Keno is a popular
gambling game in the United States. Its history can be traced to a
Chinese game called "The Game of the White Dove (白鴿票)" invented during
the Han Dynasty (187 BC). The name "keno" descends from a form of Bingo
or Lotto popular in the USA in the 19th century. There are many
references to "Keno" played in a bingo like format in the eastern
states prior to the influx of Chinese during the gold rush. The name
appears to have been transferred to the similar format Chinese lottery
in the late 1800s.
History
The following account of the history of the game
is an excerpt from Stewart Culin's paper published in 1891.
This game is an old establishment, and was first
introduced by Chéung léung of the great Han
Dynasty. When the city was hard pressed, and provisions were beginning
to fail, they (the besieged) were anxious to increase the
contributions, and to exhort the people to subscribe more for the army,
but were unable to do so. Hence they established a game of chance (to
guess characters), by which they hoped to tempt the people to hazard
their property. In order to fix a method of losing or gaining at
hazard, they chose 120 characters for the whole game and eight
characters for one subdivision. If the people lost one (whole)
subdivision they lost three lí of property; if they gained
one division they were rewarded with ten taels. These regulations being
once established, who would not sacrifice a little in order to gain
much? The two games in the morning and evening were attended by men and
women who tried their luck by guessing. They had only opened the game
for about ten days, when they had accumulated more than 1000 pieces of
silver; and after a few more decades their wealth was boundless. The
money thus gained was considered a contribution to the army for the
reduction of the empire….
At present the people practice the game as a
profession. They borrow the characters from the Thousand Character
Classic, of which eighty are chosen and arranged after a new plan, ten
characters forming one division, which the people are permitted to
purchase for more or less (for whatever they please.)
Three cash gaining ten taels makes the people
covet the game without loathing. When they guess five characters they
gain five lí; when six characters they gain five candareens;
when seven characters they gain five mace; when eight characters they
gain two taels and five mace; when nine characters they gain five
taels; when ten characters they gain ten taels.
When this game was first established, the houses
were often at a great distance, and communication being difficult and
the people anxious soon to know the result respecting their gaining or
losing, they employed letter doves to carry the news to the parties,
whence the present designation: 'The Game of the White Dove.'
Modern keno
Keno, in its modern form, is like a lottery or
bingo in that it is a numbers game. Unlike bingo, the keno player picks
the numbers for his or her ticket(s). Keno cards have 80 numbers; the
keno player can pick as many (or as few) numbers as desired. This is
done by circling or otherwise marking them with a pencil. Once the
player has picked his numbers, he must bring his card back to the clerk
at the keno booth. The clerk will then issue a receipt after recording
the player's numbers.
After picking numbers and recording them at the
keno booth, the player will then watch either a "big board" in which
winning keno numbers will light up or on a video monitor showing the
selected numbers. As the winning numbers light up, the player usually
marks them on his or her card with a bright-colored marker. The amount
of numbers the player originally picked that match winning numbers of a
particular drawing will determine if any money is won and, if so, how
much. The winning ticket needs to be taken to the keno booth
immediately if it is an individual game ticket, as drawings usually
take place every five minutes. If the player tries to redeem a winning
ticket when the next drawing starts, it is void and no money is paid
out.
To avoid having a void ticket, a keno player can
purchase a "multi-race" ticket with the same picked numbers on anywhere
from 2 to 20 tickets. When the maximum number of games (matching the
number of tickets) is finished, the player can then redeem any winnings
and avoid the peril of a void ticket. Another option is the "stray and
play" ticket, which is usually a number of games greater than 30.
Unlike standard keno tickets, the "stray and play" doesn't have to be
redeemed immediately and is often good for up to a year after purchase.
Taken from wikipedia
