Casino Game Keno | Keno History

Keno: From Ancient Chinese Lottery to Las Vegas Hit

If you have any casino experience, whether it is online or in “real-world” casinos, you have seen Keno, but perhaps never knew what it was. Here is a bit about it, and where it came from.

Keno is a game of chance, a kind of lottery. It is probably the most laidback game in a casino, affording you the opportunity to place a bet every six minutes or so. Since the minimum bets are usually very low, it will allow casino-keno you to have some action without much worry about going broke.

As for the history of Keno, while no one knows for sure, the legends are worth retelling. The story goes that Keno originated long ago in ancient China. According to ancient texts, the Chinese warlord Cheung Leung created the game around 200 BC. It seems Cheung Leung had been at war for so long that his citizens refused to fund his war efforts anymore, and Keno, though not called Keno at that time, was how he raised money to support his soldiers.

Originally known as “the white pigeon game,” so-called for the carrier pigeons used to carry lottery drawing results to distant villages, the game quickly gained in popularity. The resulting cash influx was staggering, making Cheung Leung one of the wealthiest and most successful warlords of his era. Some of the profits from the game of chance even went toward the construction of the Great Wall of China.

In the middle of the 19th century, Chinese immigrants to America brought the game with them. Known in the United States as Chinese lottery, the game switched the original 80 Chinese characters for numbers, and was extremely popular in Chinese-American communities.

In the 1930′s, Las Vegas sprouted up in the Nevada desert. Since lotteries were not legal at the time, Chinese lottery was changed to Horse Race Keno. Players wagered on numbered horses rather than numbered spots. Although it was made to resemble a horse race, at heart the game was still a lottery.

A few years down the road, lotteries became legal in Nevada. The two thousand year old game of chance became known simply as Keno. Although players now bet on numbers rather than horses, Keno still maintains a connection to its horse race-themed past. Keno drawings are referred to as races, and players can play the same numbers multiple times with multi-race tickets.

So, the next time you are in Vegas and the hectic excitement of the pit floors gets to be a bit much, take a break and play a few races of Keno. While you are it, take a moment to reflect that it might very well be the oldest game of chance in the world still played regularly today.