Oxford News

Brick Street: A place to eat, drink, dance, watch the game, and ... gamble?

Starting this month, the Uptown bar will adopt yet another form of entertainment in the Ohio Lottery game Keno.

Keno is a draw game, which, like other Ohio Lottery games, follows a pool style of play. Players may play as many as 10 spots, self-selecting auto picking numbers from 01 to 80. The Lottery will choose 20 numbers, and players can win various prizes by matching their numbers to these 20 numbers.

Brick Street owner Will Weisman said as much as $600 will be paid out at the restaurant, and players who hit for larger sums may collect their winnings from the Ohio Lottery office.

Weisman said he first heard about Keno through various bar and restaurant periodicals. Hoping to expand the Brick Street customer base beyond Oxford, Weisman thought this would be just the way to attract a crowd.

"Our hope is that Keno will draw a larger demographic to Brick Street and bring in traffic from surrounding areas," Weisman said. "It helps that we border Indiana, which does not currently offer Keno."

As a result of bringing a more diverse crowd to Brick Street, Weisman said he anticipates customers will stay at the establishment for a longer period of time. He said that in turn will boost food and alcohol revenue.

Keno is the first Las Vegas-style game to be played legally in Ohio via the Lottery.

The game will only be offered to 1,000 out of 1,200 liquor permit holders for the time being, so this addition will give Brick Street something different to offer than the competition.