Keno was introduced in 200 before Christ by the Chinese army leader, Cheung Leung who utilized keno as a monetary resource for his failing forces. The city of Cheung was waging a war, and after some time seemed to be looking at a national shortage of food with the drastic drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to develop a rapid response for the financial adversity and to create revenue for his military. He therefore designed the game we know today as keno and it was a fantastic success.
Keno used to be known as the White Pigeon Game, seeing as the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from larger cities to the lesser villages. 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 120 numbers.
Today, Keno is generally bet on with 80 numbers in just about all of the US based casinos as well as web casinos. Keno is mainly loved today because of the relaxed nature of playing the game and the simple reality that there are little expertise required to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the fact that the chances of coming away with a win are terrible, there is constantly the hope that you might hit quite big with very little gambling investment.
Keno is played with eighty numbers with twenty numbers selected each round. Gamblers of Keno can select from two to 10 numbers and bet on them, as much or as little as they want to. The payout of Keno is according to the bets made and the matching of numbers.
Keno has grown in popularity in the US since the end of the 1800’s when the Chinese characters were replaced with more familiar, American numbers. Lottos weren’t covered under the laws of gambling in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos altered the name of the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the concept that the numbers are horses and you want your horses to place. When the Nevada government passed a law that levied a tax on off track betting, the casinos quickly altered the name to ‘Keno’.