Keno’s History
Tuesday, 20. May 2025
Keno was first played in 200 before Christ by the Chinese military commander, Cheung Leung who utilized keno as a way to finance his declining forces. The city of Cheung was waging a battle, and after a bit of time seemed to be facing national famine with the drastic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung had to come up with a rapid response for the economic disaster and to produce revenue for his military. He therefore designed the game we now know as keno and it was a great success.
Keno was well-known as the White Pigeon Game, since the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from bigger municipalities to the smaller towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to America in the 19th century by Chinese migrants who headed to the US for work. In those times, Keno used 120 numbers.
Today, Keno is typically wagered on with just 80 numbers in almost all of American brick and mortar casinos as well as web casinos. Keno is largely liked today as a result of the relaxed nature of gambling the game and the basic fact that there are little skills required to play Keno. Despite the reality that the chances of coming away with a win are horrible, there is constantly the hope that you might hit quite big with very little gaming investment.
Keno is enjoyed with 80 numbers and twenty numbers are picked each round. Gamblers of Keno can choose from two to 10 numbers and wager on them, as much or as little as they are able to. The pay out of Keno is according to the bets made and the roll out of matching numbers.
Keno has grown in universal appeal in the US since the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese characters were replaced with more familiar, US numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the laws of gaming in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos adjusted the name of the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the notion that the numbers are horses and you are wanting your horses to place. When a law passed that taxed off track wagering, Nevada casinos quickly altered the name to ‘Keno’.
Posted in Keno by Reed