The origin of keno: An ancient Chinese secret
Keno is an ancient lottery game that originated in China during the Han Dynasty (around 200 B.C.). Since that time, merchants, peasants, and emperors have played it for more than 2,000 years. The name of the old game was “kino,” and according to legend, an emperor used it to help finance the building of the Great Wall of China. Chinese laborers who came to the United States to work on railroads in the 1800s introduced the game in the American West, where keno parlors quickly became the rage.
