» Keno Appeared

Keno, a bingo-like or a lottery-like gambling game, is played nowadays at practically every casino. Keno appeared in China in 187 BC. Still the origins of the game are really a bit of a mystery. Several different versions exist.
The generally accepted theory is that the game was invented during some war in China when the army needed money badly. The city residents didn't want to give their money to support the unworthy aim of the emperor. So the emperor tried to work out a strategy of generating the necessary finances. After some considerations he created the game of keno, which immediately got very popular and thus profitable for the state. Thus Cheung's army was saved. 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 boards of the past consisted of the Chinese characters but not of the numbers. If at first the game included 120 characters, this number dropped to 80 in the course of time.
Keno appeared in the US in the 19th century as a lot of Chinese people came there to work on the railroads. 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.