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As a modern bingo player you are inclined to think that the game has been around for less than 100 years, but in fact the origins of bingo go way back to the 1500’s Italy. It’s good to know that Italy was the first state that introduced the lottery and other games based on luck. Needless to say, it proved to be a smash hit as players loved the idea of winning a large amount of money by investing only a little and the state encouraged it because the income that lottery and bingo generated was absolutely huge. Although the rules of these games might have changed over the centuries, the latter part has been the same since the beginning: the lottery and bingo, along with other games that depend on luck have been a huge cash cow for the country because people, no matter the times, will always play them.
From the 1500’s Italy we now jump to France in the 1800’s with their own version of the Lottery which was really popular among the rich people of the era. The rules however, although slightly reminiscent of the game we know today, were quite different, as it involved wooden discs that each carried a number.
Another thing that not a lot of people know about Bingo and the lottery is that when it appeared in Germany, it wasn’t used as an actual gambling game but it was an instrument to teach young kids how to multiply and divide.
The modern bingo as we know it today was introduced to the western world in 1920 by an American named Edwin S. Love. The actual phrase of “bingo” was created by pure error, when a close friend of Edwin yelled “bingo” instead of the usual “beano” that players used to shout when winning a game.
Soon, the game became a nationwide phenomenon as it proved to be a great way to have fun but also raise money for various causes. Of course, the US was going through a harsh economic meltdown back in the 1930’s and people were looking for all types of things that would make them feel better as well as bring them the chance of some extra money.
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