The Ancient History of Keno

The history of the game of keno is shrouded in legends, but since most of them have a common ground, there is probably a basis of truth in all of them. Most of the legends claim that keno originated in ancient China around the year 2000 B.C. during the Han Dynasty.

At that time, the Han Dynasty chief, a fellow by the name of Cheung Leung, had been carrying out a war for several years. His army and supplies were depleted, and the citizens of his city were refusing to put up any more money to fund his war. In order to entice them to give him more funds, Leung invented a game of chance - a lottery. The game was based on a chart of 120 Chinese characters. Tickets were sold and those holding winning numbers won money prizes. But as in all lottery games, the organizer got the big money. Since the Chinese have always loved to gamble, the game was a big success and was a big help to Leung in winning his war.

The Chinese lottery spread throughout the country, and legend has it that this game helped to fund the building of the Great Wall. For a time, the game was called the White Pigeon Game because carrier pigeons were used to send the winning numbers from the cities to the distant villages.

Keno in the Americas

With the influx of Chinese immigrants into the United States, the White Pigeon Game came to be called the Chinese Lottery. And even though lotteries were illegal, nothing could keep the Chinese from continuing to play. Eventually, around the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese characters were replaced by numbers, and, instead of 120 characters, they were reduced to 80.

However, lotteries were still illegal, even in Nevada where most forms of gambling were legalized in the early 1930's. So in order to be able to play the Chinese Lottery in casinos, the name was changed to Race Horse Keno. Each of the 80 numbers was supposed to be the number of a horse, and players would bet on one or more "horses" to win. If the player's horse came in, he was a winner. Then the U.S. government passed a law taxing off track betting, the "Race Horse" was dropped from the name of the game, and it became just Keno.

Modern Keno

Keno was not at first a very popular game. A player could pick between one to ten numbers out of the 80, and his winnings were based on the number of "hits" he made, i.e. how many of his pickings were called out of the 80. Less than four didn't get him anywhere. Any hits from four to nine would give relatively small payouts, but if he was lucky enough to get all ten of his numbers picked, he could win quite a large sum. Although it was not impossible to get ten "hits", the player's chances were not very high.

The Keno Lounge

In order to make the game more popular, casinos created the Keno Lounge. A special area was set off for the game. It usually contained comfortable easy chairs for relaxed playing. The 80 numbers were shown on a big board, and the actual numbers were mixed and shaken in a large balloon-like ball or basket. The Keno operator would activate the numbers ball and call each one as it dropped out. Simultaneously, this number would light up on the board for all to see. The popularity of the game was increased by the fact that bets could be purchased for relatively low amounts of money. A Keno ticket could be bought for one dollar and could possibly give the player a win of thousands. If a player had a winning ticket he had to collect his winnings immediately before a new game was started. Otherwise, he lost out. The speed of the game did increase its popularity, and in today's casinos, the Keno lounge is always well filled.

Online Keno

With the advent of online gambling in the mid 1990's, Keno fans found that they could play the game on line. Many of them preferred online keno to the land casino game because online Keno is a solo game. The player bets against his computer without any other players around him. He can take more time to consider what numbers to pick, and he is not distracted by the casino noises.

With the development of casino software technology, video Keno became a great attraction. The enhanced graphics in the video games created a Keno game that was almost like being in a Keno lounge, and many Keno fans turned to the video style of playing the game. Video Keno can be played in land based casinos and also in online casinos.

Anyone who has ever loved the old-fashioned game of Bingo will certainly enjoy Keno in any of its styles. But when playing any kind of Keno, the player should remember that he is carrying on a tradition that was begun about 3000 years ago!