Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Keno History

Keno probably originated over 2000 years ago. The original game of keno had up to 120 beautiful and commonly known characters, taken from the "thousand character poem" of ancient China. As with most other `games of wagering` popular throughout history, Keno made its way to the New World, and became known as the "Chinese Lottery." About 150 years ago the characters were changed to numbers, and over time the game was standardized to include only 80 numbers. The game became known as "Horse Race Keno" when regulations concerning gambling and lotteries became an issue in the 1930`s. When betting on horse racing came under the gun, the game name was changed again to just plain "Keno."

Keno is a lottery type game, similar to Bingo, and online Keno is no different in that respect. It is a very popular game to play for fun, or to gamble for real money. There is a numbers board and a big bowl with the 80 numbered balls. Players pick anywhere between one to ten numbers to play. With the Microgaming Keno online game, you can pick up to 15 numbers. Once you have picked your numbers, the bowl turns (or the computer spins its numbers), and the winning numbers are displayed. The amount you win depends on how many of your choices match the winning numbers.

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