keno wagering

The Rich History of Keno

Keno is a relatively easy game to play. If you know how to play bingo, you can play keno as both games are similar to each other.

Do you know that keno was invented in China? Like gunpowder and silk, keno was one China's greatest contributions to the world. Keno's long and colorful history is quite interesting.

Keno was believed to be the invention of a Chinese general named Cheung Leung in about 200 B.C. Badly needing a way to raise money for his army to defend the city, Cheung invented the game now known as keno. Cheung's city survived the attack and so was his game, which quickly grew in popularity. Keno was then known as the "White Pigeon Game" since in old times, white pigeons were used as couriers to deliver the winning results from the city to the small towns and villages.

Keno was brought to the United States by Chinese immigrants in the 1800s. During those times, keno was played with 120 numbers. The original keno game didn't even use numbers, but Chinese characters based on the old traditional poem called "The Thousand Character Classic."

Keno became popular in the United States when numbers replaced the Chinese characters on the original game. When lotteries were not yet legal in Nevada, the casinos changed the game's name from "Chinese lottery" into "horse race keno" and finally to "keno" when the state began taxing off-track betting on horse races.

The keno game in widespread use nowadays consists of 80 numbers. Keno players select up to 15 numbers called spots from 1-80 and place bets on them. In each game, 20 numbers are randomly selected and your payouts depend on the size of your bet and the number of spots that match the winning numbers. The more spots you hit, the bigger your winnings.

To win in keno, you need to select the right number of spots enough to improve your odds of winning. Not too many and not too few. The ideal amount of numbers to bet is somewhere between 7 and 10. It all depends on your gut feel and your willingness to risk more money.

Keno is sometimes despised by some gamblers because it has lower odds than other casino games. However, keno can offer very handsome rewards several hundreds or thousands of times bigger than your original bet. Your $1 bet may well turn out to be a $50,000 windfall. For this reason, many gamblers still try their luck in keno hoping to get rich from it.