The lottery-style game of keno has just been approved in Colombia by the country’s gambling regulator, Coljuegos, as reported by SBC Noticias.
Keno is a game of Chinese origin in which bettors choose 10 numbers between one and 80. In Colombia, players will be able to wager between 500 pesos to 20,000 (£4).
The numbers are then put through a random generator, and the ultimate selection will be cross-referenced with the bettor’s choices to determine their winnings.
Keno has been offered illegally in Colombia for many years, and Coleugos is now seeking to bring it further under regulatory control. The game will be offered by four operators across 26,000 retail terminals throughout the 32 departments of Colombia.
Draws will be held every six to 10 minutes, varying from region-to-region.
Marco Emilio Hincapié, President of Coljuegos, said: “We are making history in the industry: for the first time in a long time, Colombians will be able to have a new game that, in addition to contributing to health, will award million-dollar prizes to bettors.”
“We expect that, in the next 5 years, this game will reach sales exceeding 2.3 trillion pesos and become one of the most popular among Colombians. We encourage players to play Keno only at authorized locations.
“We have designed a safe game with an attractive prize plan, fully backed by the government. By playing legally, we are contributing to the health of Colombians.”
Keno is a broadly popular game across various markets internationally, and is provided by a number of lottery operators.
It is a particularly popular game in Australia, historically offered by Tabcorp – the country’s biggest betting and gaming operator – and now by The Lottery Corporation, which spun off from Tabcorp in 2022.
Other lottery stakeholders, like Lottoland, have found Keno success in Australia. The company introduced a AU$20m (£10.4m) Keno jackpot in Western Australia in 2022, for example.
In Colombia, stakeholders are likely hoping that by bringing Keno under regulatory control in the state will be able to seize control of a revenue stream that otherwise was going towards illegal activity.