Bingo, is the universal name for a number of different titles, given to the same game, since its inception. Lotto, Tombola, or in the UK, Housey Housey, and in the USA, Beno. Read More……

What the Internet has done for the online casino could well be repeated with the good old game of Bingo. From it?s early beginnings, in the year 1530, when the unification of war torn Italy, finally happened, it began life under the name of; Lo Giuoco del Lotto, the Italian National Lottery, which was, and still is, drawn every Saturday. Apart from funding an amount of around a billion euros a year to the Italian treasury, on August 22nd 2009, it also produced the highest ever, European lottery win, when a lucky winner from Tuscany claimed a prize of some 150 million Euros, ?128,000,000.

So what has all this to do with Bingo? Well, Bingo, is the universal name for a number of different titles, given to the same game, since its inception. Lotto, Tombola, or in the UK, Housey Housey, and in the USA, Beno. All the games are based on the Italian lottery ticket, which is divided into three horizontal rows, and nine vertical columns. Each row contains nine squares, five with numbers and four blank. The nine columns contain random numbers between 1 and 90, starting left to right, column 1, numbers 1-10, column 2, numbers 11-20 and so on until row nine, which contains numbers between 81- 90. In Italy, apart from the lottery, Lotto was adopted as a family game played with the children at weekends, Christmas, and whenever, and wherever families got together for fun, and games. Small prizes would be awarded to the winners. In this version, the cards would be sold to the players at a low cost, say one euro, the money would then be divided into five prizes, from high to low. The low prize being the first, where the first two numbers on the same row constituted a win. The ambo. Then came three numbers, terno, followed by the quaterna, four numbers, the cinquena five numbers, and the grand finale, ‘tombola’ all the numbers on the card. To play the game, a caller is needed to call the numbers, and lay them as they are drawn, on a tabellone, with squares marked appropriately 1-90.the numbers are usually marked on wooden discs, and are pulled randomly from a sack and announced in loud and clear tones, by the caller. The modern tombola card is made of plastic, with a little sliding shutter to cover your numbers as they are called. Originally orange peel was used, or beans (fagioli) that had to be eaten whilst playing. Every number called, has a nick name, either of local origin, or from the ‘Smorfia’ napoletana (look that up on google for a full explanation) e.g. gambe delle vecchi. (Legs of old women) number 11.

The French in the eighteenth century, took up the game, based on its Italian format, and le lotto proved to be very popular among the wealthy, upper classes. Though towards the end of that century, perhaps priorities changed, as this particular class was more concerned with escaping the tyranny, keeping ones head, and dodging Madame Guillotine.

In Germany the game was introduced, not as a gambling game, but as an educational tool, teaching literacy and numeracy to schoolchildren. So the game meandered across Europe. It was played in the UK around 1918, after the Great War, probably brought back from France by the returning British Tommies. But it was 1929-1930, in America, where the game really took a major boost in popularity, and became a commercial success all over the States.

Edwin S Lowe, a toy salesman, was travelling through Georgia in 1929, on his way to keep some sales appointments, for his struggling business, which he had started only the year previously. He happened upon a county fair, where he found a booth, in which a game called ‘beno’ was in progress. The Booth was crowded, and although he tried to play the game, he found it impossible to find a vacant seat, at the horseshoe shaped table. The game was played with the booth owner, calling out the numbers, for the players to mark off on their cards, by covering the announced number, with a bean, the first one to complete a line, would then shout BENO! The lucky winner was then handed a Kewpie doll as his prize, and was delighted. Edwin Lowe observed the excitement generated by the game, and its addictive nature. The booth owner wanted to close up for the night, but the crowd kept him there until almost 3am. On his return to New York, Lowe introduced the game to a number of his friends; by inviting them round to his apartment. During the course of a game, a lady who being barely able to contain her excitement, yelled out ‘Bingo!’ instead of Beno, as she completed a winning line. So Bingo, was the name of the game, Lowe adopted it, and sold it to his customers at $1 for 12 cards, $2 for sets of 24. As a result his business thrived.

It was a catholic priest from Pennsylvania, who approached Lowe, seeking to use Bingo as a fundraiser, for his church. This would take the game to a much larger audience than hitherto, and pose problems with the random numbering combinations on the Bingo cards. i.e. The larger audiences were coming up with maybe ten or more winners, in the same game, all sharing the prize. To solve this problem, Edwin Lowe, hired the services of a mathematics professor from Columbia University, Carl Leffler. Remember these were the days before computers, nevertheless, Leffler provided over 6000 different bingo cards by the end of 1930. (After which it is said, he went insane.) By 1934 the game had really taken off as a fundraiser for many diverse causes, and as many as 10,000 games a week were being played. Today an estimated $90 million, are spent each week in North America.

The big Bingo Boost in the UK happened due to a change in the law, and a change in attitude by the Macmillan government. 1960 saw the advent of the Mecca Bingo Halls, which were opening in every major city in the UK. Eric Morley, the man from MECCA, made it his business to fill all the empty spaces in the cinemas, left vacant by the onslaught of television. Other entrepreneurial promoters quickly followed his example, and it was soon apparent, that more people were attending the Bingo halls, than were attending the football grounds, of the nations national sport.

All the major players are now also set up on line. Could this mean an even bigger boost for the same old game? Recent surveys reveal that around 50% of bingo players are smokers. OK, that figure is probably reducing, due to outside pressures warning of the dangers, but will the hardened smoker decide that his/her future bingo activities be played from the comfort of the home? No travelling, dress as you like, smoke if you want to, and the way things are going, play for more prizes, and bigger jackpots? Whichever way you look at it, Bingo looks like it’s set to be even more popular than ever. So eyes down, look in, and be lucky.

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