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Keno Past and Present: The History of the Game

Many people may associate keno as the game that most resembles its more popular counterpart, bingo. However, keno as a game evolved differently from bingo. In fact, keno has a different history altogether, one that is as equally as interesting to know.

Keno is believed to have begun in ancient China. Accounts vary on how, when, and where exactly the game was first created.The common story is that it was created by an ancient Chinese ruler named Cheung Leung during the Han dynasty who introduced the game to his people in a an effort to build funds for a war that his city was waging. People were disillusioned and naturally hesitant to put in money for the war in the form of taxes and so Cheung Leung devised a plan to get more money without forcing the people to shell out more money.

Cheung Leung based the game on the popular Chinese poem written bu Zhou Xingsi called "A Thousand Character Classic", which is still popular today as a means of young Chinese children to learn how to count.

Out of the 250 and 50 phrases in the poem Cheung Leung used 120 and subdivided it into 8 characters each. Whoever guessed the contents of a whole subdivision correctly won and he was rewarded with ten taels, the form of Chinese currency at that time.

This game became so popular that Cheung Leung had no difficulty raising money to reinforce his dwindling war time funds. The success of the game is also credited for the creation of one of China's greatest achievements, the Great Wall of China.

Keno arrived in North America brought by Chinese sailors and railroad workers who were part of the working crew to build the trans-Pacific railway. It was an instant success in San Francisco, although it was first played underground since keno and all forms of gambling were regarded as illegal in the beginning of the 20th century. the keno played in San Francisco used numbers instead of characters to make the game understandable to American players.

As soon as lotteries were legalized in the early 1930s, keno was recognized as a lottery by the Federal Government, and to get around this the name of the game was changed to racehorse keno. When a law that took taxes off off-track betting was passed, keno players immediately changed the name back to keno and it has stayed so ever since.