The History of Keno

Keno is one of the oldest gambling games and has a long and rich history that goes back tens of centuries. The word "Keno" has Latin or French roots, but it is commonly believed that it originated in China during the Dynasty of Han 3000 years ago.

According to the ancient legend, the Han Dynasty ruled by Cheung Leung was tied up in a long and devastating war that almost depleted the funds of the city. Cheung Lenung was unable to get any more money from the residents of the city because at that moment the taxes were even higher than very high already. So, he came up with the idea for a new game that would've allowed him to collect enough money. In its first version, Keno was a lottery which served as a source of money that could help finish the Hand Dynasty war. Legend has it that years later Keno was used to raise money for the building of the Great Wall of China. However, nobody can say for sure if these legends can be trusted because the Chinese lottery was licensed only in 1800's.

The first version of Keno differs much from the modern version. Unlike modern version, which is played with 80 numbers, the first version of Keno was played with 120 characters and symbols. Today, the game is still played with Chinese characters in China, but the number of characters has been reduced to 80.

Despite the fact that other lottery-like games were played in the United States and Europe before keno was introduced, the game received a lot of attention when it was introduced at the shores of San Francisco by Chinese sailors in the beginning of the 20th century. American gamblers changed the Chinese characters to numbers because they couldn't read Chinese.

In the beginning of the 20th century Nevada was the only state to allow gambling and Keno was viewed as a lottery by government. Therefore, Keno operators named the game "Racehorse Keno" in order to disguise it as a racing game. All 80 numbers on the Keno card were tied to different horses and each draw was called a race. After legalization of lotteries the game got its name back.

Today, there are all kinds of Keno games available online, including "Racehorse Keno" games.