Keno would be played with 80 Chinese characters, but as the game became more and more established in the USA, those Chinese characters were replaced by 80 Arabic numerals. The numbers game was then brought to America by Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s and has grown in popularity over the years. Gambling has been available for centuries - not decades and you may be surprised to learn that keno originated in China way back in the mid-1800s. Simply put, keno is a numbers-based game of luck and patience, which can deliver big winning results, so knowing how the game works, will maximise your chances of being successful.