HISTORY OF BINGO

Did you know that bingo gained its name by accident? When you have a look at the history of bingo you will see all the different names that this game was known by. But the name that stuck is “Bingo”.

Bingo, when it came to American was actually called Beano. The reason behind the name is that the players used beans to cover the numbers that were called out and when they covered all the numbers they yelled “ Beano”. This very popular game was first played in Italy as Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia in the 1530s. From there it came to France and was called Le Lotto.

It reached American soil in 1929 and was called Beano. This modern day name of this game was coined after a New York toy salesman Edwin Lowe heard someone yell Bingo accidentally, instead of Beano. Well this simple game received help from Scholars to make it what it is today. Mr. Lowe hired a math professor from the Columbia University who created more combinations for bingo cards. Prof. Carl Leffler ended up creating 6,000 different bingo cards in 1930.

This game had its own share of divine intervention too as a Catholic priest from the state of Pennsylvania came up with the idea of using bingo in churches for fund raising purposes. With a nod of approval from Mr. Lowe, bingo started gaining popularity, as it was played in churches. It is estimated that 10,000 bingo games were played in 1934. It may have been a very meager start for bingo but this is a game that is reported to be a game for which more than $90 million is spent every week in North America alone. It may be a simple game but the fan following for this game is astonishing.

For those of you looking to play online, but are not sure, then check out our online vs offline bingo page and see what advantages there are for playing bingo online.