Keno history is a long and interesting journey that has evolved over the years the casino game has existed. There is an ancient scroll that states keno history started more than 2000 years ago in China. Cheung Leung was the leader who invented the game in an effort to save his city.

The citizens refused to keep funding his war through taxes, and the army ran out of supplies so the city was in danger of losing the war. Leung introduced a lottery game that helped fund the supplies for the army, and this way the city was saved.

The Keno game quickly spread through China, opening in various casinos and parlors, and this helped fund the building of the Great Wall of China. This is the first mark keno history had on the world, with the funding of this building wonder.

Back in the early Keno history days, the game was known as the White Pigeon Game because gamblers used pigeons to transfer the winning scores of the game between players. This game had similar rules as modern Keno has.

The ancient Chinese Keno game used characters instead of the numbers we use today. All of these 80 characters were taken from the famous poem 'The Thousand Character Classic', an ancient children's reading and writing skills book.

Keno History Continues - The Move to America

Keno history moved to America when the Chinese immigrants started working on the railroads. Initially, the game was considered illegal in casinos because of anti-gambling laws. Nevertheless, it was popular among the Chinese immigrants, and was thus called Chinese lottery. Around this time the Keno characters were changed into numbers.

When Gambling was legalized in 1931, lotteries were still considered illegal in all of the various casinos around the US. Casinos at that time wanted to keep the game, so they changed it into a so called horse racing game. Instead of plain numbers, numbers of horses were bet on. Some of the features of Keno remained throughout Keno history, and one of these is the fact it's called a racing game. This is also the time when Keno was given its name, which was shortened from 'horse race Keno'. A few years later, the lottery prohibition was removed, and the government started to tax horse betting, thus the game was again changed to Keno.

In 1963 the keno payout limit in Nevada casinos was $25,000. In 1979 it was doubled to $50,000. In 1989 the limit was removed, and now casinos are free to set their limits as they please. Keno history has certainly made a long way, and with online Keno just added in recent years to various online casinos, it is expected to increase its popularity even more.

1.Choose an online Keno game suited to your bankroll

In the two examples above, one can see that a player's bankroll is more at risk in the first instance. Even if $0.50 tickets are more in range than $1 tickets for a limited bankroll, the earnings made off of tickets less than $1 can be negligible in the long run. In order for these tickets to return substantial winnings, the number of matching spots must increase, thereby increasing the odds. One of the best online Keno games is one that allows up to fifteen spots with $1 minimum wagers, and a $0.50 return on two matches. By picking the right number of spots at this particular payout scale, players can stay in the game longer, thereby giving themselves more opportunity to win a larger payout.

2.Pick the most advantageous number of spots

The rule of thumb is to pick an amount of spots ranging from approximately 50% to 75% of the ticket's spot limit. In other words, a ticket that allows no more than 10 spots, would mean that 5 spots would be 50% of the limit and 8 spots 80% of the limit. Therefore, this ticket should be picked with no less than five spots and no more than eight. An amount of spots under 50% still will have relatively the same chances of staying alive; However the largest payouts these tickets can potentially produce are too small - and still do not afford very good odds.

3.Pick the most amount of spots that will not change affect an even return

Within the percentage range of spots as set forth in the previous tip, a player should create tickets with multiple spots, paying attention to how the payout scale affects an even return on the stake. (clicking on spots will update the payout scale in real time) For instance, on a ticket that allows fifteen spots, the most productive range of spots (50-75%) would be anywhere from 7 (47%) to 11 (73%) spots. On a $1 wager the payout scale will return a players money back ($1) if 3 numbers are hit on tickets with spots from 7 to 11. Since the threshold of the payout scale only grows larger within this range, a player has nothing to lose (except a slightly larger return on comparative spots) when betting the maximum number of spots (11). By picking an amount of spots closest to the 80% threshold, a player is eligible for a larger payout while still increasing their odds of at least getting their original wager back. Matching 3 out of 11 spots is better odds than matching 3 out of 7. And even though the odds of hitting 11 out of 11 is greater than matching 7 out of 7, the payout is more, and the players bankroll will last longer.

As far as strategy goes, this is not much to rely on when compared to a sound craps strategy. However, it helps to insure great bankroll management. The key points are to pick an online casino that offers Keno with a payout scale that rests within a happy medium between maximum payout size and the minimum matching spots that will be paid out. This means to pick a game that doesn't offer as high as payouts as some casinos, but does offer return on fewer matching spots.