Rail City Casino (formerly Plantation Casino) is a casino in Sparks, Nevada.It is owned and operated by Affinity Gaming.It contains 23,854 square feet (2,216.1 m 2) of gaming space, with 896 slot machines, 7 table games, a keno parlor, and a William Hill race and sports book. Dining amenities include the Rail City Ale House and The Buffet & Cafe at Rail City. Located just off Interstate 80 near the Reno-Sparks border, Rail City features a 16,000-square foot casino with 550 gaming machines, live table games, keno and a sportsbook. The property also features a 250-seat restaurant and a large lounge area that offers live music and televised sporting events.
Here are the answers to the 20 keno questions in the June 2 issue.
1) There are 12 possible 5-spots in a ticket grouped 2-2-1-1.
2) Playing a ticket grouped 2-2-2-1-1, playing just the 6s, 7s, 8s at 50 cents a way, you would have one 8, two 7s, and four 6s for a total ticket cost of $3.50.
3) The NV statewide Mega Keno progressive has tickets for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 spots and the Mega 10 is 10 spots.
4) The pop 80 rate is common to downtown Las Vegas and based on an 80-cent ticket. It is called the Island rate at the California, the Dean rate at The D (with even better pays), the 40-cent rate at the El Cortez, and the Pop 80 rate at Fremont and Jerry’s Nugget (near downtown, MAX or 113 bus from downtown).
5) 80 numbers are drawn in a regular keno game.
6) Most casinos will allow you to play more than one rate on a ticket. Such tickets are called combination tickets. You can play Island rate at the California for 80 cents for your 5-spot groups and the regular $1 rate for 7 spots all on the same ticket. For a 3-3-2-2 ticket you could play one 10 at the $1 regular rate, two 8s at the regular rate, two 7s at Island Rate, the 6 at the Special Aloha Rate, and four 5s at the Island Rate all on the same ticket.
7) My biggest payoff was in June 2004 for a nontourney ticket at The Cal for $10,200. I played at their regular rate; it was an all king ticket of 8 kings, playing $1 for the eight, and 50 cents a way for each 7-spot at the regular rate. In the same game I hit two tourney tickets for about another $6K as well.
8) The column was formerly called and written by Keno Lil.
9) If you play all the possible 6, 7, 8 spots on an all king ticket you have one 8, eight 7s, and 28 6s for 37 tickets on the same ticket. Wouldn’t it be great if they all hit!
10) A group of two numbers on a keno ticket is called a Deuce.
11) Cleopatra keno is “d,” a popular video keno game available in casinos.
12) The casino has a $100,000 aggregate limit. If two players win each would receive $50,000. Most casinos will not count the minor winners.
13) If you want to play all the possible ways of MegaKeno/Mega10 on the same ticket as cheaply as possible, play groups of 1-2-3-4, giving you a 10, 9, 8, two 7s, two 6s, and two 5s totaling $13.50.
14) The reason the Reno Atlantis progressives rise so fast is they put 50 cents from each ticket into the progressive. This is the progressive to play!
Big Red Keno Live Games
15) The two casinos in Las Vegas that have the better MegaKeno/Mega10 pay tables are Excalibur and El Cortez.
16) The Atlantis and Peppermill are in Reno (Virginia Street Rapid Bus). The Rail City is in Sparks, about 4 miles from Reno.
17) The Golden Nugget, Four Queens, California, Fremont, The D, and El Cortez all have keno in downtown Las Vegas.
18) The two off-Strip casinos that have a $2 8 and 9-spot progressive are Gold Coast and Orleans.
19) The casinos with the jumbo progressives for 6, 7, 8, 9 spots are Station Casinos.
20) Keno allows you to be away from the game itself during the time the game is played. You need not be present to win. Be aware of how soon you must cash in winning tickets.
Bonus answer: A hi-lo ticket is “c,” an 18-way 10-spot. Most keno computers are not programmed for play. It can be played using 2 or 3 different tickets, though basically is it two 4-spot groups and two kings used out of four kings. A ticket is grouped 4-4-1-1-1-1. Using exactly the same numbers, the second ticket is grouped 1-1-1-1-4-4 and the third 1-1-1-1-4-1-1-1-1. Each of the three ticket options has 6 possible 10-spots, thus with the three tickets you have, in effect, an 18-way-10.
Scoreboard:
20 + bonus: Want to help write this column?
19-20: Better than many keno writers.
17-18: Look for a keno writer job.
15-16: You know the game well.
13-14: You know how to play some keno tickets.
11-12: Find the keno lounge.
9-10: Find lounge after asking directions.
7-8: You could not find the keno lounge.
5-6: You could not find the lounge even after asking directions.
3-4: Were you copying off the wrong player’s paper?
Rail City Keno Red Gamer
1-2: Find the door marked “Exit.”
0: You cannot do any worse!
Rail City Keno Red Game Online
Pesach Kremen is a former UNLV Masters Gaming student, has won and placed in multiple local keno tournaments, and has written several academic papers on Keno. You can reach him at [email protected].