Keno Legal Definition
The Chinese lottery is not documented until 1847, when the Portuguese government in Macau decided to allow lottery operators. According to some, the results of keno games in major cities were sent by carrier pigeons to remote villages and hamlets, which gave its Chinese name 白鸽票 báigē piào, with the literal reading “white dove tickets” in Mandarin, but in the southern varieties of Chinese spoken in Guangdong, simply “pigeon tickets”,[6] and pronounced baak6-gaap3-piu3 in Cantonese (on which the Western spelling “pak-ah-pu” / “pakapoo” was based). “Keno.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/keno. Retrieved 28 October 2022. These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “keno”. The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. Baige Piao (or Pak-a-pu as it was called in the West) is the ancestor not only of keno, but also of lotto and bingo. Keno arrived in the western United States with Chinese immigrants in the 1840s. In the early 20th century, the game gained popularity among non-Chinese groups in the United States under the name Chinese Lottery, in which characters were converted into numbers. At this time, it also received the name keno, a corruption of the French word quine (“group of five”). In 1933, keno was introduced to casinos in Reno, Nevada, under the name Race-Horse Keno, with horse names instead of numbers on bills so as not to conflict with state lottery laws. These laws in Nevada were changed in 1951, after which keno became a numbers game.
Today, keno (with many daily draws) is played in almost all American casinos, as well as in many casinos in Australia, South Africa, South America and East Asia. The house edge at Keno Casino is considerable – about 25%. Keno is also offered as a game (usually with weekly draws) by many lottery companies around the world. The Chinese played the game with sheets printed with Chinese characters, often the first 80 characters of the thousand-character classic, from which the winning characters were selected. [7] [8] Eventually, Chinese immigrants introduced Keno to the West while crossing the Pacific Ocean in the 19th century to work on the construction of the first transcontinental railway,[9] where the name was westernized to Boc Hop Bu[8] and Puck-Apu. By 1866, it had become a widespread game of chance in Houston, Texas, under the name “keno”.[7] [10] There are a variety of keno paytables, depending on the casino, usually with a greater “house edge” than other games, from less than 4%[1] to over 35%[2] in online gambling and 20-40% in personal casinos. [3] For comparison, the typical house edge for casino games without slots is less than 5%. [4] The word “keno” has French or Latin roots (Fr.
quine “five winning numbers”, L. quini “five each”), but according to all accounts, the game originated in China. Legend has it that the invention of the game saved an ancient city in wartime, and its widespread popularity helped raise funds for the construction of the Great Wall of China. In modern China, the idea of using lotteries to fund a public institution was not accepted until the late 19th century. [5] Keno, game with cards (tickets) with numbers in squares, usually from 1 to 80. A player scores or circles as many of these numbers as he wishes, up to the maximum allowed, after which he submits or registers his ticket and pays according to the number of numbers he chooses. At regular daily intervals, a total of 20 numbered balls or pellets are drawn randomly from a container, and prizes are paid by the house based on the number of numbers selected by each player that are drawn. Keno payouts are based on the number of numbers chosen by the player and the number of those “touched” numbers multiplied by the player`s share of the player`s initial bet in the paytable`s “base rate”. The more numbers a player chooses and the more numbers there are, the higher the payout, although some paytables pay to reach a lower number of points. For example, it is not uncommon for casinos to pay $500 or even $1,000 for a 0 out of 20 “take” on a 20-seat ticket with a $5.00 bet. Payouts vary greatly depending on the casino. Most casinos allow payout bets from 1 to 20 numbers, but some limit the selection to just 1 to 10, 12 and 15 numbers, or “spots” as keno enthusiasts call the selected numbers.
[11] Probabilities change considerably depending on the number of seats and the number of seats selected on each ticket. Each casino defines its own set of payments called “paytables”. The player is paid according to the number of numbers selected (selection of the player or terminal that selects the numbers), the number of games selected and the bet. Although it is highly unlikely to reach 20 numbers on a 20-seat ticket, the same player would normally be paid to hit 0, 1, 2, 3 and 7 “catches” at 19 out of 20, with the 17 to 19 catches paying the same as the solid 20 shots.
