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7 Gambling Games That Feature Numbers

All casino gambling games involve math, and almost all of them feature numbers in one way or another. Blackjack, for example, has playing cards that are numbered and have point values. Slot machines have a specific number of reels and use numbers to compare the payouts with the amount you bet on each spin of the reels.

But some gambling games feature numbers in a more specific way. I’m thinking of games like bingo, keno, and the lottery.

You can find a bewildering variety of gambling games that feature numbers, but here are seven of the most common that are worth trying.

1 – The Lottery

The most notable thing about the lottery is that it’s a game run by the government. In the United States, almost every state has a state-run lottery game to play. But that’s not a new thing, governments have been running lottery games for centuries.

The numbers behind the lottery are usually straightforward enough. The lottery administrators sell a specific number of tickets for a specific amount of money. They use 50% of that money (give or take) to form a prize pool. That prize pool is divided among the winners.

Most lotteries involve a random drawing of a specific set of numbers. The more of those numbers you got right on your pick, the more money you win.

If you match all six numbers, you win the entire jackpot. If someone else gets all six numbers right, you split the jackpot with them.

But you can win smaller prizes by getting fewer numbers right. There are nine total ways to win, including the jackpot.

2 – Keno

Keno is basically a lottery game run by a casino. Some lotteries offer keno as a separate game from their other lottery games. It does have a distinct set of rules when compared to most lottery games.

In a keno drawing, there are 20 numbers drawn, each of which ranges from between 1 and 80. The numbers are printed on balls and drawn at random, just like they are in most lottery games.

The administrator of the game has a pay table outlining what the payouts are for, getting a set of numbers right. This is based on how many numbers you picked and how much you bet.

The house edge for keno is generally much higher than it is for most other casino games, although it’s roughly comparable to the house edge for lottery games in general. You’ll see some games with a house edge of around 4%, but that’s unusual.

Most keno games have a house edge closer to 35%. The biggest difference between keno and the lottery is that you get to decide how many numbers you’re going to choose on your keno ticket.

3 – Bingo

Bingo is one of the most popular gambling games in the world, and it lacks the association with vice that other forms of gambling have. Bingo is even played in churches, which usually frown on gambling.

To play bingo, you start by buying bingo cards. These cards have numbers organized into a 5×5 grid with “B – I – N – G – O” printed across the type. Every number, therefore, has a letter-number combination.

During the game, the caller draws letter-number combinations from a randomizer. These are usually printed on balls. He calls those numbers out as they’re drawn, and you mark the squares on your card when your numbers get called.

When you get five numbers in a row—horizontally, vertically, or diagonally—you yell bingo and collect your prize.

Bingo has lots of variations, most of which involve variations to which kinds of patterns you need to draw on the bingo card to win. For example, in “blackout,” you must cover all the numbers on your bingo card.

Bingo is even popular on the internet.

4 – 30-Ball Bingo

30-Ball Bingo is a variation of bingo played online at casinos powered by Rival software. Instead of using a 5×5 card, 30-Ball Bingo uses a 3×3 card. It also only has 30 balls, which is considerably less than the 75 balls used in a standard bingo game.

That’s not the only difference between standard bingo and 30-Ball Bingo. The other big change is that, instead of trying to win before the other players, you’re just paid off based on the best pattern on your bingo card.

You can play up to 100 cards for between a dime and a dollar per card. You also get to decide how many of the 30 numbers get drawn—20, 22, or 24. The maximum bet is $50.

30-Ball Bingo is a blackout game, so you only win on cards where you black out all the numbers on the card. The payoffs are based on how many numbers are chosen.

If you chose 20 balls, the payoff is 80 for 1. If you chose 22 balls, the payoff is 27 for 1. If you chose 24 balls, the payoff is 10 for 1.

In this game, the house edge varies based on how many balls are chosen. The best odds for the player are in the game where you choose 20 balls. The house edge for that version is still 6.08%, though.

5 – Blitz Keno

Like many gambling games, Blitz Keno is just keno with an additional wrinkle. The main game is the same as regular keno, you choose to bet on numbers when 20 numbers are drawn.

But Blitz Keno offers a side bet on the total of the numbers on those 20 balls. In some respects, these bets resemble the bets made in sic bo. For example, you can bet on whether the total will be odd or even.

The payoff for that bet is even money less a 5% commission, making the house edge exactly 5%. You can also bet high or low. Any total of 809 or less is considered low, and any total of 810 or more is considered high. This also has an even money payoff less a 5% commission.

There are a whole other set of bets, too, including a bet that the total will be exactly 810. That bet pays off at 108 for 1. You get the idea.

6 – Easy Lotto

Easy Lotto is a video game version of the lottery found in some Las Vegas casinos. You choose six numbers from between 0 and 9, and the video game then chooses six random numbers. You get paid off based on how many numbers you matched and where those matches happened on the screen.

You get to score your outcome in two different ways, and you get paid off based on which way wins you more money.

One win has to do with how the numbers line up. They not only need to match numbers, but also positions from left to right.

7 – Liar’s Poker

This isn’t actually a casino game at all, but it is a gambling game using numbers that’s popularly played in bars throughout the United States. I used to play this game a lot with my college buddies. Honestly, I’m surprised there isn’t a version of it available in casinos.

Instead of using playing cards, Liar’s Poker uses the serial number on dollar bills. One is treated as an ace, and zero is treated as a 10. The other numbers are just the numbers.

You hold onto your dollar bill, and the other players do the same with theirs. Your goal is to guess how many times a specific digit shows up on all the dollars of all the players.

When you bet, you must make a bet that’s either equal to or higher than the previous bet. This continues until the other players challenge a bet. Here’s an example. The first player bids that there will be a total of four 7s across all the dollars. The next player can bid a higher number, claiming that there will be five 7s. He also has the option of bidding four, but he chooses another number, like six. Or he can challenge the previous bidder.

This continues until a specific bid has been challenged by all the other players in the game. If the challenger is right, and the total number of that digit is lower than the bid, the bidder has to give a dollar to each of the other players.

But if the challenger is incorrect, he must give the other players a dollar each.

Conclusion

That’s my list of casino gambling games that feature numbers. Most of them involve choosing numbers and hoping they match numbers that are chosen randomly by the casino.

What variations of these kinds of games did I leave out that I should have included?

Leave me a message about your favorite numbers-based gambling game in the comments.