The History of Keno

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Keno was first played in two hundred before Christ by the Chinese army leader, Cheung Leung who used keno as a way to finance his failing forces. The city of Cheung was waging a battle, and after a bit of war time seemed to be looking at a national shortage of food with the excessive drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to create a fast fix for the financial disaster and to produce income for his forces. He therefore developed the game we know today as keno and it was a great success.

Keno was referred to as the White Pigeon Game, because the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from bigger cities to the smaller villages. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to America in the 1800s by Chinese newcomers who came to the United States to jobs. In those times, Keno was played with 120 numbers.

Today, Keno is most often played with 80 numbers in a majority of the US land based casinos as well as net casinos. Keno is largely played today as a result of the laid back nature of playing the game and the simple reality that there are little skills required to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the reality that the odds of getting a win are terrible, there is constantly the hope that you might win quite big with a tiny gaming investment.

Keno is played with 80 numbers and 20 numbers are selected each game. Enthusiasts of Keno can pick from 2 to ten numbers and wager on them, whatever amount they want to. The payout of Keno is according to the wagers made and the matching of numbers.

Keno grew in universal appeal in the United States near the close of the 19th century when the Chinese letters were replaced with more familiar, US numbers. Lottos weren’t covered under the laws of gaming in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos altered the name of the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the notion that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to come in. When a law passed that taxed off track wagering, Nevada casinos swiftly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.