Keno Makes Orderly Debut as California Lottery Game : Betting: Loitering hordes feared by police remain unseen on opening day. State officials say proceeds increase nonetheless.

Hakop Bayamdzhyan was clearly having a good time playing the California Lottery’s new keno game at a San Fernando 7-Eleven store. But standing alone amid a pile of his losing tickets, he definitely did not constitute a crowd.

When lottery officials first announced that the state would hold keno games--with bets up to $100 staked on new games on a video monitor every five minutes, for 17 hours a day--law enforcement officials expressed worries that crowds would loiter around lottery outlets, such as liquor stores.

Both the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block wrote to lottery officials, asking them to reconsider adopting the game.

Police Lt. John Dunkin said Monday that the LAPD had two concerns about keno: that it might not be legal and that it might draw crowds to certain locations.

But crowds were tough to find on Monday, the game’s first day. Bayamdzhyan played for 90 minutes--mesmerized perhaps, but alone. At Sovanno Aout’s Sesame Donut shop in Glendale, no one played the game, although the bright blue video monitor winked enticingly with new winning numbers every five minutes.

“This is the first day, and only time will tell,” said Dunkin. “It’s too early to make a judgment as to whether our fears will come to pass.”

Dunkin said the Police Department does not plan to allocate extra resources to monitor the game. “We will respond just as we would to any call for police service, and then we’ll get some feeling for how well-grounded our concerns were,” Dunkin said.

Jana Matal, spokeswoman for the California Lottery, said she expected keno business to pick up Monday evening. But she said that although lottery officials never expected the unruly loiterers anticipated by police, business was up significantly during the morning and early afternoon. By 3 p.m., she said, Keno had boosted the normal daily lottery revenues by 50%.

The regular lunch crowd played enthusiastically in the bar at Genio’s Italian restaurant in Burbank. Virgil Dinger--who explains how to spell his name by saying “Dinger--as in hum”--had won a dollar and was celebrating by buying a round of drinks.

“There are losers,” he said, pointing to his lunch companions, “and I’m a winner.”

At Alameda Liquors at Victory and Alameda Boulevards in Burbank, owner Dick Wildason said business was up 25% because of the new lottery game, but he wasn’t concerned about unruly crowds.

“As you can see,” he said, pointing to a cluster of customers and employees gathered around the monitor, “we have a very orderly group.”

At the counter at Alameda Liquors, banter about the new game was quick and hearty. Employee Dick Carr, manning the cash register, swore that he could help a visitor win big.

“Just pick three numbers,” he said, explaining that to play, bettors choose up to 10 numbers by circling them on a card provided by the merchant.

To win, the numbers must show up among 20 numbers depicted on the video monitor when the five-minute round is complete. Bettors may also check with the merchant for winners, or call a 900-prefix telephone number at 50 cents a minute to find out if they’ve won.

“Play a three-spot,” Carr said, sounding proud of his Vegas-style lingo. “Pick one, three and 10. You’re bound to win once you’ve figured out the system.”

The visitor dutifully complied, but had no such luck. The state was $1 richer. And there were still no crowds in sight.