On this page we provide concise, clear information, descriptions, tips and tricks,
and the most important rules of one of the world’s possibly oldest lotteries: KENO in Germany.
How do you play Keno?
The game formula for Keno is simply “10 out of 20 out of 70”. From the numbers 1–70, you mark 2–10
numbers for a Keno tip. In Germany, this lottery can now be played in all federal states. Every day from Monday
to Saturday, 20 winning numbers are “drawn”.
In addition to choosing how many numbers to mark, players can freely choose the stake per tip between
€1, €2, €5, and €10.
Unlike Lotto, players
decide how many boxes to tick. The minimum stake is
€1, the maximum win is €1 million. The payout plan
is based on the chosen stake and type. Odds are fixed. The more numbers you guess correctly and the higher the stake, the larger
the prize. The top prize of
€1 million is paid for 10 correct with a €10 stake.
There are even cases with “zero correct”
where stakes are returned. For Keno types 9
and 10 (9 or 10 marked numbers),
players receive a “consolation prize” of double the stake.
With type 8, if all 8 guesses miss, the stake is at least returned.
You can win up to €100,000 with just a €1 stake. For precisely this reason, the game has been considered particularly addictive.
Accordingly, when playing at a kiosk you need a customer card, e.g. at Lotto Bavaria (and in all other federal states).
For the evening drawings, the sales cutoff is 18:20.
The Hessischer Rundfunk broadcasts the winning numbers live at 18:30.
At the same time, the numbers are published on the internet.
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Keno price comparison: Leading internet providers
As with our other objective lottery-related price comparisons: the Lotto price comparison, the Eurojackpot price comparison, and the Glücksspirale price comparison, we examined the fee systems of state-licensed providers in Germany
to offer visitors an objective comparison of the respective processing fees or extra costs for playing online. We note upfront
that all information is without guarantee of completeness and accuracy, and ask you to verify independently if in doubt.
All data for this comparison were taken from the providers’ current websites*. Processing fees
may change at short notice. According to the current rules,
Keno drawings are daily. To mitigate gambling risks, most providers require customer cards. Interestingly, only a few state-licensed providers
currently offer online play. The add-on lottery Plus 5 was not considered in this price comparison.
For comparison:
Price for a Keno 10 game, €1 stake (including processing fee)
“*” – All information without guarantee of completeness and accuracy, as of 15.03.2026
“**” – Private, state-licensed lottery broker,
“-” – not offered.
Participation from age 18. Risk of gambling addiction. Info at www.spielen-mit-verantwortung.de
As the table shows, online processing fees vary considerably between different lottery outlets.
Currently, the online outlets of the state lottery providers
Lotto Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lotto Baden-Württemberg, and Lotto Hesse appear to be the cheapest. The state-licensed broker Lottobay can only be
recommended to a limited extent due to higher processing fees.
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Rules (“How do you play Keno?”)
In Germany, Keno is based on picking 2–10
numbers from 1–70. In other countries, 20 out of
80 numbers are often drawn. The difference is minor — both variants
offer enormous combinations for players.
Hitting all 10 winning numbers when 20 are drawn from 70 is difficult enough. The appeal of Keno
is that players can choose their own play “type”.
There are types 2–10. The type corresponds to how many numbers you mark. If you choose 5 marks,
you’ve chosen type 5. The chosen type must also be confirmed by ticking the corresponding field below
the play grid.
You then set the stake; this applies to all grids on the slip.
It takes a little time to get used to the prize tiers.
If you play type 7 with 7 marked numbers,
you can already win if you hit just 4 of the 20 drawn numbers.
With fewer hits there is no prize. The maximum prize is paid
for 7 hits among the 20 drawn numbers.
Players benefit from fixed payouts, which can be quite high. Overall, Keno offers more flexibility than
Lotto and gives players some control
over their individual play and risk level.
For organizers, fixed payouts involve
a planned risk because payouts are not tied to intake
as with Lotto.
If number combinations corresponding to many players’ favorite numbers
appear by chance,
very large payouts may occur. However, there is also a safeguard. For example, prize class
10 at type 10 is capped at €5 million. If more than 5 winners occur, they must
share the €5 million. Similar limits apply to
prize class 9.
Don’t be misled by the fact that for types 8–10 you also win with zero hits — it is less likely
to have zero hits with these types than with lower
types.
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The History of the “Game of the White Dove”
Keno is undoubtedly the oldest state-organized
game of chance known to us that is still played today in only slightly modified form. Its origins are recorded —
Chinese scrolls from the Han dynasty tell of a
Chinese prince named Cheung Leung who in 187 BC
introduced a game of chance to raise funds from unwilling citizens of his besieged city,
successfully financing its defense.
This game, which must have been very similar to today’s Keno, quickly spread through China. Because —
as tradition has it — white doves carried the latest winning numbers from place
to place, it was called the “game of the white
dove”. Legend also has it that Chinese emperors used it to finance the Great Wall.
Notably, the game was originally
played with 120 Chinese characters. These
characters appear in initial positions in the Chinese
teaching poem “Thousand Character Classic”, which also
serves as a numeric character system.
Only when the game spread to the USA at the beginning of the
19th century — likely brought by Chinese workers,
mainly cheap labor for railroad construction —
did the modern form with only
80 symbols develop. Despite widespread bans on gambling in the USA,
Keno continued to be played in the Chinatowns of
West Coast cities up to the 1930s,
known as the “Chinese Lottery”.
Until the late 19th century, this Keno format was played chiefly within the Chinese
community. It entered mainstream American culture only
when the Chinese characters were replaced by Arabic numerals.
Gambling remained largely prohibited in the USA until 1931.
Even when certain forms of gambling were approved in Nevada,
lottery-style number games remained banned.
By renaming “Chinese lottery” to “horse
race keno”, the lottery ban was circumvented. As bingo became legal,
the game was modeled accordingly and the name was later shortened to the familiar “Keno”.
If numbers are not drawn by computer as in the German
system, traditional US Keno uses a drum —
with 80 ping-pong–sized balls labeled 1–80. The drum is nicknamed the “goose” or
“squirrel cage”, similar to a bingo machine.
Twenty balls drop in sequence, and players
hope to match their chosen numbers.
Keno remains one of the most popular games of chance in the USA. At times it was seen
as a working-class game with no place in finer
casinos, but today even renowned
casinos feature dedicated lounges.
Many restaurants and bars also offer it. In large casinos it is a popular alternative to roulette,
dice games, and slots. In recent years, online play has grown strongly,
with graphics and sound effects simulating the live experience.
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Keno in Germany
Since February 2002, this lottery has also been offered in Germany by the state
lottery companies. The state of Hesse played
a pioneering role. They did not rely on the traditional
drum but used computer technology from the start. Two
supercomputers developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin reliably
and securely generate random numbers.
From numbers 1–70, a sequence of 20 winning numbers
and a five-digit number for the add-on lottery “Plus 5”
are generated. Thus, for the first time in Germany, a lottery is determined not by a mechanical drum but with sophisticated
software. The computer system must operate completely autonomously,
i.e., without external influence. Two independent
machines generate random numbers using different
methods. Even the power supply uses solar technology,
without connection to the grid. The system was created by
Dr. Sergio Montenegro.
The state lottery companies hope that this game of chance will attract
a younger audience. They also expect
additional revenue — for example, Hamburg’s state budget
expected €2.35 million in extra revenue based on
more than €10 million in total sales.
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