Question of the Day - 17 April 2025

Nevada has always prohibited traditional state-run lotteries; this goes as far back as the adoption of the state constitution in 1864. Since the early 1930s, the ban has reflected the influence of the state's powerful casino industry, which has long viewed lotteries as competition. You can read about this in much more detail in a QoD from 2021. 

However, the Nevada Numbers game, which ran from around 2001 until its discontinuation in 2009 (with a brief revival as Nevada Numbers Lite in 2011), blurred the line between a lottery and a keno game, raising your question. The answer involves how we define these terms.

Nevada Numbers was a statewide progressive-keno game that was lottery-like in its payouts and procedures. Tickets were available for $2 at keno lounges throughout the state. Players chose five numbers out of 80. The jackpots were paid out either as annuities or lump sums with a $5 million reset; the largest jackpot was $6.3 million, hit at Sam's Town in 2007. 

Nevada Numbers was a statewide, progressive, keno-style game operated by Las Vegas Gaming Inc., not by the state. So it was a privately run game, different than the typical state-run lottery. 

On the other hand, unlike traditional keno where payouts are fixed and based on how many numbers a player matches, Nevada Numbers offered a progressive jackpot tied to a single all-or-nothing outcome — hitting all five numbers. This structure mimics a lottery’s hallmark feature: a large escalating prize pool funded by players with a single winning condition. So that was similar to a lottery.

Also like a lottery, the odds were, to put it mildly, long. Tickets were $2 and the return was published as 73%. That was better than the 50%+ holds of a typical state lottery, but it was still worse than the average payback at live keno. 

Legally, Nevada distinguishes between lotteries and gambling games like keno. Under state law, a lottery is typically defined as a game where the jackpot depends on the number of participants and a portion of proceeds might go to non-gaming purposes (e.g., charity or state funds). Keno, classified as a gambling game, offers fixed payouts from the house and any jackpot shortfall is covered by the operator, not the player pool.

Nevada Numbers, however, operated in a gray area. Its progressive jackpot grew with ticket sales at participating casinos, not from a single house’s funds, aligning it more closely with a lottery’s mechanics. Yet it was hosted in keno lounges, marketed as a keno variant, and it lacked the state-run or charitable component.

So we have similarities to and differences with both lotteries and keno. Which was it? Was Nevada Numbers a lottery in disguise?

Functionally, yes, it was. It shared key traits with lotteries -- the pooled progressive jackpot and a unified draw at all venues.

Legally, though, no, it wasn't. It sidestepped Nevada’s lottery ban by staying within the casino ecosystem, avoiding state authorization and framing itself as an extension of keno.

The distinction seems more about regulatory convenience than substance. Casinos could offer this lottery-like experience without challenging the constitutional ban, preserving their gambling monopoly, while giving players a shot at a big prize. In short, Nevada Numbers was a lottery in spirit, cleverly dressed up as keno to fit Nevada’s legal landscape.