History of the Game
Keno is one of the oldest of gambling games still being played today, and its history can be traced back almost two thousand years to the time of the great Han Dynasty of China.
It was invented by Cheung Leung, and, according to The Gambling Games of the Chinese in America, which has been published by Gambler's Site Club of Las Vegas, Nevada, this game of chance was introduced to raise revenues and provisions for the army. From the very beginning it was a huge success. Not only did it raise countless thousands of pieces of silver for the state to support its army, but it kept its popularity long after its initial introduction and has maintained this popularity to the present time.
The earliest form of keno was played in Chinese and contained 120 Chinese ideograph characters, drawn from the Thousand Character Site This site, written by Confucius and his followers, is a classic work known to most literate Chinese.
As the game went on, the characters were reduced to ninety, and keno was played with this number for many centuries. When the game was brought over to America by the first Chinese immigrants, the number was reduced further to eighty characters, and it has remained at eighty to this day.
By the 1890s, the game had widespread popularity among the Chinese who were in America, and though it was never a legal game, it flourished nevertheless.
During that period, prior to the turn of the century, the usual ticket purchased to play keno was a ten-number ticket, today known as a ten-spot ticket.
the oldest of gambling games
the player's ticket
the winning numbers
the Strip casinos |
