Lucky player wins second big Club Keno prize and makes history while he's at it
By Kate Northrop
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Michigan lottery player won his second big Club Keno jackpot and set the new record for the highest prize won in the game at $503,254 while doing so.
Dan Housler, of Portage, made Michigan Lottery history and established a new personal best at Club Keno when he won a record-setting $503,254 jackpot.
Club Keno is an in-state draw game that draws 20 numbers from 1 to 80 in drawings that occur every few minutes. Players may wager different amounts starting at $1 and up to $20 per draw and select their desired game type, whether that's playing a certain number of "spots" in an attempt to match one numbers or up to ten numbers.
"The Jack" is a Club Keno add-on that can be added to a player's wager for an extra $1. Choosing the add-on gives the player eight Quick Pick numbers to match the drawn Club Keno numbers for a chance to win prizes ranging from $1 to the jackpot.
Housler normally plays The Jack when the progressive jackpot reaches a certain amount, and this is not the first time it's paid off for him.
"I play Club Keno The Jack when the prize gets to around $100,000," he told the Michigan Lottery. "I have been lucky in the past and won a $239,074 prize a few years ago."
Earlier this month, Housler bought a few Club Keno tickets at Fletcher's Pub on Oakland Drive in Kalamazoo.
"I bought my ticket and went home from Fletcher's," he recounted. "When I got there, I checked my wife's tickets and mine. On my third ticket, the confetti flew on the app screen and the prize appeared on the screen. I was so surprised. I've never seen this much money at once in my life."
That lucky ticket, containing the numbers 8, 39, 48, 51, 65, 66, 70, and 71, matched eight of the 20 Club Keno numbers in draw 2230786. He had beaten out the previous The Jack record of $463,361, which was set by a ticket purchased at Red's Sports Bar and Grill in Middleville in October 2020.
With his second The Jack prize, he plans on putting it toward his retirement.
"Winning this at my age means I can pay some bills and set myself up for a comfortable retirement," the 62-year-old said.
Club Keno is available to play at 10,500 Lottery retailers across Michigan. Drawings take place every three and a half minutes.
Congratulations Mr. Housler!
I wish you the best!
Such great news on his second and largest big win!
Does Michigan offer Keno on-line?
Quick Draw style games are typically played in bars and restaurants, and are not really suited to online play. Michigan does offer several games online including Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky for Life, Lotto 47, and Fantasy 5.
Congratulations To Secondo KENO Winner
Pro-Player Advocate
Eddessa_Knight
If you click the down arrow under retailer it will sort by retailer. I set the lower prize limit at $25k
https://www.michiganlottery.com/resources/big-winners?LOCATIONS=KALAMAZOO%2CKALAMAZOO+&MINPRIZE=2500000&WHERE_TO_PLAY=IN_STORE&GAMES=Club+Keno
Around the time that PB and MM did cross sell Michigan started selling the Club Keno games at all retailers around 2010 so you don't have to go to a bar you can buy up to 60 draws at any retailer and either watch it on your PC or Phone or just scan the tix later on your phone.
BTW The highest prize ever awarded on Michigan Club Keno since it started in 2003 was $1,000,000 right after it first started. Since then they have been reluctant to award anything higher than $500k
The Prize that this story refers to is "The Jack" progressive jackpot prize and is the highest jackpot awarded during the run, so far, of "The Jack" add on game.
I disagree with you on this one Todd. Kentucky which you guys never acknowledge for on-line play (lol) has Keno on-line every four minutes from approximately 0500 to about 0156 seven days/week. It is RNG.
We still have Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky 4 Life, Pick 3 & Pick 4, Cashball 225 and hordes of instant games all available for on-line play/purchase!
Yes, we all know that some states do things differently. This does not change anything I've said. Club Keno, which is typically played in a social setting such as restaurants and bars, does not make for a great online game, and apparently the Michigan Lottery agrees.
I would play at the Race Track, Kentucky Derby and Keno, good fun.
Congrats to the lucky guy, enjoy.
Is Michigan RNG or live ball drawings??? if it's an RNG game like KY is I don't see any difference, that's what I'm saying.
Time for chat bot. Honestly, I never have played keno. Is it worth it?
Well done Dan.
Next town over there is a fast order restaurant that sells Keno. Three lottery machines are there where you can play and a huge monitor displaying the results as they occur.
Today @ a pizza place in Louisville, KY, soon as you walk in there are play slips for Keno. They also have a very small serve lottery machine. So played Keno on that letting the computer pick the #'s, $10 ticket for about five draws and won $5. Looking around each side of the restaurant had big LED monitors that showed the drawings as they happen. I say small lottery machine because there are no scratch tickets available.
Michigan no doubt outnumbers the few establishments here that offer it, but they do exist.