Keno History for Dummies

If you like keno, then you'll probably like knowing how this game started out. Unlike most games, keno actually has a pretty interesting history.

Historical accounts trace the history of keno back to the Han dynasty in 200 B.C. A Chinese ruler, Cheung Leung, was leading his army against a group of marauding invaders who were attacking his city. Cheung Leung's army, however, was getting smaller, wearier, and supplies were quickly running low. TO add to his troubles, the Chinese people were no longer willing to pay more taxes so that the war could continue. Apparently, they too, were getting tired and weary of the long, drawn-out war.

Cheung Leung had to think of a way to raise funds for his war while keeping his people happy by not levying heavier taxes on them. With the help of the ancient Chinese poem A Thousand Character classic, he did just that.

Don't know what The Thousand Character Classic is? No worries, since most people don't. But back in ancient China this poem was a popular one and was used by parents to teach their kids how to read and write. The poem, written by Zhou Xingsi is composed of a thousand characters divided into 250 phrases with 4 character each. Cheung Leung took 120 characters and created subdivisions of eight out of these characters.

All the players had to do was correctly guess the contents of one subdivision correctly. The winners were usually given ten taels, the money at that time.

Fortunately for Cheung Leung, the game was a hit. Soon everyone was playing it, and it was able to raise the funds that he needed to fund his army. The game gained the title the game of the white pigeon, which was because white doves were used send messages of winning combinations and names all throughout the countryside.

The game finally made its way to America, brought by Chinese immigrants and railroad workers. It became especially famous in the San Francisco, which had a thriving Chinese community. It was known underground as the Chinese lottery. Initially Chinese characters were used , which were later replaced by numbers to include the participation of American players.

The game was also a hit in Nevada. When the Nevada state legislature opted to legalize gambling but excluded keno from the list, operators side stepped around this and cleverly renamed the game Horse race keno, a smooth move since horse racing a legal activity by then. When the government decided to tax off-track betting, effectively legalizing keno, operators took no time giving the game its original name back and keno has stayed that way ever since.