Keno was introduced in 200 BC by the Chinese army commander, Cheung Leung who utilized this game as a way to finance his failing army. The city of Cheung was waging a war, and after some time seemed to be looking at a country wide shortage of food with the dramatic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung had to come up with a quick fix for the economic disaster and to produce income for his military. He therefore developed the game we now know as keno and it was a great success.
Keno used to be referred to as the White Pigeon Game, due to the fact that the winning numbers were delivered by pigeons from bigger cities to the tinier villages. The lotto ‘Keno’ was imported to America in the 1800s by Chinese expatriates who migrated to the United States for jobs. In those times, Keno used 120 numbers.
Today, Keno is regularly enjoyed with eighty numbers in just about all of the US land based casinos along with online casinos. Keno is largely liked today because of the laid back nature of betting the game and the simple reality that there are little skills required to play Keno. Regardless of the fact that the odds of winning are horrible, there is constantly the possibility that you will win quite big with little gambling investment.
Keno is enjoyed with 80 numbers with 20 numbers selected each game. Enthusiasts of Keno can select from two to ten numbers and wager on them, as much or as little as they want to. The pay out of Keno is dependent on the bets made and the matching of numbers.
Keno grew in acceptance in the US near the end of the 19th century when the Chinese letters were replaced with , American numbers. Lottos were not covered under the laws 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 are looking for your horses to come in. When the Nevada government passed a law that levied a tax on off track betting, Nevada casinos quickly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.
