Laughlin keno survey

Last week I spent a couple days in Laughlin. I'm about half way through writing an article about it. While there I also did a keno survey of Laughlin. Please have a a sneak preview. I welcome all comments, corrections, and questions.

WizardOfLaughlin.com in the offing? For what it's worth, I can't stand the place. I hope you found something good to say about it in your review.

Quote: teddys

WizardOfLaughlin.com in the offing? For what it's worth, I can't stand the place. I hope you found something good to say about it in your review.

Give it another 40 years and you'll be right at home there, as you complain how you can't stand Vegas. Let's wait until my article comes out for discussion of Laughlin in general.

I do own WizardOfLaughlin, by the way, but this site isn't doing well enough to develop a Laughlin version.

It seems its the low pay for Catch 6 and Catch 7 that brings down Harrah's figures.

I don't think they do anything unintentionally though and I doubt that a Keno Room Manager is unaware of the local competition.

Of course, people who play Keno may not much care about house edge.

Vegas offers some live keno though I suspects its more likely to be in the peripheral casinos wherein real estate values are not that great.
Some Vegas casinos seem to offer "live keno" in a One Seat setting. Its officially a live game just like any other its just that they run it for displays around the computer, not for an audience in a large room so they only have the legally required one seat.

Keno is often described as for gray haired women for whom Bingo is too complex, but some younger people play it and some people actually seem to enjoy it.

Whatever changes are coming to Las Vegas, Laughlin will get a decade later. Supposedly instead of a Welcome to Las Vegas sign, Laughlin simply has a giant jar of Geritol, but I've not yet seen it there. Not yet seen any porn slappers or real traffic jams either.

Quote: teddys

For what it's worth, I can't stand the place.

I have enjoyed my stays in Laughlin, perhaps because I fit the target (?) demographic a bit better than you do. Rooms are dirt cheap even on weekends, the gambling options exceed my needs, and I enjoy the walk down the river front. I don't play keno, so this part of the Wizard's review is not relevant to me, but I will be looking forward to hearing the rest.

Quite a few times when my wife and I have visited Las Vegas, we have slipped out to spend Thursday night in Palm Springs (relaxing environment and a neat Thursday night street festival every week), followed by Friday and Saturday nights in Laughlin before returning to Las Vegas on Sunday. I find that spending a straight week or more right in the neon of the strip just burns me out, while a detour to Palm Springs, Laughlin, or maybe San Diego keeps me on an even keel for shorter visits to Las Vegas before and after the detour. This detour schedule gets me out of town on the nights that the prices are high and the crowds more annoyingly intense. I would probably do better just scheduling three or four-day visits to Las Vegas, but the transportation costs, time, and hassle coming from the east is more than I want to endure for just a single short visit to the strip (so I make it two Vegas visits on one trip). I can't imagine that I would travel all the way to Nevada just to visit Laughlin, but it's a nice side trip for us.

You go to Laughlin, tell us that you're gonna have an extensive trip review, but the first thing we get is about Keno?

Really? KENO?

Anyway....

You state that Keno is hard to find in Vegas. Although I haven't really paid it much attention, I find it hard to believe that a game that is so relatively cheap to operate, and with such a high edge, should be on a casino's chopping block.

Since you have reason to doubt the numbers from Harrah's, I think it would be a smart move to verify them before you make that page public.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

You state that Keno is hard to find in Vegas.

I had honestly thought that Keno had gone away. For some reason, I couldn't recall seeing a Keno board anywhere, but I guess since I also don't play it, maybe I didn't look for it. On my most recent trip, my buddy would play Keno every time we ate at the cafe. The first time, I was surprised by it, but sure enough a Keno runner came by and picked up his ticket.

Quote: konceptum

my buddy would play Keno every time we ate at the cafe.

That is the type of person the casino wants to satisfy. He needs "action" so even as he is gobbling a sandwich and swilling some suds... he has some action going via the good looking keno runner. That is the type of player a casino want to keep happy. Of course, soon it may all be by portable terminals not runners or by some device you even have in your hotel room. Runners want vacations, health plans and husbands. Computers don't. Yet.

Quote: FleaStiff

That is the type of person the casino wants to satisfy. He needs "action" so even as he is gobbling a sandwich and swilling some suds... he has some action going via the good looking keno runner. That is the type of player a casino want to keep happy. Of course, soon it may all be by portable terminals not runners or by some device you even have in your hotel room. Runners want vacations, health plans and husbands. Computers don't. Yet.

I actually think he's a borderline gambling addict. Only the lack of any money and the lack of anything to sell stops him from gambling more than he does. He revealed to me on the way home from the trip that he had blown through around $8k playing online poker a number of years back.

A few years back, I saw a guy buy a Keno ticket just as he was finishing his meal. He never checked it, but left it as the "tip". I thought that was pretty crappy. Sure, if it was a winner, it's a heck of a tip. But, realistically, it's most likely going to be nothing.

Quote: Wizard

Last week I spent a couple days in Laughlin. I'm about half way through writing an article about it.

I'm looking forward to your article / review.

Last summer, we drove down there as parts of the Harrah's Great Race to Total Rewards Giveaway.

It was a little longer drive than I thought it would be, but the scenery for the last 20 minutes or so
was pretty neat.

For being kindof out of the way, I thought the VP paytables would be better than they were.
We stopped at a couple of the places and had the buffet at the Colorado Belle. OK eats
there, about like a typical Hometown Buffet.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Really? KENO?

I was watching some gambling writer on you-tube go down a list of worst games in the casino, but Keno was further down on the list than you might think. His reasoning was that the amount of money by EV you lose per hour is much lower than some other games, since it proceeds slowly.

I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

Quote: konceptum

I had honestly thought that Keno had gone away.

The tribal casinos I frequent in the Pacific NW all have Keno.

I guess it's The Game That Wouldn't Die.

Yes, live keno does have a high house edge at about 30%. However, the speed is slow and average bets small. On a square foot basis it is probably among the least profitable areas in the casino, at least in Vegas.

Your odds of finding keno in Vegas are better in the locals casinos. For example, I know the Red Rock and Orleans have keno. If you want it on the Strip, when last I checked, Harrah's and the Treasure Island have small keno areas.

Quote: odiousgambit

I was watching some gambling writer on you-tube go down a list of worst games in the casino, but Keno was further down on the list than you might think. His reasoning was that the amount of money by EV you lose per hour is much lower than some other games, since it proceeds slowly.

If the goal is to lose as little as possible per hour, then indeed keno at $1 a game is not expensive. However, that isn't going to satisfy most gamblers. I don't like pitting different games against each other, but when forced I mostly ignore rate of play.

Quote: odiousgambit

I was watching some gambling writer on you-tube go down a list of worst games in the casino, but Keno was further down on the list than you might think. His reasoning was that the amount of money by EV you lose per hour is much lower than some other games, since it proceeds slowly.

I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

The old keno lounges were a great place to slow down the rate you were burning through money too fast on an unlucky night. You would never win anything but for $10 you could have a nice comfy chair and free drinks for an hour or two while getting ready to resume the main battle.