» Keno In The Past

One of the most popular games at any casino is Keno. It is a game similar to the big state or provincial lotteries. The game itself was first developed in China in 187 BC by the head of state, Cheung Leung. But the appearance of keno is wrapped in a mystery. There can be found several different opinions.
One theory is that Cheung Leung of the Han Dynasty introduced the game when his city was at war for several years and was beginning to run out of money and supplies. The citizens refused to contribute additional funds to the fruitless cause of the war. So Cheung was left scratching his head as to how to generate the necessary finances to continue his brutal battles. Cheung found an excellent solution to this problem: he created a very popular game - keno. The game was a success and it is cited as a major reason for the victory of Cheung's forces. It is also credited for providing resources and helping to fund the massive undertaking of building the Great Wall! The game soon became known as the White Pigeon game, since carrier pigeons were used to inform surrounding towns and villages of the winning numbers.
In the past rather than having a board of just numbers on the original keno boards, they used classic Chinese characters. Originally, as many as 120 characters were used in the game, and only after it left China would the number drop to a more familiar 80.
The game arrived in the US in the mid 1800's when thousands of Chinese immigrants came to work in the mines and on the railroad. The fact that gambling games were forbidden didn't prevent the Chinese from playing and spreading it all over the States. It continued to use Chinese characters and thus obviously didn't enter popular mainstream American culture until it was modified to include the numerical system.