How keno works: Banco odds, payouts and the hot numbers myth
Keno is a number draw: you pick a few numbers, the game draws 20 of its own, and you are paid according to how many of yours come up. In Quebec the keno you can buy every night is Banco, Loto-Québec's keno lottery, sold at retailers, on lotoquebec.com and in the Loto-Québec app. This guide explains how keno works, gives Banco's full prize table with Loto-Québec's published odds, works out how much of each dollar comes back for every bet type, shows what the Turbo option really does to the math and explains why "hot" and "cold" numbers mean nothing. Prize tables and odds come from Loto-Québec's game rules, as published on November 10, 2026.
If you play other Loto-Québec draws, our guides to Québec 49 and Quotidienne 3 use the same approach.
How keno works
Every keno game follows the same pattern.
- You choose how many numbers to play. In keno this is often called the number of "spots". Banco lets you play from 2 to 10 numbers out of 70.
- You pick your numbers, or let the terminal pick them for you.
- The game draws 20 numbers from the same 70.
- You win if enough of your numbers are among the 20. The prize depends on two things: how many numbers you played and how many of them matched.
Quebec's by-law on casino games describes keno the same way: the winning numbers come from a draw machine or a computer that picks them at random, and the prizes and the way they are allocated must be posted where the game is played.
The key idea is that a 4-number bet and a 10-number bet are different games with different prize tables. Playing more numbers does not give you more chances on the same table. It moves you to a table with rarer, bigger prizes.
Banco: Loto-Québec's keno
- Numbers. Each selection is 2 to 10 numbers from 1 to 70, depending on the bet type you choose.
- Draw. Loto-Québec draws 20 numbers from 1 to 70 every evening. Bets close at 10:30 p.m.
- Price. A selection costs $1, $2, $5 or $10. Prizes are listed for $1 and multiplied by your stake.
- How to play. Hand a filled-in slip to a retailer, ask for a quick pick, or play online or in the app. You can buy a selection for more than one draw and play in combination.
- Forfait quotidien. This bundle plays Banco together with Quotidienne 2, 3 and 4.
- Prize cap. The total paid in a prize category is capped at $10,000,000 per draw, Turbo winnings included. If the cap is reached, prizes are reduced proportionally.
Banco prizes and odds
This is Loto-Québec's prize table for a $1 bet.
| Numbers played | Matches | Prize | Odds (1 in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10 | $200,000 | 2,147,181 |
| 10 | 9 | $5,000 | 47,238 |
| 10 | 8 | $200 | 2,571 |
| 10 | 7 | $25 | 261 |
| 10 | 6 | $5 | 44 |
| 10 | 0 | $2 | 39 |
| 9 | 9 | $50,000 | 387,197 |
| 9 | 8 | $1,000 | 10,325 |
| 9 | 7 | $100 | 685 |
| 9 | 6 | $5 | 86 |
| 8 | 8 | $25,000 | 74,941 |
| 8 | 7 | $200 | 2,436 |
| 8 | 6 | $10 | 199 |
| 7 | 7 | $5,000 | 15,464 |
| 7 | 6 | $50 | 619 |
| 7 | 5 | $5 | 63 |
| 6 | 6 | $1,000 | 3,383 |
| 6 | 5 | $25 | 169 |
| 5 | 5 | $250 | 781 |
| 5 | 4 | $5 | 50 |
| 4 | 4 | $100 | 189 |
| 3 | 3 | $25 | 48 |
| 2 | 2 | $7 | 13 |
Two details stand out. On a 10-number bet, matching none of your numbers pays $2, which happens about once in 39 plays. And on the 2, 3 and 4-number bets, only a perfect match pays anything.
You can check any line yourself. On a 2-number bet, the chance that your first number is drawn is 20 in 70, and the chance that your second one is too is 19 in 69. Multiply them and you get about 7.9%, or 1 in 12.7, which Loto-Québec rounds to 1 in 13.
How much of each dollar comes back
Multiply each prize by its probability and add the results, and you get the average amount paid back per $1 played. These are our calculations from the table above, before any prize cap.
| Numbers played | Average return per $1 | Chance of any prize (1 in) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 55.1 cents | 12.7 |
| 3 | 52.1 cents | 48.0 |
| 4 | 52.8 cents | 189.3 |
| 5 | 42.0 cents | 47.0 |
| 6 | 44.3 cents | 161.1 |
| 7 | 48.3 cents | 57.1 |
| 8 | 46.6 cents | 183.4 |
| 9 | 43.0 cents | 75.5 |
| 10 | 53.7 cents | 19.0 |
The spread matters. The 2-number bet returns about 55 cents per dollar and the 5-number bet about 42 cents, so on the same budget a 5-number player loses roughly 30% more on average. The 10-number bet sits near the top mainly because of the $2 prize for matching nothing and the $5 prize for six matches.
In practical terms, $100 spread over 100 $1 plays loses between $45 and $58 on average depending on the bet type. In a simulation of 20,000 sessions of 100 plays each, about 1% of 2-number players, 12% of 5-number players and 4% of 10-number players finished ahead. The 5-number bet loses the most on average but swings the most, because a single $250 hit puts you well up.
