The History of Bingo

From 16th century Italy to the present day follow the timeline of the game of bingos history.

Bingo Games History

1530 Italy Bingo started out in Italy in 1530. At this time it was a lottery type game, known as “Lo Giuoco Code Lotto” or “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia”. To this day it is still played in Italy each Saturday.
1778 France – In 1778, the french version of the game arrived in France played by wealthy Frenchmen.
1880 Germany – The game of Bingo reaches Germany, whereby the game is used as a teaching method for educational purposes teaching maths, spelling and history.
1929 North America – The game reaches America known as “beano”, where players place beans on the number with the objective of forming a straight line in any direction. The winner shouts “Beano!” when this is achieved. A salesman by the name of Edwin S. Lowe, learns of the game and achieves success in promoting the game by renaming the game bingo.
1930 North America – The salesman, Mr. Lowe hires a Columbia University maths professor Carl Leffler to increase the number of combinations in bingo cards to 6000. This project allegedly drives the professor insane.
1934 North America – In 1934 the church began the coordination of Bingo games, with the permission of Mr. Lowe, for charitable purposes. From this point on the game increases significantly in popularity.
1968 – In 1968, the game of bingo is included in the Gaming Act.
1986 – A National Game of bingo is launched in the UK.
2007 – More than 3 million people play bingo in bingo halls, with online bingo increasing in popularity.