The History of Keno

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Keno was created in two hundred BC by the Chinese military leader, Cheung Leung who used keno as a way to finance his failing forces. The city of Cheung was waging a battle, and after awhile of war time appeared to be facing country wide shortage of food with the dramatic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to develop a rapid fix for the financial disaster and to create money for his military. He, as it follows created the game we now know 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 larger locations to the tinier towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was brought to the US in the 1800s by Chinese newcomers who migrated to the United States for work. In those times, Keno was played with one hundred and twenty numbers.

Today, Keno is most often gambled on with eighty numbers in almost all of the US land based casinos as well as internet casinos. Keno is commonly liked today because of the laid back nature of wagering the game and the simple reality that there are little expertise required to play Keno. Regardless of the reality that the odds of winning are horrible, there is always the possibility that you could win quite big with a tiny gaming investment.

Keno is enjoyed with 80 numbers and twenty numbers are selected each round. Gamblers of Keno can select from 2 to ten numbers and bet on them, as much or as little as they are able to. The pay out of Keno is according to the wagers made and the roll out of matching numbers.

Keno has grown in universal appeal in the United States since the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese characters were replaced with more familiar, American numbers. Lotteries weren’t covered under the legalization of gaming in Nevada State in Nineteen Thirty One. The casinos changed the name of the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the concept that the numbers are horses and you are wanting your horses to come in. When the Nevada government passed a law that levied a tax on off track wagering, Nevada casinos quickly changed the name to ‘Keno’.