Critics Warn Keno Is Addictive

Donna Whetzel watched glumly as the keno numbers popped up on the television monitor at Antonio's Restaurant in Prince George's County. She shook her head. No winners. Another bad evening.

"It's addictive," said Whetzel, a Safeway food store clerk and a regular at Antonio's in New Carrollton. "It eats money."

With D.C. Mayor Marion Barry now pushing keno as a ready-made revenue source for the cash-strapped District, critics of the gambling industry in Maryland seem to agree with Whetzel. What's more, they say, the popular electronic numbers game may be as addictive to political leaders in search of balanced budgets as it is for players in search of a $100,000 hit.

"They're giving [gambling] the government's stamp of approval . . . just to bring in more money," said Valerie Lorenz, executive director of the Compulsive Gambling Center, a Baltimore-based organization specializing in compulsive-gambling treatment and research.

Lorenz likened keno to poker machines and other video gambling devices. "Compulsive gamblers," she said, "feel as though they are actually drawn into the machines. . . . Are they addicted? Absolutely." Video wagering "is the crack cocaine of gambling," she said.

So popular is keno in Maryland that it is spreading beyond bars and restaurants into unexpected places, including barbershops, beauty parlors, bowling alleys, pawnshops and, in Prince George's, at least one coin laundry.

In Maryland last year, players spent a record $1.04 billion on all wagering games, including keno, controlled by the State Lottery Agency. After paying off winners and covering operating costs, the agency turned over $383 million to state coffers -- the third-biggest source of revenue in Maryland after income and sales taxes and a welcome infusion at a time of relatively slow revenue growth.

About $238 million, or nearly one-quarter, of all gaming sales came from keno, second only to the Pick 3 lottery game, which grossed $352 million. The rest of the revenue came from Pick 4, Match 5, Lotto and various instant "scratch" games.

What's more, keno is growing. Despite protests by some religious and political leaders, sales have increased from $98 million in the first half-year of its existence in 1993 to $202 million in 1994 and $238 million last year.

It also has caught on in at least 12 other states, from Maine to Michigan -- but not everywhere. Barry (D) has encountered resistance from D.C. Council members on his proposal, which D.C. officials said is designed to make the city more competitive with Maryland. Virginia legislators last winter beat back attempts by Gov. George Allen (R) to introduce the game there. And the California Supreme Court last week ruled keno illegal in that state. The court said keno is not a true lottery, the only form of gambling permitted by state gaming authorities.

According to Maryland lottery agency authorities, there are 1,730 bars, restaurants, liquor stores, gas stations and other outlets throughout the state that offer keno to customers. Prince George's County has the largest share -- 304 -- and accounts for 22 percent of keno sales statewide. Prince George's is followed by Baltimore with 287 outlets and Baltimore County with 252. Montgomery County, the state's most populous jurisdiction, has 177 keno outlets.

Part of keno's attraction, according to lottery agency spokesman Carroll H. Hynson Jr., is that it is "a more social game" than the others and "requires you to sit down for 10 or 15 minutes." Hence its presence in many bars and restaurants. It is often played with friends and relatives.

Players mark a series of numbers on a keno card, place bets from $1 to $20 and watch a closed-circuit TV monitor to see whether their numbers match randomly selected numbers. A new game starts every five minutes. Winnings can range from $2 to $100,000.

Keno players tend to be "younger and more affluent" than players of the more traditional lottery games, Hynson said. "They're more likely to go to happy hour in the evening or go out on their lunch break" during the day to play keno. "There's a lot of discretionary money out there," he added.

"It's a form of relaxation," said Jo Apperson, 53, a Giant Food cashier who dines at Antonio's in New Carrollton four to five evenings a week and plays keno from her dinner table.

Why keno and not Pick 3 or Pick 4, games that run only once a day?

"I enjoy it more," Apperson said, sitting next to her husband, Calvin, 59, a Frito-Lay route manager. "It's exciting. I like watching the numbers come up" on the TV.

At the A-1 Laundromat in Riverdale, owner Jin Hwi Kim put in a keno computer and monitor about three weeks ago as a diversion for customers waiting for their clothes to wash and dry.

"I'm hoping it will attract more customers," he said.

Already it has boosted sales at the laundry of other lottery and instant "scratch" tickets, he said.

"Keno accounted for more than half of the $7,000 in [total] sales" two weeks after he installed the game, Kim said.

"I prefer keno," said Everett Jenkins, 39, a Hecht Co. warehouseman, as he studied the bright blue and yellow keno screen at the A-1 Laundromat recently. "It's right there. You have more chances to win."

Hynson, of the Maryland State Lottery Agency, said it is too early to tell whether keno in the District would hurt gaming revenue in Maryland, but he suggested it would have "minimal impact."

Maryland keno players are "steady in their habits," he said. Even if many work in the District during the day, he said, "they want to go home, change and socialize near their home" in the evening rather than play the game during the day in the District. "They'll continue that," Hynson said.