The History of Keno

[ English ]

Keno was first played in two hundred BC by the Chinese army commander, Cheung Leung who used keno as a monetary resource for his failing army. The metropolis of Cheung was at war, and after some time seemed to be looking at a national shortage of food with the excessive drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to develop a rapid fix for the financial adversity and to produce money for his army. He therefore invented the game we now know as keno and it was a fantastic success.

Keno used to be known as the White Pigeon Game, due to the fact that the winning numbers were broadcast by pigeons from larger municipalities to the smaller villages. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to America in the 19th century by Chinese immigrants who came to the US to work. In those times, Keno was played with 120 numbers.

Today, Keno is most often gambled on with just 80 numbers in just about all of American based casinos along with net casinos. Keno is commonly enjoyed today as a result of the laid back nature of wagering the game and the simple fact that there are little skills needed to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the reality that the odds of coming away with a win are horrible, there is constantly the possibility that you could win quite large with little gambling investment.

Keno is played with eighty numbers with twenty numbers picked each round. Enthusiasts of Keno can choose from two to ten numbers and gamble on them, whatever amount they want to. The payout of Keno is according to the wagers made and the roll out of matching numbers.

Keno has grown in acceptance in the US since the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were replaced with , American numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the legalization of gaming in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos renamed the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the concept that the numbers are horses and you want your horses to come in. When the Nevada government passed a law that levied a tax on off track wagering, Nevada casinos quickly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.


Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Search on this site:


Categories: