Keno is an easy to play game, originating from China. The game is a hybrid between bingo and lottery and is amongst the most relaxing and fun to play games in an online casino. The game can also be found in most land-based casinos, but also as a recreational party game in some late night venues, restaurants and bars.
Keno Rules
Keno is played with keno cards or tickets, consisting of the numbers from 1 to 80. Keno players mark 20 numbers they wish to wager on. After all bets are successfully placed, 20 numbers are drawn (or balls in some land-based casinos that don’t use electronic random number generators). Players are then paid based on how many numbers they have correctly guessed.
History of Keno
The word “keno” has French or Latin roots for five winning numbers, but it comes from Ancient China. According to the legend 2,200 years ago a Chinese general by the name Cheung Leung invented the game during a war in order to raise money to supply his army. It is claimed that the roots of Keno lie in a poem titled “The Thousand Character Classic”. The general arranged 120 of the poem’s characters on a board and soldiers could place bets on up to 10 characters. The winning characters were then drawn and winnings paid out. The game proved to be successful and the general could lead the war with the funds he collected from losing players. The game itself existed for numerous centuries, while the number of the characters on the board dropped to 90 at first and to 80 by the middle of the 19th century. It was back then when modern day Keno found its way to America with some Chinese immigrants who sought new possibilities. At first, the spread of the game was limited, as non-Chinese players could hardly recognize the board’s characters. The solution was to replace those with Arabic numbers, as to make the game understandable for the English speaking audience.
In 1931 gambling was legalized in the USA. Lotteries, however, were not. Thus, the game of Keno went by the name “Race Horse Keno”, in order to create the impression that it was not a lottery and keno rounds are still called races. Later on, when lotteries were finally legalized, the game reverted to its original name and found its place in casinos all over the world.
Originally each of Keno’s 80 numbers was written on a folded piece of paper and thrown in a bowl. 20 numbers were then drawn and declared winning numbers. The folded pieces of paper soon evolved into wooden balls with carved numbers, also known as “peas”. It was a man by the name of Warren Nelson, who came up with a system of drawing the balls from a rotating cage. He opened his own casino in Nevada in 1936 and there the first legal casino keno game was played. Nowadays, computers handle the drawing process, both in most brick and mortar casinos and online, thus making it faster and easier.