[ English | Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano ]

Keno was created in two hundred BC by the Chinese military commander, Cheung Leung who used this game as a way to finance his declining army. The metropolis of Cheung was at war, and after some time seemed to be facing national shortage of food with the excessive drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to create a rapid response for the financial disaster and to create revenue for his forces. He thusly designed the game we know today as keno and it was a wonderful success.

Keno once was known as the White Pigeon Game, seeing as the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from larger municipalities to the smaller villages. The lotto ‘Keno’ was imported to the USA in the 1800s by Chinese newcomers who migrated to the US for work. In those times, Keno used one hundred and twenty numbers.

Today, Keno is generally bet on with eighty numbers in most of the US land based casinos as well as online casinos. Keno is largely played today because of the relaxed nature of wagering the game and the basic fact that there are little skills needed to play Keno. Despite the fact that the odds of getting a win are terrible, there is constantly the possibility that you might hit quite big with a tiny gaming investment.

Keno is played with eighty numbers with twenty numbers picked each round. Enthusiasts of Keno can select from two to ten numbers and gamble on them, as much or as little as they want to. The payout of Keno is dependent on the bets made and the matching of numbers.

Keno has grown in universal appeal in the US since the close of the 1800’s when the Chinese characters were changed with more familiar, US numbers. Lotteries weren’t covered under the laws of gaming in the state of Nevada in 1931. The casinos altered the name of the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ utilizing the notion that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to place. When the Nevada government passed a law that levied a tax on off track gambling, Nevada casinos swiftly changed the name to ‘Keno’.