MERCHANTS FEELING KENO PLAYERS' PAIN.

Byline: Mark Edward Nero Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Randy Roberts knows how those keno addicts feel. They're sweating. They're hurting. They're getting by with Scratchers or infrequent and unsatisfying doses of Decco and Daily 3, Fantasy 5 or Super Lotto.

But none of those provide the every-five-minute feature of keno, which made it so popular that it generated $383 million in 1995-96, surpassed only by Super Lotto and Scratchers.

Keno players were cut off by the state Supreme Court's decision to ban keno. Within hours of the court's unanimous decision, keno games statewide - all 7,500 of them - came to a halt. People with winning tickets were given up to 180 days to cash them in.

Roberts feels the pain. But not because he was an avid player.

He owns Clipper Sports Lounge in Long Beach, and he and other merchants just lost their cut of the keno pie.

``I was going through approximately $10,000 a month in keno play,'' he said. ``This was the perfect environment for keno. I would walk into this bar at 7:30 or 8 in the morning and have seven or eight people in here playing keno.'' The bar gets 6 percent of all sales and 3 percent of any prize above $90.

When he first heard about the June 24 ruling, he couldn't believe it.

``I don't like it at all,'' he said. ``It will definitely be detrimental to my business. It's already taken an immediate 25 percent drop.''

Now Roberts is wondering how to win back customers. He said the Lottery Commission is considering an upgraded form of Scratchers, a number of games that use cards that players scratch off to reveal numbers that can pay more than $1 million in certain games. ``Now, Scratchers tickets will be like keno tickets and you'll be able to cash them at any location,'' he said. ``I will definitely pursue getting Scratchers in the next few weeks.''

When keno came out, Roberts stopped selling Scratcher cards. Now he's going to get them back.

In the keno game, players picked from one to 10 numbers between one and 80. Players won based on how many of their numbers matched the 20 numbers drawn by the lottery computer, and the amount of their bets.

The odds of winning any of keno's big prizes - the top prize for a $1, 10-number ticket was $250,000 - were poor. But the odds of getting your money back or winning a small amount were comparable to other lotteries and some other forms of betting.

Many gamblers shun the lottery games.

Why bet on a one-in-60 chance - the odds of a $5 victory in Super Lotto - when you can bet on the Chicago Bulls, who went off at 1-8 in the betting for the National Basketball Association championship? Or the Lakers at 12-1?

How about a 3-1 shot at Santa Anita Racetrack? Or the Dallas Cowboys, who were 1-5 to win the 1996 Super Bowl?

Despite that, keno players soldiered on. The game accounted for 16.6 percent of all California Lottery sales. Most of the game's popularity had to do with its availability and quick results.

Clipper patron Debby Andrews, who played keno occasionally and never won more than $5, isn't too concerned about the court ruling against keno.

``If people don't waste their money on this,'' she shrugged, ``they'll do it on something else.''

Lottery officials know that, and they're trying to find a way to assuage the public's thirst.

Can it be done?

Place your bets.

The court's ruling held that keno, introduced in 1992, isn't authorized under the state's 1984 lottery law. In lotteries, players compete for a pot determined by total wagers, but in keno players bet against the house, in this case the state, so it is not a true lottery, the court ruled.

``I think the whole thing is political,'' said Gail Howard, author of several books on lotteries and a columnist for the weekly New York Lottery News. ``First of all, keno is played in several states as part of the lottery. The only place where keno is not part of the lottery is Nevada.''

The lawsuit, filed by thoroughbred-horse trainers and a pachinko parlor company, is expected to bode ill for California American Indian tribes who long pointed out that the legality of keno in the state authorizes them to offer similar games, such as slot machines. Federal law allows American Indian tribes to offer any type of gambling that is permitted elsewhere in the state.

Despite the loss of revenue, including $130 million for public education, some state officials were pleased with the ban, saying it would help them close down the Indian casino slot machines.

The state Lottery Commission, along with GTech Holdings Corp., the Rhode Island firm that helped design the keno games in California and seven other states, is working on a new game or a modified version of keno. One option would be to have players compete for a percentage of all wagers, rather than a set amount.

Officials still are weighing all options but they expect to have something to offer in four to six months.

``We knew this ruling was going to be coming down soon,'' said Gina Stassi of the state Lottery Commission's public affairs office. ``Anticipating this, we began testing alternative games.''

And what of the game's devotees?

``I would imagine they're going through withdrawal,'' said Roberts, 35, who took over the Clipper in 1985. It was one of the first establishments in the area to offer keno.

``I put keno in as soon as it was available,'' he said. The decision, to him, was a no-brainer. ``I knew how well it does in Vegas. I know people will sit and play over and over and over.

``When it first came out, keno was really something,'' Roberts recalled. Although he said $500 was the most anyone ever won at the Clipper, ``I had one guy spend $2,000 on keno in one night. He wound up breaking even.''