Bingo History

Bingo, a game of Italian origin, was introduced into the U.S. as beano. It quickly became popular as a fund raising game for charities. The game was later renamed “Bingo” and was legalized across the U.S.by the 1930’s.

We regret that we have had to remove our bingo banners because our bingo game promoters have decided to withdraw from the U.S. following the new antigambling legislation. We are checking out some who currently say that they will remain in the U.S. market. We will post their details as soon as our test players make their selections

As late as 1956 (in Australia) a group of 80 people, mostly woman playing the game at the Toowong Recreation Hall in Brisbane as a charity fund raiser were raided by police. All were arrested, charged, finger printed and photographed for participating in unlawful gaming. The story was front page news in the “Courier Mail” newspaper of the day.

Edwin Lowe, the toy salesman credited with introducing the game to the U.S.engaged Carl Leffler a Columbian university Mathematics Professor to increase the number of possible mathematical combinations on a bingo board. He came up with 6000 combinations before suffering a mental breakdown in 1930.

Across the U.S. and Candia, the game is a staple fundraiser for all sorts of charities. On Indian Reservations it has became big business.

A Pennsylvanian Catholic priest is credited with being the first in the U.S. to use the game to raise church funds. For charity bingo games, funds are usually split 3 ways between the charity, the professional organization running the games on behalf of the charity and the player prize pool.

Many of the internet sites offering bingo gamming are licensed by American Indian Gaming Commissions. In the online versions of the game, the better promoters of the game return about 75% of the funds to the players as prizes. The balance is consumed by license fees and operating expenses.

The seventy-five percent of funds returned to players in online bingo compared to about 33 percent of the funds returned to players in charity games makes the online version of the game more attractive to players.

Good Luck!