Power Keno

Quick verdict: standard keno with one twist on the final ball

Power Keno is IGT's version of video keno with a single added rule. You mark some numbers from 1 to 80, the game draws 20, and pays depend on how many of your numbers are caught. If the 20th and final ball drawn is one of your numbers, the whole win for that game is multiplied by 4. That's the whole feature. There are no free games, no symbols and no bonus screens.

The twist matters more than it looks. It changes how often each catch pays its full potential, and it means base pays have to sit a bit lower to make room for it. The listed RTP is 94.97%, but in keno the return depends on how many spots you mark, and the published figure doesn't say which setting it describes. The maximum win and release date aren't confirmed by IGT. It's a clean, fast game for players who like plain odds and don't want slot features.

Power Keno spec sheet

Twenty balls from eighty: how every game plays out

A round has three steps.

1. Mark your spots. Choose how many numbers to play, commonly between 2 and 10, and pick them on the 80-number board. Some versions also allow a single spot; the game's own rules screen shows the range for the build you open.
2. Set the stake and draw. The game draws 20 of the 80 numbers at random, one after another.
3. Count your catches. Any drawn number you marked is a catch. The pay table for your spot count shows the pay for each catch total, as a multiple of the stake.

Nothing else carries between rounds. Each draw is independent, and in a fair game it makes no difference which numbers you pick. Picking 1–10 in a row has exactly the same chance as picking scattered numbers or the numbers that just came up. There are no hot or cold numbers, and a number that hasn't appeared for a while isn't due.

What you do control is how many spots you mark, because each spot count has its own pay table. With a 2-spot ticket, catching both is the only big result. With a 10-spot ticket, the table usually pays at several catch levels, with the top pay for catching all ten. That's why the spots decision is where Power Keno really gets decided.

Catch odds for every spot count

The chance of each catch count comes from simple counting. Your spots are fixed. The draw picks 20 of the 80 numbers. The probability of catching exactly c of your n spots is the number of ways to choose c of the 20 drawn numbers and n − c of the 60 undrawn ones, divided by the number of ways to choose n numbers from 80. Mathematicians call this the hypergeometric distribution, and it is the same for every fair 80-ball, 20-draw keno game.

A few points stand out:

• Catching all ten of ten is about 1 in 8.9 million. Even catching nine of ten is well under one in a hundred thousand.
• Middling catches are common. On a 10-spot ticket, catching 2, 3 or 4 happens in roughly 71% of draws combined (29.53%, 26.74% and 14.73%). Whether those pay anything depends on the pay table.
• The likeliest single result shifts with spot count. On 2 spots, zero catches (56.01%) is the likeliest result. From 3 to 6 spots, catching one is likeliest, and from 7 to 10 spots, catching two is. IGT hasn't published the online pay table, so we don't say which catch counts pay.

These probabilities are fixed by the draw itself. Whatever pay table the game uses, catching all five of five is always about 1 in 1,550.

A full example: the 5-spot ticket

The summary table only shows the edges. Here is every outcome for a 5-spot ticket, which is a common middle choice:

The six figures add up to 100%. Two things are worth noticing. First, 0, 1 or 2 catches happen in about 90% of draws, so on most keno tables those results pay little or nothing on a 5-spot ticket. Second, the drop from 3 catches to 4 is roughly sevenfold, and from 4 to 5 roughly nineteenfold. Each extra catch is much rarer than the one before, which is why the pays at the top of any keno table climb so steeply.

The 20th ball: what a 4x on the final draw is worth

The rule is simple: if the 20th ball drawn is one of your spots, the win for that game is quadrupled. It is widely described as applying to the entire win for the game, not just the pay for that one number, and this review follows that reading. If a build's help screen says otherwise, the per-catch figures below would shrink accordingly.

How likely is a 4x?

Any single spot has a 1 in 80 chance of being the 20th ball. So the chance that the last ball is one of your spots is your spot count divided by 80:

• 2 spots: 2.5%
• 5 spots: 6.25%
• 8 spots: 10%
• 10 spots: 12.5%

That chance on its own doesn't mean much, because a 4x on a round that pays nothing is still nothing. The useful question is how often the 4x lands when you already have a paying catch.

The multiplier at each catch count

The order the 20 balls come out in is random. So if a round has c of your spots among the 20 drawn numbers, each of those 20 positions is equally likely to be the last. The chance the 20th ball is one of your catches is exactly c ÷ 20. This follows directly from the draw rules and doesn't depend on the pay table.

That gives an average multiplier for each catch count: 4 × (c/20) + 1 × (1 − c/20), which simplifies to 1 + 3c/20.

This is the centre of Power Keno's design. The multiplier doesn't hit all wins evenly. It leans toward the big catches. A 10-of-10 catch has an even chance of being quadrupled, while a 2-catch win gets the 4x only one time in ten. The rarer and bigger the catch, the more of its value comes from the final ball.

A quick check shows the two ways of counting agree. On a 10-spot ticket, the overall chance of a 4x is 12.5%. That same figure falls out if you weight each catch count's c ÷ 20 by how often that catch count happens: the average number of catches on a 10-spot ticket is 10 × 20 ÷ 80 = 2.5, and 2.5 ÷ 20 = 12.5%.

Why base pays sit lower

The multiplier adds value at every catch count, so it has to be paid for somewhere. In any keno game, the return is fixed by the pay table and the catch odds. Adding a 4x rule without changing anything else would push that return up. So a Power Keno pay table has to list each catch at a lower pay than a plain keno table with the same overall return would. Part of each catch's value sits in the listed pay, and part sits in the chance of a 4x on the final ball.

Two things follow. First, a win without the 4x pays only the listed amount, which is below that catch's average value in the design. Second, results are more uneven: some of the return moves out of ordinary wins and into the one draw in several where the last ball is yours.

To put a number on it with a made-up example: suppose a catch lists a pay of 10x. At 5 catches, the average multiplier is 1.75x, so that catch's average value is 17.5x. Three times in four it pays 10x, and one time in four it pays 40x. The same logic applies to whatever the real listed pays are.

Spots and return: why 94.97% isn't the whole picture

Power Keno is listed with an RTP of 94.97%. Treat that as one figure for one setting, not a single number for the whole game.

In keno, every spot count has its own pay table, so every spot count has its own return. Return = the sum, over every catch count, of (chance of that catch) × (listed pay) × (average multiplier for that catch). The first and last parts are fixed by the maths above. Only the listed pay changes between tables. So two spot counts on the same machine can land a few percentage points apart, and the same spot count can differ a lot between operators' pay table settings on land-based machines.

A game listed at "94.97%" could be describing a particular spot count on IGT's online table, a best case, or an average. IGT hasn't published which. The rules screen of the build you open may show the return for each spot count, and that's the figure to trust.

What RTP means stays the same. It's the long-run share of all stakes the design returns over an enormous number of games. At 94.97%, that's 94.97 coins per 100 wagered over time. No choice of numbers, no pattern of spots and no staking plan changes the return of a given pay table. Only the spot count does, because it switches you to a different table.

On volatility, IGT doesn't publish an official rating. What the rules do show is structural. A 2-spot ticket settles often and in small amounts. A 10-spot ticket depends on rare high catches, and the 4x rule leans toward exactly those. That makes high spot counts much swingier than low ones, whatever label the game carries.

How to read a Power Keno pay table

Because the online pay table isn't published outside the game, it helps to know what to look for when you open it.

1. Pick a spot count first. The table changes when you change the spots, so read the one for the ticket you intend to play.
2. Find the lowest paying catch. On larger tickets, several low catch counts pay nothing. The lowest paying row tells you how often a ticket returns anything at all, when you match it against the catch odds above.
3. Check whether pays are shown before the 4x. The listed figures are the base pays. A 4x on the final ball multiplies them.
4. Look at the top row. The top catch is where the multiplier matters most, since big catches have the best chance of a 4x.
5. Look for a return figure per spot count. If the rules screen lists one, compare spot counts directly rather than relying on a single headline RTP.

With the pay table and the catch odds side by side, you can work out any ticket's return yourself using the formula in the previous section.

Maximum win: what the rules allow

IGT hasn't confirmed a maximum win for the online Power Keno. A 10,000x figure is sometimes quoted, but without a rules-level basis, so we don't use it.

The rules do show how the top result is reached. It needs the top catch on the highest spot count the pay table rewards most, combined with the 20th ball being one of those catches. On a 10-spot ticket, catching all ten is about 1 in 8.9 million draws, and half of those would carry the 4x. The final figure depends on the top line of the pay table, which the in-game rules screen shows.

Where Power Keno sits among IGT-style keno variants

Several keno games share this last-ball idea or add their own twist. These are real, separately documented variants:

• Super Keno, which works like conventional keno but quadruples the win when the last ball is a catch. Super Keno and Fire Power Keno are commonly described as using the same last-ball rule as Power Keno.
• Triple Power Keno, a separate game built on the same family name.
• Standard Spot Keno, the plain version with no multiplier, where pays are set without any final-ball bonus.
• Caveman Keno and Bonus Keno, each with its own rules and pay tables.

The practical difference from plain spot keno is where the value sits. Standard keno puts it all in the listed pays. Power Keno moves some of it into the final ball, weighted toward big catches. If you like knowing exactly what each catch pays, standard keno is more predictable. If a bigger top end appeals, the last-ball rule adds that without new mechanics.

Who Power Keno suits

• Players who prefer pure number games to slot features and bonus rounds.
• Anyone who likes being able to calculate their chances, since every catch probability is fixed by the draw rules.
• Players who enjoy tuning risk with one setting: fewer spots for frequent small results, more spots for rare large ones.

It's a poor fit for anyone who wants animations, free games or collect mechanics. It's also unsatisfying for players who want a clear headline max win and RTP: both depend on details IGT hasn't fully published.

The case for and against Power Keno

Pros

• One rule to learn: a 4x on the whole win when the 20th ball is yours.
• Catch odds are fully calculable, and the spot count gives direct control over risk.
• The multiplier leans toward the rarest catches, adding weight at the top end.
• Fast rounds, with autoplay available.

Cons

• Return depends on the spots you mark, and the 94.97% figure doesn't say which setting it covers.
• Max win, volatility and release date aren't verified.
• Base pays sit lower to fund the multiplier, so rounds without the 4x can feel thin.

Power Keno FAQ