It's kind of like bingo that we play in churches...

So we want to add Keno to the lottery...

"It's kind of like bingo that we play in churches all throughout the state," Blagojevich said at an appearance in Decatur.

Based off a study done by a Professor at U of I that in Montana 37% of Keno revenue comes from problem and pathological gamblers. Just like at church.

In Mass. in FY 2001-2002 Keno generated $640 million in sales and $141 million in net revenue. That works out to about a 22% return so in order for the state to get $80 million in net revenue the state would have to have about a million dollars a day 365 days a year spent on Keno. 365 Million * .22 (return) = 80.3 Million.

The busiest casino in the state (Elgin) did about 33 Million in Adjusted gross receipts in November. In FY 2004 total lottery sales in Illinois were $1.7 Billion. So this proposal to meet it's numbers would require an over 20% overall boost in revenues for the lottery or Illinois Keno would become the states second largest casino.

Also for what it is worth Keno is a bad actual bet (see #1). For some of the math behind Keno follow the link. To learn how someone cheated a NJ casino at Keno go here.

OneMan