History of the Game
To select the winning numbers, which were printed originally on small wooden balls, they were first stirred up by hand by operators of the game and then randomly introduced through what is known as a keno goose-a long tube that resembled a goose's neck.
Since the balls were continually touched by hand, there were many opportunities for collusion between players and those selecting the numbers. Today a goose is still used, but the numbers are imprinted on Ping-Pong balls, stirred by air and then randomly forced up two transparent tubes, one at a time, without being touched by the operator of the game.
When Nevada legalized gambling, keno was one of the games immediately introduced, except at that time it was known as racehorse keno. Not only did each Ping-Pong ball contain a number, but a name of a racehorse as well.
All this changed, however, in 1951, when, the United States government passed a law taxing off-track betting on horses. Since racehorse keno might be construed as off-track horse betting, the racehorse names were eliminated, and the game from that time on has simply been known as keno.
Today keno is played in practically every casino in Nevada. At first the game, which appealed primarily to those in the tower economic brackets, was shunned by the elegant casinohotels on the Las Vegas Strip and was limited to the downtown Las Vegas and Northern Nevada casinos, which attracted Smaller bettors to their clubs.
the oldest of gambling games
the player's ticket
the winning numbers
the Strip casinos
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