Keno’s History
Tuesday, 13. October 2015
Keno was introduced in 200 before Christ by the Chinese military commander, Cheung Leung who used this game as a financial resource for his failing army. The city of Cheung was at war, and after some time appeared to be facing national shortage of food with the drastic drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to create a quick response for the economic disaster and to create money for his forces. He therefore invented the game we now know as keno and it was a fantastic success.
Keno used to be known as the White Pigeon Game, due to the fact that the winning numbers were delivered by pigeons from larger locations to the lesser towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to the United States in the 19th century by Chinese newcomers who headed to the States for jobs. In those times, Keno was played with one hundred and twenty numbers.
Today, Keno is typically gambled on with just 80 numbers in just about all of the US brick and mortar casinos along with internet casinos. Keno is mainly played today as a consequence of the laid back nature of wagering the game and the basic fact that there are little skills required to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the fact that the odds of succeeding are horrible, there is constantly the possibility that you could win quite large with a tiny gambling investment.
Keno is played with eighty numbers with twenty numbers drawn each game. Enthusiasts of Keno can choose from 2 to 10 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 roll out of matching numbers.
Keno grew in popularity in the United States near the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were changed with more familiar, American numbers. Lottos were not covered under the legalization of wagering in the state of Nevada in 1931. The casinos renamed the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the concept that the numbers are horses and you are wanting your horses to place. When a law passed that taxed off track betting, the casinos quickly changed the name to ‘Keno’.
Posted in Keno by Branden