History Of Keno

The history of Keno is a rather interesting. Historians believe that the game originated in China during the Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC. Legend says that the Chinese military leader Cheung Leung had introduced the game Keno to his army. With the city of Cheung in a seven year war, the city faced famine and a decrease in its supplies.

With the provisions in the city running out and low after all these years of war, the citizens were not ready to make any contributions to the war fund. So the only thing Cheung could do was to come up with an idea to bolster the finances of the city.

And with a bid to fix up the economic disaster in the city, and to create revenue for the army, he created this game of chance called Keno. This game was appreciated as a game where most people stood to lose money while the winner won in huge proportions. With this, Keno was a great success.

With its introduction, Keno became an instant success with Chinese people as the revenues created through the game helped to save the city in more ways than one. The game grew so popular that it was spread throughout China as a form of entertainment, rather than a money making avenue. In fact, it is also said that the first contribution to the construction of the Great Wall of China was generated from the game of Keno.

Keno was brought to the United States in the 1800s by the Chinese immigrants who came to the US for work. Keno was then referred to as White Pigeon Game. The winning numbers from the 120 numbers used to play the game were delivered by pigeons from the larger cities to the smaller villages.

According to Keno history, a set of independent characters were placed in a rhymed form on the original Keno boards instead of using plain numbers. However, when Keno was introduced to the United States, the Chinese characters were replaced by American numbers.

Lotteries were not considered legal in the state of Nevada in 1931, so the name was changed from Chinese Lottery to Horse Race Keno. This name was chosen to imply that the numbers were horses and bets were placed on the horses. However, when a law taxing all forms of horse track betting was passed, the name of the game was changed to Keno.

The modern version of Keno is played using 80 numbers in most American and online casinos. 20 numbers are drawn in a game where players chose from 2 to 10 numbers to bet as much (or as little) as they want.

The payout in Keno depends on bets made and the numbers matched. The reason people enjoy playing Keno is that it is a relaxed game with not many skills required. And though the odds of winning are low, there is a chance of winning large amounts with a small investment.