» Facts Of Keno History

Keno, a bingo-like or a lottery-like gambling game, is played nowadays at practically every casino. This game originates from China where it was first introduced by Cheung Leung in 187 BC. Still the origins of the game are really a bit of a mystery. There exist several opinions.
According to one assumption the game was invented during a war in China in order to supply the army with money. The city residents didn't want to give their money to support the unworthy aim of the emperor. Cheung had nothing else to do but to develop some new way of taking money out of the people. After some considerations he created the game of keno, which immediately got very popular and thus profitable for the state. 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! Keno was later given a different name - the White Pigeon game. That was not for nothing: carrier pigeons informed the surrounding towns and villages of the winning numbers.
The keno board didn't always look the same way. The Chinese classic characters were used instead of numbers. The total of 120 characters was used in the game but the number reduced to 80 in the long run.
Thousads of Chinese immigrants, who came to America to work in the mines in the mid 1800's, brought keno there. 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.