Bingo: Ancient & Modern

Bingo enjoys a very modern and contemporary image, but the game itself is not at all new. It has its roots in an Italian lottery-style game known as Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia, which was first played around 1530 and is stilled played today in some parts of the country.

In the late 1770’s affluent men in France played an updated version of the original Italian game, but by now it was called Le Lotto. This game would be much more recognisable to the modern bingo player because it used unique game cards and 90 balls that were drawn at random. To win a game of Le Lotto players had to be the first to complete a line of numbers on their cards.

The spread of the game throughout Europe continued, albeit at a rather slow pace. It was used in Germany in the 1880’s to teach youngsters about mathematics and spelling, using different rules to accommodate the desired educational goals.

Our friends in the United States first discovered the game in 1929, but here is was known as Beano. A toy salesman from New York employed a professor of mathematics to create several thousand unique game cards, and in doing so turned the game into a commercial product. Popular mythology says that Edwin once heard someone incorrectly shout “Bingo!” instead of “Beano!” on completing a line, and that he decided to rename the game from that point on.

The game was adopted by many churches in the 1930’s as a way of raising funds, and bingo is still played for the same reason in church halls today, even where other equally innocuous gambling games are officially frowned upon.

Bingo in the United Kingdom was regulated under the Gaming Act introduced in 1968. The British game traditionally uses 90 balls and bingo cards featuring three lines of nine numbers. Prizes are awarded to the first player to make one line, two lines or a full house. The American game tends to use 75 balls, with bingo cards featuring five lines of five numbers. Prizes are awarded to the first player covering a specified pattern of numbers on the ticket.

Clubs for the express purpose of playing bingo proved very popular in the UK and by the 1980’s bingo became big business. The industry went from strength to strength, and by the end of the 20th century bingo brand names such as Mecca and Gala were well known even to those who didn’t play.

The game of bingo took another huge evolutionary step when it was made available to play online in 2003. Both 90 ball and 75 ball games are on offer at many sites and bingo is currently one of the most popular forms of online entertainment in the world.

Last Updated: 10/06/2007