[ English ]

Keno was introduced in 200 before Christ by the Chinese military commander, Cheung Leung who used this game as a finance resource for his declining army. The city of Cheung was at war, and after some time seemed to be facing country wide famine with the excessive drop in supplies. Cheung Leung needed to develop a quick response for the financial disaster and to produce money for his army. He, as it follows created the game we now know as keno and it was a fantastic success.

Keno used to be known as the White Pigeon Game, because the winning numbers were broadcast by pigeons from larger locations to the smaller villages. The lotto ‘Keno’ was brought to the US in the 1800s by Chinese migrants who came to the United States to work. In those times, Keno was played with one hundred and twenty numbers.

Today, Keno is generally wagered on with just 80 numbers in a majority of the US based casinos as well as internet casinos. Keno is largely liked today because of the relaxed nature of wagering the game and the basic fact that there are no skills required to enjoy Keno. Regardless of the fact that the odds of getting a win are terrible, there is always the possibility that you will hit quite large with little gaming investment.

Keno is played with eighty numbers with twenty numbers picked each round. Players of Keno can choose from two to ten 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 US since the close of the 19th century when the Chinese characters were replaced with more familiar, American numbers. Lotteries were not covered under the legalization of gaming in Nevada State in Nineteen Thirty One. The casinos renamed the ‘Chinese lotto’ to ‘horse race keno’ employing the concept that the numbers are horses and you want your horses to come in. When a law passed that levied a tax on off track gambling, the casinos swiftly altered the name to ‘Keno’.