Keno was first played in two hundred before Christ by the Chinese army commander, Cheung Leung who used this game as a way to finance his failing army. The city of Cheung was at war, and after a bit of time seemed to be facing country wide famine with the drastic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to come up with a rapid fix for the financial adversity and to produce revenue for his army. He therefore developed the game we know today as keno and it was a fantastic success.
Keno was well-known as the White Pigeon Game, seeing as the winning numbers were broadcast by pigeons from bigger municipalities to the lesser towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to America in the 19th century by Chinese migrants who migrated to the US for work. In those times, Keno was played with 120 numbers.
Today, Keno is normally enjoyed with just 80 numbers in most of American brick and mortar casinos as well as net casinos. Keno is largely played today because of the laid back nature of wagering the game and the simple fact that there are little skills needed to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the reality that the chances of getting a win are horrible, there is constantly the hope that you might hit quite big with little gambling investment.
Keno is enjoyed with eighty numbers and 20 numbers are picked each game. Gamblers of Keno can pick from 2 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 roll out of matching numbers.
Keno grew in acceptance in the United States near the close 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 lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the idea that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to come in. When a law passed that taxed off track gambling, Nevada casinos quickly changed the name to ‘Keno’.