Bingo History
Lo Qiuoco del lotto D'Italia was the first form of bingo originating from Italy. Which at one time ws referred to as "The Italian Lottery", and is still played every Saturday in Italy. France was introduced to the game in the late 1770's, where rich Frenchmen played "Le Lotto." Germany was also playing a version of this game in the late 1800's to help teach students math, spelling, and history.
In 1929 the game was introduced to North America known as "Beano", where it was played at a carnival in Atlanta, Georgia. The rules consisted of a dealer picking a numbered disc out of a cigar box, then calling that number to all the players. At that time the players would place a dried bean on the number, trying to make a complete line of numbers.
Edwin S. Lowe, a New York City salesman later named the game "Bingo" after overhearing a player mispronounce the original name "Beano." Lowe later hired a Columbian math professor Carl Leffler to help create various combinations for the bingo cards. By 1930 Lowe and Leffler created a mere 6,000 combinations to this game, making it harder to reach a "Bingo" than ever before.
After being played for a while, a Catholic priest later brough it to Lowes attention that they should play bingo in order to raise funds for the churches. Sometime after being played in all the churches "Bingo" became increasingly popular in our states. By the time it was 1934, an estimated 10,000 games were being played every week. Now, there is over $90 million dollars spent each week in North America alone!
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