The History of Keno

Keno was introduced in two hundred before Christ by the Chinese military commander, Cheung Leung who used this game as a way to finance his declining forces. The city of Cheung was at war, and after some time seemed to be looking at a national famine with the excessive drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to create a fast response for the economic disaster and to create money for his military. He therefore created the game we know today as keno and it was a wonderful success.

Keno was well-known as the White Pigeon Game, because the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from larger cities to the smaller villages. The lottery ‘Keno’ was brought to the United States in the 19th century by Chinese newcomers who came to the United States to jobs. In those times, Keno used one hundred and twenty numbers.

Today, Keno is most often enjoyed with eighty numbers in almost all of the US land based casinos along with net casinos. Keno is commonly liked today as a result of the relaxed nature of playing the game and the simple fact that there are little expertise required to play Keno. Regardless of the reality that the odds of getting a win are terrible, there is always the chance that you will win quite big with little gambling investment.

Keno is enjoyed with 80 numbers and 20 numbers are picked each game. Gamblers of Keno can pick from 2 to 10 numbers and wager on them, as much or as little as they want to. The pay out of Keno is according to the wagers made and the roll out of matching numbers.

Keno has grown in popularity in the United States since the close of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were replaced with , US numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the laws of wagering in the state of Nevada in Nineteen Thirty One. The casinos renamed the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the idea that the numbers are horses and you are wanting your horses to come in. When the Nevada government passed a law that taxed off track gambling, the casinos quickly changed the name to ‘Keno’.


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