Dear
Mark, In one of your most recent columns, you spoke of someone who possibly
might have hit three royal flushes in a row. What you didn’t mention was
what the odds were of such an feat happening. Also, wouldn’t some of the
long shot keno tickets be just as tough to hit as three royals in a row? Frank
L.
Oops, an omission on my part, Frank. Sorry. The
odds of hitting three royals in a row are 32.8 trillion to one. As to comparing
three consecutive royals to a long shot keno ticket, it would depend on how many
numbers you are trying to hit solid. Take for example a 15-spot. Chances of
hitting this critter are approximately 428 billion to one. Though easier to hit
than three consecutive royals, to my knowledge nobody has ever hit a 15-spot,
ever, ever, ever.
Then, Frank, there’s a beauty they call a
“Special Bonus” ticket, where you try to hit 19 out of 20. Try the
improbable odds of two quadrillion, 946 trillion, 096 billion, and 780 million
to one. If you were to play this ticket every second, of every day, according
to those fun laws of probability, you will catch 19 out of 20 once every 93,420,116
years. How’s the longevity in your family, Frank? Just this past week
an Old School 38-year veteran of the keno wars, Art Simpson, stopped by for a
quick visit on his way to a Marine reunion. Art worked his entire gaming career
in six N. Nevada casinos, all in keno. I asked him; “Art, what ticket, with
the most spots hit solid, have you ever paid on?” “A fair share
of nine spots,” he replied,” but never a ten spot or higher.” He
also commented that over that same 38 years, he had never witnessed his own
8-spot on the board. He had observed plenty of seven out of eight of his regular
numbers, but never an 8-spot solid. I can definitely buy what Art’s selling;
because in the 18 years I spent on the inside, I have seen my 5-spot (2, 25, 55,
73, 78) appear only four times. Fortuitously, I was on it once for $5, and
it paid more than four grand, far more than I have ever spent, or will spend,
playing keno.
