About Bingo

The game's history can be traced back to 1530, to an Italian lottery called "Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia," which is still played every Saturday in Italy. From Italy the game was introduced to France in the late 1770s, where it was called "Le Lotto", a game played among wealthy Frenchmen. The Germans also played a version of the game in the 1800s, but they used it as a child's game to help students learn math, spelling and history.

In 1929, a game called "Beano" was played at a carnival near Atlanta, Georgia. So called because the bingo game's tools consisted of dried beans, a rubber number stamp and some cardboard. A New York toy salesman named Edwin Lowe, first observed this popular game at a carnival where players exclaimed "BEANO!" if they filled a line of numbers on their card. Lowe introduced the game to his friends in New York where one of them mistakenly yelled "BINGO!" in her excitement . "Lowe's Bingo" was soon very popular and Lowe asked competitors to pay him $1 per year to allow them to call their games Bingo as well.

By the 1940's there were many places to play Bingo all over America. Bingo had also spread to the UK in the 20th century. At first it was seen as a game only for the older generation, however in more recent times Bingo has become an extremly popular game for men and women of all ages. Online bingo too has grown in popularity. In the 1990's many American bingo sites opened online and in recent years this trend has spread to the UK catering for players who wish to play in Sterling.