Keno has been around in some form or another since ancient China. Historians have found Keno slips dating back as far as 205 BCE – making it the first lottery in recorded history. The game would eventually arrive in the West when thousands of Chinese laborers crossed the Pacific during the 19th Century to work on the railroads. A 1866 article from The New York Times talks about Keno being incredibly popular in Houston. The author describes a 12-table room with “at least a hundred men” from every walk of society “breathlessly waiting the call” of the numbers.
Today, there are tens of thousands of Keno players all around the world, men and women, many of them playing the new Keno Draw right here at Ignition. What makes this game so popular? Here are three reasons why people can’t get enough Keno.
Numbers Game
We’ve been fascinated by numbers ever since the ancient Egyptians came up with the first numeric ciphers, although it was the Arabic numeral system that would dominate beginning in the 14th Century. Over the years, we’ve associated these numbers with magical properties. Numerology was considered an important field of study for millennia; in 1658, Sir Thomas Browne wrote The Garden of Cyrus and discussed the Quincunx pattern, five dots arranged in a cross – much like what you’d see on a pair of dice or set of dominoes. The name “Keno” shares the same root word: the French quine, meaning “five winning numbers.”
Keno Strategy
People have also treated luck as a mystical force since the beginning of time. It’s all about probabilities, of course, but there’s still something exciting about leaving your fate in the hands of the gods. Keno is a game of pure luck, with no strategy involved whatsoever. You pick up to 15 numbers from 1 to 80, then 20 numbers are chosen at random, and the more you match, the more you win. Is Lady Luck shining on you today?
Learn Keno
Games involving strategy can be entertaining, but not everyone wants to test their skills when they gamble. When you play Keno at Ignition Casino, you don’t have to worry about running into someone else who’s better at Keno – just pick your numbers and see what happens. Having said that, if you enjoy learning about the history and the probabilities behind the game, you can double your fun by becoming a Keno expert along the way. As you can see, there’s a lot to learn about this very simple game.