Bingo was played as early as 1530 as an Italian lottery game known as ‘Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia’. It is still played in Italy every Saturday as a state lottery. The game spread to France in the late 1770 where it was introduced as ‘Le Lotto’ played by wealthy Frenchmen. By this time it was adapted to include tokens and playing cards as well as the original numbers. In Germany it was played in the 1850’s as a child’s game to help with maths and spelling.

The game eventually reached North America in 1929 when it was first played in a country fairground near Atlanta, Georgia. Numbered discs were selected from a cigar box and beans were used to mark the cards. As a result, the game was known as ‘Beano’ and was very similar to the game played today.

Edwin S. Lowe, a New York toy salesman came across the game on a visit to Georgia. While playing the game, Lowe heard someone yell ‘Bingo’ during the game and the modern-day name was born. Seeing the game’s potential, Lowe hired Carl Leffler, a Columbia University maths professor to help increase the combinations of bingo cards. By 1930 he created 6,000 cards.

Lowe was approached by a Catholic priest from Pennsylvania who wanted to use the game to raise church funds. Bingo increased in popularity and by 1934 over 10,000 bingo games were played weekly in the US. Today more than US$ 90 million is spent on bingo games weekly in North America.