Keno

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Keno was created in 200 BC by the Chinese army commander, Cheung Leung who utilized this game as a monetary resource for his failing army. The city of Cheung was waging a battle, and after a bit of time appeared to be facing country wide shortage of food with the drastic drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to come up with a fast fix for the financial disaster and to create revenue for his army. He therefore created the game we know today as keno and it was a great success.

Keno once was well-known as the White Pigeon Game, since the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from larger locations to the smaller towns. The lottery ‘Keno’ was imported to the US in the 19th century by Chinese immigrants who came to the United States to jobs. In those times, Keno was played with one hundred and twenty numbers.

Today, Keno is typically bet on with 80 numbers in a majority of the US land based casinos along with web casinos. Keno is mainly enjoyed today because of the laid back nature of playing the game and the basic fact that there are little skills needed to play Keno. Despite the fact that the chances of winning are horrible, there is always the chance that you could win quite large with little gaming investment.

Keno is played with 80 numbers with twenty numbers selected each game. Gamblers of Keno can pick from 2 to 10 numbers and bet on them, whatever amount they are able to. The pay out of Keno is according to the bets made and the matching of numbers.

Keno has grown in acceptance in the United States since the end of the 19th century when the Chinese characters were replaced with more familiar, US numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the laws of gaming in the state of Nevada in 1931. The casinos adjusted the name of the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the idea that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to come in. When the Nevada government passed a law that levied a tax on off track betting, the casinos swiftly adjusted the name to ‘Keno’.