History of Bingo
Bingo History:
- 16th Century: Bingo's Beginnings
- 18th Century: The formalisation of bingo
- 19th Century: Germany uses bingo for education
- 20th Century: Bingo crosses the Atlantic and booms
- Modern Era (1945 to today): The physical game is reconfigured in a digital setting online
16th Century Bingo: Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia

However, it was its core elements that were favoured by the masses in Europe and later spawned a variety of variations across France and then Germany. Structurally, Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia runs in the same way as a modern lottery: - Players pick a set of numbers - Another selection of numbers are then drawn from a drum - The player who hits the most numbers wins From this combination of numbers and chance, the seeds of bingo then spread to France in the 17th century where it was then reformed into Le Lotto.
18th Century Bingo: Le Lotto

Format of a game card: - Three horizontal rows - Nine vertical rows - Five unique numbers (ranging from one to 90) During the game, wooden chips were pulled from a drum and anyone able to cover a horizontal line first was declared the winner. Now starting to resemble the bingo games played around the world today, another incarnation of the game began to take shape in Germany in the 19th century.
19th Century Bingo: Germany's Education

Developing a tombola-style structure, this game was primarily used to help children improve their maths and spelling skills. Like Le Lotto, this game gave players a game card on which a selection of numbers or letters were printed. Using a tombola drum, the master of ceremonies would then draw tiles and the first player to cover a set amount of numbers or spell out a certain word would be declared the winner.
As Le Lotto and Germany's tombola game began to proliferate and spread across Europe, the next major milestone in bingo's evolution came courtesy of Hugh J. Ward in the 20th century.
20th Century Bingo: The US Carnival Revolution

Spotting the game at a carnival in 1929, Lowe worked with Columbia University maths professor Carl Leffler to create 6,000 different card combinations (all with an equal chance of winning a single game). After this he copyrighted the word "bingo" in 1930 and modern bingo was born. Lowe followed this up with the official bingo rule book in 1933 and this helped standardise the game around the world.
Post-WWII Bingo: Proliferation through Necessity

By 1940 bingo was seen as a revenue generator (as opposed to an educational tool), as well as entertainment, and by the end of World War II in 1945 it was used by local councils as a way of boosting morale and repairing Britain.
1960-2000: Bingo's Rise and Fall

Unfortunately, participation rates gradually dropped and the UK Bingo Association reported that the number of active bingo halls in the country had dropped below 400. Moreover, the number of people employed by the industry was less than 12,000. Fortunately, however, this drop in land-based bingo provisions coincided with the rise of online bingo.
2005 to Today: Bingo's Digital Revolution

The next major jump in the growth of online bingo came courtesy of Facebook in 2011. After launching a series of free bingo apps, the game started to reach many more homes and that sparked a boom in the number of real-money players.
Modern Bingo: The Stats

Part of the reason for this explosion of interest in the online bingo world is the ease of access the medium offers.
Recent polls suggest around 75% of players prefer online bingo sites to live bingo because of its simplicity. Moreover, the increased number of games (including unique formats such as speed bingo) and jackpot prizes make the online medium a more lucrative proposition for players. Indeed, modern players now have the ability to play bingo via their desktop or mobile devices and it's this variety that has allowed bingo to reach new demographics and become one of the most popular online games in Europe.