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Keno can't keep pace in limited casino space

A shuffle through the Gaming mailbag:

Q. You never touch on keno. How come the riverboats have taken away almost all the video keno games? The only ones to have it now are Majestic, as an option on a couple of Game Kings, and Trump with a few, but Harrah's, Horseshoe and Empress all took them away. It's more fun than all the nickel slot games and pays a lot better. We've written scores of letters to the managers, to no avail.

Also, who rates the riverboats? How about doing a poll for the average Joe who goes there a few times a week? You'd be surprised what people really like and hate. Like best buffets, tightest boats and best/worst service and attitudes.

M.S., via e-mail

A. I've received a number of e-mails and a couple of letters recently from players who wonder why there is so little video keno in the area. One reader noted that the game is much easier to find in Native-American casinos in Wisconsin.

The difference stems from trying to put casinos on boats and barges. Native-American casinos are on land, with space to stretch out and accommodate more game variety. Space is at a premium on boats and barges, especially in Illinois with its limit of 1,200 gaming positions per license. With a restriction like that, only the most profitable games are going to survive.

From a casino operator's standpoint, there are two big problems with video keno. One is that a large portion of players bet one coin at a time. The second is that the game takes longer to play than spinning the slot reels. Combine the two, and much less per hour is wagered on keno than on other games. On a percentage basis, keno tends to be a low-paying game, but keno players lose less per hour than nickel slot players because nickel slot players wager more money.

I rarely write about keno for two major reasons. First, there is no workable strategy--no number is any more or any less likely to occur than any other. There are always fine points of strategy to explore in table games and in video poker, but keno is a guessing game, pure and simple. Second, new wrinkles in keno games are rare-- the game stays the same from year to year. Few slots are games of strategy, but slot machines have been the focus of so much development that there is always something new.

It would be nice if casinos could put every game that has a following, including keno, on the floor. But with space limitations, some games just don't make the cut.

As for a survey of what players like and don't like, you must have missed it. I took one a few months ago. The survey itself ran on April 12, with results on May 10.

Q. At the Indian casinos in Traverse City and Manistee, Mich., many of the nickel slot machines now only pay off in $1 tokens. If you cash out on a nickel machine with 18 credits, you won't get anything in the coin box. You have to wait for someone to hand pay the 90 cents. Or, as several of us did, you just play it down to zero. Those same machines will only take $1 tokens or paper money to play.

Is this a practice casinos not owned by Native Americans can legally use? Or is paying out a different denomination forbidden by most regulatory agencies? I hope so.

C.S., via e-mail

A. Casinos in many jurisdictions can legally set machines to pay off in a denomination higher than the minimum bet. Systems to do that were designed as one possible answer to the problem of how to pay off bets at multiple-denomination machines, as well as to reduce the need to keep large quantities of small-denomination tokens and decrease the time and labor costs of hopper fills.

The practice is called "tokenization," and at one time it as mentioned in the same breath as ticket printers in discussing the future of the slot floor. In the last couple of years, printing bar- coded tickets for payouts seems to have won out as the technology of the immediate future. Ticket printers accomplish everything tokenization does and more, and are more convenient for players.

Q. A few weeks ago, you mentioned you had a book called The Slot Machine Answer Book. It's not in my bookstore and Amazon says it's out of stock. Where can I buy it?

M.M., via e-mail

A. The book is being reprinted by Bonus Books and should be back in stores and online outlets soon. In the meantime, Running Count Press has all my books in stock for mail-order purchase. For a price list, e-mail jgmg@aol.com or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Running Count Press, Box 1488, Elmhurst, IL 60126.