Keno was introduced in two hundred BC by the Chinese army commander, Cheung Leung who utilized this game as a monetary resource for his failing forces. The city of Cheung was at war, and after some time seemed to be facing country wide famine with the dramatic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung had to develop a quick fix for the financial disaster and to produce money for his army. He therefore developed the game we know today as keno and it was a great success.
Keno used to be well-known as the White Pigeon Game, because the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from larger municipalities to the tinier towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to America in the 1800s by Chinese immigrants who headed to the US for jobs. In those times, Keno used 120 numbers.
Today, Keno is most often played with just 80 numbers in a majority of American land based casinos as well as online casinos. Keno is commonly played today because of the relaxed nature of betting the game and the basic fact that there are little expertise required to enjoy Keno. Despite the reality that the chances of succeeding are terrible, there is constantly the possibility that you will hit quite big with little gambling investment.
Keno is enjoyed with eighty numbers and 20 numbers are drawn each round. Players of Keno can pick from two to 10 numbers and gamble on them, whatever amount they want to. The pay out of Keno is dependent on the wagers made and the roll out of matching numbers.
Keno has grown in popularity in the US since the close of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were replaced with , American numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the legalization of gaming in the state of Nevada in 1931. The casinos adjusted the name of the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the idea that the numbers are horses and you want your horses to place. When a law passed that levied a tax on off track betting, the casinos quickly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.