Fairmont vs. Mt. Notre Dame
Miami Valley styles
'Tis the Season Festival
Get latest headlines via RSS feeds
NewsVine
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
StumbleuponSome area bars passing on Keno
Related:
> Keno getting mixed reviews; sales highest in northern Ohio:
> Have you played Keno yet?
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Extras
Photos
"Don't just watch, Get in the game," the yellow banner hanging outside the Sports Deck Bar and Grill urges its customers.
But inside the Kettering tavern, watching has a big lead.
Most of the two dozen customers are watching television. Watching the Cincinnati Reds en route to yet another loss. Watching a surprising (or not so surprising) Ohio State Buckeyes' nail biter.
At 7:30 last Wednesday evening, the only one getting in the game is 26-year-old Chris Alpena, who sits alone at a table, nursing a beer during the four-minute wait to find out if the numbers he has picked will be highlighted on a video screen to make him a Keno winner.
"I'm from Michigan and we've had the game up there for a few years," Alpena says. "When I saw they had it here, I said, 'oh, wow.' I come in and play about $20 a week."
Elsewhere in the Miami Valley, Keno does not necessarily have a big wow factor. In the month that Ohio's first legal electronic betting devices have been operative in Montgomery County bars, bowling alleys and clubs, they have drawn mixed reviews. And although 6.2 percent of sales, plus commissions, are returned to Keno vendors, not everyone wants to get into the game.
"From the feedback I've heard, they're (Keno vendors) not making much money," says Betty Walther, the manager at Mustang Sallys Lounge in Moraine, where the game was installed, but then removed without being activated.
Walther says she doesn't miss it. "Too much trouble," she insists, ticking off a list of complaints that included having to take training sessions, too much paperwork and being required to run "all the other" Ohio lottery games.
"We had to take Pick 3, Pick 4 and all the rest."
Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Marie Kilbane points out that vendors only are required to take two other games. But added paperwork is cited by other establishments.
Because of that, Shiloh Athletic Club owner Russ Scott is taking a wait-and-see attitude.
"From all I've heard from most of them, they say it's not worth it," says Scott, whose newly opened private club is located in an impressively renovated former Shuckin' Shack seafood restaurant on North Main. "Because of the paperwork you almost have to add to your staff. But maybe down the line I'd be ready to talk to them."
At Heroes and Legends in Harrison Twp., where Keno now competes for attention with darts and karaoke, the paperwork has paid off for bartender Amy Reid. In the first week after it was installed, "business has picked up a little," she says. And she won $144.
Enthusiasm runs a little higher at Fricker's, which has Keno in all of its Michigan and Ohio locations, including the four in Montgomery County.
"It's going well," says Macy Goldberg, manager of the Fricker's on Woodman Drive. "A lot of my customers are staying longer. It adds a little something extra. And we probably have added some new customers because it's here. Most people don't come in here just to play Keno, but it offers them one more thing to do while they're sitting at the bar."
While almost all of the 50 original Montgomery County establishments that applied for Keno permits operate bars and taverns, four are in bowling alleys.
"It's been really big," enthuses Jessica Ward, a bartender at the Spare Time Sports Bar located at Poelking Lanes on Woodman. "It's a good way to get people in our bar."
Despite concerns that adding Keno to Ohio's gambling options would add to its gambling addictions, Ward doesn't see it that way. "We're not getting hard-core gamblers," she says. "We have to show the people how to fill out the betting slips. They remind us of bingo ladies."
Back at the Sports Deck, meanwhile, the four-minute countdown between games has hit zero and Chris Alpena checks his betting slip. Only one of his numbers match, which means he has lost a dollar. But he has one more draw remaining. "If I win, I might take another shot," he says.
Comments
By A.B.
September 10, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this
Mr. D.L. Stewart, You need to get your facts straight. Read the “Ohio Tavern” paper. Go find out who the top sellers are in the Miami Valley and then you’ll get your story right. Tie up those loose ends, sir!
By Joe Quimby
September 9, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this
Keno along with the lottery is fixed. Run by the Cleveland mobsters. Why do you think the lottery comission is in Cleveland and all other state run agencies are in Columbus.
By Dayton Resident
September 9, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this
Forget about Keno - what about the other article on gas prices rising despite a drop in oil barrel prices? SICK OF IT!! SICK OF IT!!! SICK OF IT!!!! Why waste your money on Keno when you need to be paying for gas?? Gotta keep those damn arabs in the lap of luxury, ya know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Bill
September 9, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this
What a lame topic to offer comments on. Keep it safe - avoid controversy.
Weeeeak!
Take a lesson from USAToday.com. If you can’t run with the big dog, stay on the porch.
By Teresa
September 9, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
I’ve played it and I hated it. Who have time or the money to play ever 4 minutes. This was a FLOP!
By Donald
September 9, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
Yes I have played and I love it!!!!!!
By Mark
September 9, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
I love smoking my cigarettes and playing Keno at all the bars I go to. Hah!
By Melissa English
September 9, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
My husband is the owner of the Sports Deck Bar in Kettering, and we have played Keno and won a about $100.00. I am not understanding the comments about all the paperwork involved with the Keno game. There is some initial paperwork as well as a background check and training for the owners of the establishments wishing to participate in the game, but as far as a lot of paperwork and additional staff we have not encountered that. It is not a windfall of money but every bit helps in this economy.