The game of bingo has thrown a large number of interesting information some of which are given below.
· Bingo was invented by the Romans and first played in the camp of Roman soldiers in ancient times.
· Bingo was played in Italy in 1530 under the name of “Lo Giuco de Lotto d’Italia” as a national game.
· The game came to France in the year 1778 as “Le Lotto” and was played by both adults and children in family parties.
· The French were the first people to use cards for the game of Lotto.
· The Germans adopted the game in the 1800s to teach their children mathematics.
· The game reached the shores of America in 1929 and was called “Beano” as bean seeds were used to mark the cards.
Game of Bingo
· Edwin S. Lowe, a toy salesman discovered this game being played in a village carnival in Atlanta, Georgia and commercialized it in New York in 1930.
· Edwin S. Lowe changed the name of the game from “Beano” to “Bingo” when one of his friends mistakenly shouted out “Bingo” in the excitement of a win.
· Carl Leffler, a Columbia University mathematics professor went insane while trying to create 6000 different bingo card combinations at the behest of Edwin S. Lowe.
· By 1934 almost 10,000 games of bingo started to be played per week in the churches and casinos across America.
· The game of Lotto spread to England, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries during the 1940s and 1950s after the end of the First World War and came to be known as “Housie” there.
· The game became a commercial hit in the United Kingdom only after the 1960s and became the most popular game even surpassing the passion of English football.
· In the UK only there are almost 700 land based bingo halls which conduct bingo games every day of the year except on Christmas day.
· The National Game held in UK every day except on the Christmas day is played by almost 500 bingo halls who are linked together to play the game.
· More than 3 million people play bingo regularly in the UK.
· Bingo became very popular when it was used to raise funds for charities and for building new churches in America.
· Bingo was first played to raise money for charity by the Wilkes-Barre church of Pennsylvania in the USA.
· Every week American players buy more than $90 million worth of bingo cards to play the game.
· Though bingo was considered initially a game for women more and more men have started playing the game though 70% off all the players are women still.
· The ages of the bingo players vary from 18 to 80 with the average age being 47 years.
· Each game of bingo takes approximately 3 to 6 minutes to complete.
· The chance of hitting the jackpot in the game of bingo is very high where 96% of the players have won at least one bingo at some time or other.
· The greatest reason for playing bingo is for the sheer enjoyment of playing the game while the least important reason is the chance of winning money.
· Women more than men love to play bingo as they are able to socialize and chat with their friends while playing the game.
· Researchers at the University of Southampton have found out that a game of bingo enhances brain functions and improves mental agility.
Gamble Aware (www.gambleaware.co.uk) is managed by the Responsibility in Gambling Trust, an independent charity which funds treatment, research and education about responsible gambling. The website has been developed by a Task Force made up of representatives from the Gambling Commission, DCMS, academia and industry.