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