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Online casino games |
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Monday, September 8th 2008 |
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Believe it or not, the game of bingo is more than a gaggle of grey-haired old women sitting in a fire hall, hoping to win a $100 jackpot. The game of bingo has a rich, unique history that begins in the land of Italy.
Bingo’s roots begin in 1530 with an Italian game known as “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia.” Over 475 years later, this Italian lottery is played every Saturday. In Europe, the lotto was played with special cards as well as a person who read numbers out loud. The first person to cover a horizontal row was declared the winner.
The game’s name was changed to “Le Lotto,” and introduced to France in the 1770s. Upon its arrival in North America, circa 1929, the game was referred to as “Beano,” and players were using beans to cover their cards. During one of these games near Atlanta, Georgia, a toy shop owner named Ed Lowe saw the game being played. He took the game to his home in New York and refined it with the help of a professor, Carl Leffler. The game was renamed “bingo” after someone mispronounced the word “beano” due to extreme excitement.
A Pennsylvanian priest came to Lowe and asked about using the game to raise funds for the church. By 1934, an estimated 10,000 church bingo games were played weekly.
Lowe sold his company to Milton Bradley in 1976 for approximately $26 million dollars. Pretty nice money for a game that is centuries old.
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