History of Baccarat And Keno

• Published: November 1, 2018
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Some of the casino games started off in quite a different way than they are played today. Looking back at the history of casino games is always interesting. This article enlightens players about the history of baccarat and keno.

There is an ancient tale about the Etruscan Virgin. She was forced to roll a ten sided die. If the number displayed would be 5 or less the Virgin would be drowned in the sea. If the number displayed would be 6 or 7 she would be allowed to live a commoner’s life. But if the number displayed would be 8 or 9 then the Virgin would become a high priestess. An Italian named Felix created a game using Tarot cards based on the outcomes. This was the first form of baccarat. Today baccarat is played at land casinos and online casinos and there are different variants on offer. However one thing is common. The hands in baccarat can take values from 0 to 9, the same as the Virgin’s ten sided die. If a hand has a value of 5 or less, the chance of losing is very high. If a hand has a value of 6 or 7 it is an even chance. If a hand has a value of 8 or 9 it is very likely to win.

The history of keno goes back several thousand years. It is one of the several gambling games to originate from China. According to legend, Cheung Leung, the rulers of the Han Dynasty, was engaged in a long drawn war that had depleted all his funds. Leung had already taxed his subjects to the hilt and that option was not available. Therefore, he came up with the idea of a lottery like game to raise money to finish the war. Later, this lottery game was used once again to raise funds to build the Great Wall of China. In ancient China this game was played with 120 Chinese alphabet characters. It is said that pigeons were employed to communicate the chosen characters to remote parts of the kingdom. When the Chinese labourers were brought to America to build the railways, they brought the lottery game with them. Then the Chinese characters were changed to numerals to make it convenient for Americans. There is no certainty on how the name keno arose. Only five numbers were selected and the word for five winning numbers in French is quine. One argument is that this is the basis for the name keno.