Keno System Calculator: Lines, Cost & Payouts

Your system

Numbers you mark

Spots per line

Price per line (£)

How many of your numbers are drawn

One line pays, every spot hit (× price)

One line pays, one spot short

One line pays, two short

More options

Numbers drawn

Numbers in the game

Lines, cost and payout

Lines in your system–

Cost of the system–

Lines with every spot hit–

Lines one short–

Lines two short–

You win with that many hits–

Profit or loss–

Chance that many of your numbers are drawn–

Return of the pay table (RTP)–

Lines = C(numbers marked, spots per line). With h of your numbers drawn, the lines with j hits = C(h, j) × C(marked − h, spots − j). RTP is for one line of the pay table you entered; a system has the same RTP, spread over more lines. The default pay table is a sample, not a real game's.

Independent site. CasinoCalcs is not affiliated with or endorsed by any lottery operator, including the National Lottery, Allwyn and Ireland’s National Lottery. Game names are used only to describe the rules the maths is based on.

Maths reviewed by Josh Miller
Tested by Diana Westfield

Updated 10 Nov 2026How we calculate →

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A keno system calculator answers the first question about any system ticket: how many lines am I buying? Mark 8 numbers and play them as 5-spot lines and the ticket holds 56 lines, every set of 5 you can make from your 8. At £1 a line that’s £56. If 5 of your 8 come up you get one full 5-hit line, 15 lines with 4 hits and 30 with 3. The free CasinoCalcs calculator above counts all of it for your numbers and your game’s pay table.

Keno system bets: lines and cost

Numbers marked	4-spot lines	5-spot lines	6-spot lines
6	15	6	1
7	35	21	7
8	70	56	28
9	126	126	84
10	210	252	210

The cost climbs faster than people expect. Going from 8 to 10 numbers on 5-spot lines takes the ticket from 56 lines to 252, more than four times the price for two extra numbers.

Keno payout chart for one 5-spot line

Each line pays like a normal ticket. The calculator starts with a sample 5-spot table so you can see how the return builds up; swap in your own game’s payouts.

Hits	Chance (20 of 80 drawn)	Sample pay	Adds to RTP
5	1 in 1,551	500×	32.3%
4	1 in 83	18×	21.8%
3	1 in 12	2×	16.8%
Total			70.8%

That 70.8% is typical for keno, which is one of the dearest games around. A system doesn’t change it. Each of your 56 lines is a 5-spot ticket with the same 29.2% house edge, so £56 on a system costs about £16 on average, the same as 56 separate tickets.

What a system really does

It changes the pattern of wins. With 8 numbers in play you’re more likely to catch several hits at once, and when you do, many lines pay together. You’ll see more small wins and the occasional decent one. The flip side is the cost per game. For the odds of a single ticket and the full keno pay table, use the keno odds calculator; for quick picks, the keno number generator. The same system maths for lotto draws is on the lotto system calculator.

Keno games come round every few minutes. BeGambleAware.org has free advice if you’re playing more than you meant to.

Frequently asked questions

What is a keno system bet?

You mark more numbers than one line uses and play every combination. Mark 8 numbers as a system of 5-spot lines and you get 56 tickets in one, each a different set of 5 from your 8.

How many lines are in a keno system?

The number of ways to choose the spots per line from the numbers you mark: C(n, k). 6 numbers in 5-spot lines make 6 lines, 7 make 21, 8 make 56 and 10 make 252.

Do keno systems improve the odds?

Per pound, no. Each line is an ordinary ticket with the same house edge, so a system costs exactly as much in the long run as buying the same lines one by one. It just wins more often and in smaller pieces.

What does a keno payout chart show?

What each number of hits pays for one line with a given number of spots. Payout charts vary by game, so put your game's figures into the calculator.