Bingo History

Italy has give the world some very precious things, Frank Sinatra, Antonio Meucci who brought us the first telephone, great pizza and most relevantly BINGO. Yes the game we all know and love was originated as long ago as the 16th century! There is so much to know about the game which nowadays attracts 145 000 globally online. Below is a brief history on what bingo was and what it has become today.

As mentioned above the original game was implied in Italy all those year’s ago. It was a state funded lottery game which funded the nation’s coffers. It wasn’t long until other parts of Europe heard about the game and started using it. Throughout the 19th Century it was even used in schools in Germany to help education.

The game as we know it now really came to life when it was introduced in the USA. Back then it was applied as a method to raise cash for charities. During this period the game was played with beans! This is where the old name “Beano” come from, the name was soon nicknamed “Bean-go”

Carl Leffler was a mathematic who helped create the largest bingo game to date. He designed 60 000 gaming cards which apparently lead him to insanity.

The 60’s was a big turning point in UK bingo, with TV rising quickly in popularity the nation witnessed many Cinema’s, dance halls and theatres closing down. Eric Morley filled a lot of these vacant buildings with bingo halls which soon worked to his advantage. Larger numbers started playing the game, and more importantly they were enjoying it to! Soon more empty buildings were filled with bingo halls and the old number generating method was replaced with the more appropriate random generator.

The game grew to be a very social night out throughout the 80’s. The old buildings which hosted the events were revamped and made to look more appropriate for bingo. Little more than 16 years down the line and a little thing called the internet picked up on the commercial potential of the game, the first online bingo site was created in 1996. Since then more and more bingo sites have been created, the influx has been so big especially in the last 5-7 years that the leading companies are now challenging each other to gain your loyalty by offering bonuses, free bingo sites, and exclusive promotions!

This is the history, however with steady growth from year to year it is intensely exciting to see what bingo will turn into in the near future.