Origins of poker and keno
Pub Date: 1/1/2003
When you are perched in front of your favorite video keno or poker machine, it may be difficult for you to imagine a pile of beans in China or a crude card game in Italy.
In fact, keno had its beginnings in ancient China and poker was invented in 16th-century Italy. Now, both games have evolved over hundreds of years, finally finding their way into computer chips in Montana's gaming establishments.
Keno, the most popular video game in Montana, was introduced in Butte by Chinese immigrants during the city's mining heyday in the late 1800s. One game was called Fan Tan, a game of chance that revolved around playing the odds utilizing a pile of beans, according to George Everett, a Butte historian and writer. Players would bet on four numbers from zero to three. Then, four beans at a time would be removed from the pile until there were less than four remaining. The number of beans remaining in the pile (zero, one, two or three) was the winning number.
Keno actually was cultivated in Butte by two brothers, Frances and Joe Lyden, who with their stepfather ran the Crown Cigar Store. In the 1920s, they were approached by Chinese lottery game managers about running their games in the cigar store. The game operated similarly to the modern game of live keno.
In 1935, when gambling was legalized in Nevada, Frances moved to Reno and began operating a Chinese lottery. However, when authorities expressed uncertainty about the legality of the game, Lyden revised it to resemble off-track horse racing. Numbers, instead of Chinese characters, were inscribed on wooden balls and announced instead of being posted to a board as if they represented a horse in a race.
At the time, bingo actually was called keno, and Lyden's new came was called "Racetrack Keno."
Live keno was legalized in Montana in 1974, and became popular because of its similarity to bingo. The game had a ready audience when electronic video keno was legalized in Montana in 1985. Players can now hit a button and almost immediately see the numbers on a screen in front of them without depending on manual selection or waiting for each live game.
While poker conjures up images of the old American West, that is not where it began. Variations of poker have been played since the early 1500s when a contest known as "primero" was developed in Italy.
In that early card game, each player received four cards and had the option of bidding, staking or passing. The object of the game, according to Basil Nestor, who regularly writes a column on gaming history for Casino Player magazine, was to lure weaker players into betting and then beat them with a stronger hand, thus winning the pot.
Different forms of the game were developed throughout Europe, and the name "poker" eventually was attached to it apparently from an American mispronunciation of a game called "poquen" in Germany, meaning to defy or push. In France, the same game was called "poque."
"Poker" first appeared in the United States in New Orleans in the early 19th century, and gradually worked its way west with the fur traders, miners and cowboys.
In early poker games, players each were dealt five cards face down and as the players turned each card up, wagers were placed as the game progressed. After all the cards had been revealed, the person holding the highest hand won the pot.
The more sophisticated games of stud and draw were developed in the mid-1800s along with the concepts of flushes and straights. In the 1860s, the first comprehensive guide to the game, along with its first rules, were written by Robert E. Schenck, who at the time was the U.S. ambassador to England.
Poker became a favorite pastime of early Montana pioneers the miners, loggers and cowboys as a way of relaxation.
According to Nestor, poker also inspired the invention of the slot machine around the turn of the 20th century. Indeed, the earliest slot machines were actually the forerunners to the video poker devices Montanans know today.
But as prohibitionists gained steam, the live poker games of the early 20th century moved behind closed doors primarily to homes because the card game did not require the paraphernalia associated with other games of chance. A deck of cards and chips would do.
Both live keno and poker enjoyed a surge of popularity when they were legalized in Montana in the mid-1970s. But as video machines came into being, the live games lost fashion, although are seeing a mild resurgence with the current popularity of televised poker tournaments.
The number of licensed live keno games in the state has declined steadily. In 2004, there were only 21 establishments in the entire state offering live keno. Poker also has fallen victim to the electronic age. In 2004, only 201 Montana establishments were licensed to offer live poker games at 248 tables.
Players are opting for electronic keno for the convenience and speed. As for poker, veteran players and poker room operators blame the state's $300 pot limit as the reason for the decline.
Montanans who prefer live poker often travel to Spokane where a variety of house-banked games are offered.
But Montana's gaming establishment operators are satisfied with the situation. The legislature has legalized low stakes and limited electronic gaming just $2 wagers, $800 jackpots and 20 machines per establishment. And that's what we have in Montana today.
So, if you're hankering for a taste of the old west or a Chinese numbers parlor, belly up to a machine and enjoy yourself. The choice is yours.
Source: Gaming Player Magazine, published summer of 2002 by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.