Bingo or Keno Games: What’s the difference?

March 29, 2021 10:23 am

People that are unfamiliar with bingo and keno games think that these two gambling games are the same, which is not entirely true.

Bingo and keno are very popular in casinos around the world that involve selecting and marking numbers on cards, and then having a machine randomly spits out numbered balls to come up with a lottery-type winning combination. But how different or similar are these two games? Please read on, and get more informed.

Bingo Vs Keno Gambling Games

The games’ origins

Bingo’s origin can be traced back to Italy in the 1500s as a lottery-based game. The relaxing game is played by all sorts of people and of all ages, which uses numbers to award a prize, and the winning members ought to have the winning numbers in their cards to claim the prize. To date, the bingo national lottery is still played in Italy on Saturdays.

Keno is believed to be a lot older than bingo, a game that was first played over 300 years ago in China to raise funds for war instead of increasing the people’s taxes. It is believed that the game’s popularity helped raise funds that were used to build the Great Wall of China. Keno numbers are completely random. In the 1850s, the Chinese immigrants would later bring the game to the United States.

Picking the winning numbers

In both bingo and keno, the mechanism for drawing the winning numbers is the same. A machine spits out random numbers that the players match with their card numbers to win. From here, their differences begin.
While the numbers in bingo are drawn continuously till someone wins the game, and there can only be one winner; A set of numbers are drawn in keno where match the numbers with those on their cards, of which there can be several winners, and the jackpot winner is supposed to match the drawn numbers to their ticket numbers, all fifteen of them.

Placing bets

On betting cards, bingo punters cannot control the bet size, only the card prices where they can choose to purchase a few or more game cards, in either cheap or expensive rooms. They purchase bingo cards that already have numbers printed on them, and are only valid for a specific session. On the other hand, punters in keno pick their numbers between 1-20 from a field of 80 and mark them on the cards, picking a minimum wager on each as per their preference. Punters are allowed to vary their bets and also use the selected numbers in several games. So, while kenoplayers get to pick the card numbers themselves, bingo players do not as they buy the cards with the numbers already printed on them.

Conclusion

While both games are fun to play, offer great cash prizes, and share several similarities; the details in the games clearly set them apart and highlight their major differences. Both games are entertaining and easy to grasp and can be enjoyed both online and offline. So, when it comes down to choosing between the two games, it would have to be a matter of personal preferences.