» Keno Game Rules

Keno, a game similar to the big state or provincial lotteries, is easy to play and one of the most popular games in any casino. Keno was introduced in China by its head of state more than 2000 years ago. Still the origins of the game are really a bit of 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. Cheung had nothing else to do but to develop some new way of taking money out of the people. Finally, Cheung had the brilliant idea of creating a game that would appeal to the huge numbers of people under his command, while simultaneously generating a bit of cash to cover his expenses. Keno was so successful that it can be said to be the reason for Cheung's victory. 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. 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.
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.