» When First Appeared Keno

Keno, a bingo-like or a lottery-like gambling game, is played nowadays at practically every casino. Keno was introduced in China by its head of state more than 2000 years ago. But the appearance of keno is wrapped in a mystery. Several different versions exist.
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 the emperor tried to work out a strategy of generating the necessary finances. At last he managed to create a very easy and effective means of getting money. That was the game of 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! Later keno was known as the White Pigeon game as people of surrounding villages were informed of the winning numbers by carrier pigeons.
The keno board didn't always look the same way. The Chinese classic characters were used instead of numbers. 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.
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.