credit: These numbers were generated using the keno calculator at Wizard of Odds.
Caveman Keno
Caveman Keno is a version where three eggs strike the board. The player receives four times the win if two eggs hit the 20 numbers the player picked. It is eight times if all three eggs land on the board. The numbers below are the payback percentages based on how many numbers the player picked for the game.
- 2: 86.4%
- 3: 87.5%
- 4: 88.7%
- 5: 88.3%
- 6: 88.2%
- 7: 88.3%
- 8: 88.1%
- 9: 88.4%
- 10: 88.2%
Credit: We used the Caveman Keno calculator at Wizard of Odds.
Power Keno
Power Keno is a game where the last number drawn creates a four times multiplier on the win. It requires an associated payout. Losing keno games receive no credits on a power hit. The nine-spot is the best play. It is such an outlier that I wonder if I have the pay table wrong. If so, I got it wrong in two different Ohio racinos where I surveyed the machines.
- 2: 90.6%
- 3: 90.4%
- 4: 89.8%
- 5: 90.1%
- 6: 90%
- 7: 89.3%
- 8: 89.7%
- 9: 95%
- 10: 89.7%
Credit: We used the Power Keno calculator at Wizard of Odds.