What the Turbo option does
Turbo doubles your stake for each selection and each draw. A separate draw then sets a multiplier that applies to any prize you win that night. Loto-Québec publishes the odds of each multiplier:
| Multiplier | Odds (1 in) |
|---|---|
| x1 | 3.85 |
| x2 | 2.94 |
| x3 | 3.7 |
| x4 | 10 |
| x5 | 50 |
| x10 | 100 |
From those odds, the average multiplier works out to about 2.35. Since Turbo costs twice the stake, each Turbo dollar returns about 1.18 times what a regular dollar returns. The 10-number bet goes from 53.7 to about 63.1 cents per dollar, and the 2-number bet from 55.1 to about 64.7 cents.
So Turbo improves the return rate, but it also doubles what you spend per draw. On a $2 Turbo play of 10 numbers you still lose about 74 cents on average, compared with about 46 cents on a plain $1 play of the same bet. Turbo is available on every Banco bet except the 10-number bet at $10.
Banco spécial: all 20 numbers
Banco spécial is a separate $5 game where your selection is 20 numbers from 1 to 70, the same count Loto-Québec draws. Prizes:
| Matches out of 20 | Prize for $5 | Odds (1 in) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 to 20 | $1,000,000 | 4,763,044 |
| 14 | $10,000 | 262,832 |
| 13 | $1,000 | 20,907 |
| 12 | $500 | 2,394 |
| 11 | $50 | 385 |
| 10 | $20 | 85 |
| 9 | $10 | 26 |
| 8 | $5 | 11 |
| 4 to 7 | Nothing | |
| 3 | $5 | 14 |
| 2 | $10 | 47 |
| 1 | $20 | 266 |
| 0 | $500 | 3,435 |
The overall odds of a prize are 1 in 4.12. On average you match about 5.7 of your 20 numbers, which is exactly the band that pays nothing, so the game rewards being far from average in either direction. Our calculation from this table gives about $2.51 back per $5, or about 50 cents per dollar.
Hot and cold numbers
Lists of the "most winning keno numbers" or "hot numbers" are popular, but they describe the past, not the next draw. In every Banco draw, each of the 70 numbers has the same 20 in 70 chance, about 28.6%, of being drawn, whatever happened before. Loto-Québec's Bien jouer site explains that its draw results are produced by a random number generator and that each draw is independent of the others.
Streaks that look meaningful happen all the time by chance. A given number misses 10 draws in a row about 3.5% of the time, so at any moment you should expect two or three of the 70 numbers to be on a 10-draw "cold" streak. That number is not due. A quick pick has exactly the same odds as numbers you choose.
Keno in a casino and keno as a lottery
Quebec's by-law respecting casino games lists keno as one of three types of casino games, along with table games and slot machines. For keno played in state casinos, it sets a floor: the return rate may not be lower than 65%. Banco is a lottery sold at retailers and online, and the averages above, about 42 to 55 cents per dollar, come from its own published prize table. The comparison is a useful reminder that the return depends on the game and the bet type, so it is worth reading the prize table before you play.
Claiming a prize, age and taxes
- Small prizes. Prizes of $600 or less can be claimed at any Loto-Québec retailer. Larger prizes go through Loto-Québec.
- Deadline. Lottery winners have 12 months after the draw to claim.
- Age. You must be 18 or older. Selling lottery tickets to minors is against the law, and online play requires a verified lotoquebec.com account.
- Taxes. The Canada Revenue Agency says lottery winnings are generally not reported or taxed. Interest earned on the money afterwards is. Our guide to gambling winnings and tax in Quebec has the details.
Keno draws every night, and multi-draw tickets and Turbo add up quickly: one $2 Turbo play a night is $730 a year. If it stops feeling like a small, fixed cost, Jeu : aide et référence is free and confidential at 1-800-461-0140.
Sources
- Loto-Québec, Règles de jeux (Banco, Banco spécial, Turbo)
- Loto-Québec, Explications des jeux (Banco, Banco spécial, Forfait quotidien)
- Loto-Québec, Banco
- Légis Québec, By-law respecting casino games, S-13.1, r. 3.1, sections 1, 12, 13 and 22 (current to July 1, 2026)
- Loto-Québec Bien jouer, Loteries
- Loto-Québec, unclaimed prizes release (October 24, 2019)
- Loto-Québec, how to claim a lottery prize (release, June 30, 2016)
- Loto-Québec, responsible commercialization actions (PDF)
- Canada Revenue Agency, Amounts that are not reported or taxed
- Returns, chances of any prize, Turbo averages, streak odds and session results calculated from the prize tables and odds above (20 numbers drawn from 70).
Key terms
- Random number generator (RNG)
- An RNG (random number generator, "générateur de nombres aléatoires") is the software that decides slot and table game results. Labs certify it.
- House edge
- The cut a game is built to keep for the casino on average, shown as a percentage of what you bet.
- Return to player (RTP)
- Return to player ("taux de retour"): the share of all bets a game is built to pay back over a huge number of rounds.
- Volatility
- How much a game's results swing around. High volatility: rare big wins. Low volatility: frequent small ones.