Bingo History

Bingo is mostly an American game, but it is gaining popularity in Europe and Asia. Bingo has become an American past time for many people across the country and has been introduced into many casinos. The fun and excitement at the chance to yell “BINGO” is truly what the game is about, and also the chance to win some very big prizes.

Bingo can be traced back to 1530 when Italy was unified and a lottery was launched. This weekly lottery has been held virtually every Saturday since 1530. By 1778 word of the game had spread to France and captured the fancy of the nobility. It was that time period that the popular version of the lottery was born. Cards were divided into three horizontal rows and nine vertical columns. By the 1800’s the popularity of the lottery games spread throughout Europe. The game was made into educational variations to aid children in learning their multiplication tables, spelling and even history.

A carnival pitchman touring Germany came across the Italian lottery game and recognized its appeal as a carnival tent game. He made a few changes to the rules of the game including allowing the players to complete a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally and he changed the name to Beano.

In 1929 Edwin S Lowe a traveling toy salesman decided to attend a carnival close to Atlanta, but when he got there the only tent open was the Beano tent, which was so crowded with people that he wasn’t able to play the game. Lowe was amazed at how excited the crowd was over a game and the realized the money making potential for Beano.

Upon his return to his home in New York he created his own Beano game by buying some beans, cardboard and a rubber number stamp. After he finished making the game he invited some friends to his apartment to play the game. Once the game had started he saw the same excitement that he saw in the carnival in Atlanta. During the game on of his friends accidentally yelled “BINGO” and the name stuck.

It was a priest from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who began to promote playing bingo in churches. His church was financially ailing and one of his parishioners came up with the idea of using Bingo as a way to raise money for the church. But with only 24 unique cards to play with, the priest was finding that there were to many winners for each game. The priest contacted Lowe and told him of his dilemma and wanted Lowe to produce a large amount of cards that had unique number combinations. Lowe recognized the fund raising potential of the game and contacted Carl Leffler a professor of mathematics at Columbia University, who developed the unique cards that are used today. With the increase card count, Bingo has become the staple of fund raisers and churches across the country.