History of Keno

Keno is almost similar to Lotto. It was first introduced in China many years ago. The game was brought to the USA in the mid 1800's by the Chinese immigrants who came to work in the mines and on the railroad. It is a very popular game and very easy to play. It is an exciting pastime and, most importantly, it offers the possibility of winning large payouts on relatively small wagers.

The Chinese invented not only gunpowder and paper, but also the keno lottery game The origins of keno are a bit of a mystery, not crystal clear to everybody but there are a few little incidental stories flying around out here and there. But nobody has a clear view of the history of this ancient indoor game. What's the truth? Which one? Acceptable sadly, as with all history, the truth is a matter of opinion and acceptance. 

It is found from ancient Chinese history that Cheung Leung of the Han Dynasty introduced a game similar to keno around 200 BC. At that time Cheung's city was at war for several years and was beginning to run out of supplies.  Citizens of his city refused to contribute any more to the war fund, so Cheung imposed this tricks to the civilians, a game of chance to produce revenue for his army.

The game was an instant success and the city was saved. This game, a numbers game not unlike keno, was an instant success and played a great part in saving the city and produced huge amount of revenue. After these impose quickly spreading throughout China, keno was also used to help fund the building of the Great China Wall. The game also became known as the White Pigeon Game because carrier white pigeons were used to send the lucky winning numbers from the keno games in the larger cities to small villages and hamlets.

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