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Bingo History
Bingo has had many names and variations. The earliest name,
lotto (or loto), a children's game, was first recorded in
1778. The original American form, called keno, kino, or
po-keno, dates from the early 19th century. The only form
of gambling permitted in the British armed services, the
game is called in the Royal Navy tombola (1880) and in the
Army, house (1900), or housy-housy. Other American names
are beano, lucky, radio, and fortune. At the height of its
popularity during the Great Depression of the 1930s, a variant
(often called screeno) was played in motion-picture theatres,
with one night in the week designated bank night, when patrons
received free bingo cards with their admission tickets;
prizes amounted to hundreds of dollars in cash or merchandise.
Bingo has been played enthusiastically in Japan and has
even been introduced at the casino in Monte-Carlo. In Great
Britain the game received its greatest impetus when the
Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 permitted the formation of
a large number of commercial lotto clubs. Within a few years,
the game achieved a popularity equaling or exceeding that
which it had formerly enjoyed in the United States.
Also called LOTTO, game of chance using cards on which there
is a grid of numbers, a row of which constitute a win when
they have been chosen at random. Bingo is one of the most
popular forms of low-priced gambling in the world.
To play bingo, which is a form of lottery, each player purchases
one or more cards divided into numbered and blank squares.
Randomly chosen numbers, usually up to 75 or 90, are called
out by a "banker." The first player to achieve
a card (or a line) in which all of the numbers have been
called shouts "bingo" or "house" and
collects the entire stake money, usually less a specified
percentage, if that is permitted by local law. In another
popular variation, the central square on the card is free,
and the first player on whose card five of the called numbers
appear in a row--vertically, horizontally, or diagonally--is
the winner. The prize (jackpot) may amount to thousands
of dollars. Bingo is legal in most U.S. states that prohibit
other forms of gambling. It is permitted in Ireland when
the profits are for charity; and it is closely regulated
in the United Kingdom, where lotto halls were subjected
to a tax in 1966.
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