The History of Keno
Keno was introduced in 200 before Christ by the Chinese army commander, Cheung Leung who used keno as a finance resource for his failing forces. The metropolis of Cheung was at war, and after a bit of war time appeared to be facing country wide shortage of food with the drastic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to come up with a quick response for the economic adversity and to acquire revenue for his military. He thusly developed the game we know today as keno and it was a great success.
Keno was known as the White Pigeon Game, because the winning numbers were delivered by pigeons from larger municipalities to the smaller villages. The lottery ‘Keno’ was brought to the US in the 1800s by Chinese migrants who headed to the United States for jobs. In those times, Keno used 120 numbers.
Today, Keno is most often played with 80 numbers in just about all of the US brick and mortar casinos as well as web casinos. Keno is largely liked 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 coming away with a win are horrible, there is always the possibility that you could hit quite big with very little gaming investment.
Keno is enjoyed with eighty numbers with twenty numbers picked each round. Gamblers of Keno can choose from two to 10 numbers and gamble on them, as much or as little as they are able to. The payout of Keno is dependent on the bets made and the roll out of matching numbers.
Keno grew in popularity in the US near the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese characters were changed with more familiar, American numbers. Lottos were not covered under the laws of gaming in the state of Nevada in 1931. The casinos renamed the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the concept that the numbers are horses and you want your horses to place. When the Nevada government passed a law that taxed off track betting, the casinos quickly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.
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