The origins of Bingo can be traced to a game called Lotto first played by Italians in the 1530’s. This game is still played every Saturday in Italy and is called Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia. Modern bingo is a direct descendant of Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia.
Bingo reached North America in 1929. It was first played at a carnival in Atlanta, Georgia using dried pinto beans. The man credited with popularizing the game in the U.S. is Edwin S Lowe. who promoted and marketed Bingo. Once Lowe’s game had been honed and perfected, its popularity spread very quickly so that by 1934, 10,000 bingo games were played weekly.
Today some 50,000 of the estimated 3 million land-based bingo players now play bingo online. Bingo revenues are in the tens of millions of dollars and the activity has now joined poker and backgammon in taking the online gaming industry by storm while simultaneously marking a resurgence in the popularity of the game.