Keno was introduced in 200 before Christ by the Chinese army leader, Cheung Leung who used keno as a finance resource for his failing army. The city of Cheung was at war, and after some time appeared to be looking at a national shortage of food with the dramatic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung had to create a quick fix for the financial disaster and to acquire money for his military. He therefore invented the game we know today as keno and it was a great success.
Keno was referred to as the White Pigeon Game, since the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from bigger municipalities to the tinier villages. The lotto ‘Keno’ was brought to the United States in the 1800s by Chinese migrants who headed to the States to jobs. In those times, Keno was played with one hundred and twenty numbers.
Today, Keno is generally enjoyed with 80 numbers in just about all of American land based casinos along with internet casinos. Keno is mainly liked today as a result of the laid back nature of wagering the game and the simple reality that there are no skills needed to play Keno. Despite the fact that the chances of getting a win are appalling, there is constantly the hope that you might win quite big with very little gambling investment.
Keno is played with 80 numbers and twenty numbers are drawn each game. Gamblers of Keno can select from 2 to 10 numbers and wager on them, as much or as little as they are able to. The payout of Keno is dependent on the wagers made and the matching of numbers.
Keno has grown in popularity in the US since the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were replaced with more familiar, American numbers. Lotteries weren’t covered under the laws of gaming in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos renamed the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the concept that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to come in. When a law passed that taxed off track betting, Nevada casinos quickly altered the name to ‘Keno’.
