[ English ]

Keno was first played in two hundred BC by the Chinese military commander, Cheung Leung who used this game as a monetary resource for his failing army. The city of Cheung was at war, and after some time appeared to be looking at a national shortage of food with the drastic decrease in supplies. Cheung Leung had to develop a fast response for the economic disaster and to acquire money for his military. He, as it follows invented the game we know today as keno and it was a wonderful success.

Keno was referred to as the White Pigeon Game, seeing as the winning numbers were sent out by pigeons from larger locations to the tinier villages. The lotto ‘Keno’ was imported to the United States in the 1800s by Chinese newcomers who came to the States to jobs. In those times, Keno used one hundred and twenty numbers.

Today, Keno is regularly enjoyed with eighty numbers in just about all of the US based casinos along with web casinos. Keno is largely loved today as a consequence of the laid back nature of playing the game and the basic reality that there are little skills required to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the fact that the chances of winning are appalling, there is constantly the hope that you will hit quite big with very little gaming investment.

Keno is played with 80 numbers and twenty numbers are drawn each game. Players of Keno can pick from two to ten numbers and wager on them, as much or as little as they want to. The payout of Keno is dependent on the wagers made and the roll out of matching numbers.

Keno has grown in popularity in the US since the close of the 1800’s when the Chinese letters were replaced with more familiar, American numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the laws of gaming in Nevada State in 1931. The casinos altered the name of the ‘Chinese lottery’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the notion that the numbers are horses and you are looking for your horses to place. When a law passed that levied a tax on off track gambling, casinos quickly altered the name to ‘Keno’.