A Short History Of Bingo

• Author: Jon Jackson
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Apr 25,2010

In common with many popular games, the history of bingo isn’t very clearly set out, and has no definitive set of events that led to its current incarnation. One particular version of the game which is increasingly popular – online bingo – obviously only came about with the rise of the internet from around 1995 onwards.

It’s quite difficult to work out where the physical game actually came from, though, so this is a possible history of bingo that is non-controversial and is generally accepted as being true. We start in Italy in the sixteenth century, with a game called “Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia”, which was a type of lottery.

The game spread outside of Italy throughout more countries in Europe. In France, the game cards we’re used to seeing in today’s bingo were introduced. These cards were further developed in Germany, in order they could be used as an educational tool to teach people all about numbers.

In the United States in the 1920s, there was a similar game played in the travelling carnivals, called “beano”. The origin of its name is the fact that beans were used for determining the numbers to be called, with the winner calling “beano”. It is thought someone said “bingo” instead of “beano” one time, which led to the game’s change of name.

The Italian game also appears to have become popular in England in the 1500s. It is also known that lotteries of various types were played from then on, with particularly large public games being recorded as being enjoyed in the 1700s and 1800s, though these were illegal at the time.

The reason for these games’ illegality is that the state had its own form of a lottery game that it was promoting, that was used as a means of raising money outside of taxation. In the early 1990s, the UK brought this system back into place, with the founding of what is now the UK National Lottery.

Also in the UK, there was a game in the early twentieth century called “housey housey”, which was very similar to the game played today. During the 1960s, which people often think of as the prime time for bingo in the country, various changes in the law allowed the game to become more popular through the rise of many bingo halls around the country.

And now we have bingo in its ultimate form, the internet, which brings pleasure and the chance to win real money to millions throughout the country. The success of online bingo has taken many people by surprise, but with its combination of random chance and the ability to utilise lucky numbers, internet bingo is here to stay.

Jon Jackson is a specialist in bingo, with many years experience of owning and operating internet bingo sites in the UK.

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