History of Bingo in the US

History of Bingo in the US

The 75 ball US version of bingo differs from the UK format.  Most people don’t realise that it’s actually a direct descendent of the lottery – unlike the 90 ball version which was developed by working women in the 17th century as a legal form of gambling without dice. 

In 1778 Le Lotto was already extremely popular among the French public and intelligentsia.  Lottto shared similar rules as the modern 90 ball bingo game – with cards divided into 3 columns, 9 rows and 90 numbers in total.

Bingo was introduced to the US in the 20th century primarily as street game called “Beano”.  New York toy salesmen Edwin S. Lowe was credited with bringing the it over to the States.  Just like Bingo today the object of “Beano” was to cross out 5 horizontal or vertical numbers in a straight line from numbers drawn from a teller/dealer and the winner also shouted Beano!

After showing the game to his friends and getting fantastic feedback, Lowe started producing his own version of the game (called Bingo) on a commercial scale.  Bingo was an immediate success, and it finally stamped Lowe’s toy making company into the mainstream gaming market.  Lowe eventually allowed competitors to produce the same game and for a one-off $1 fee they could use the name

trademark “bingo”.  Since then, 75 ball bingo became readily more popular in the US and Cana. Although the 75 ball still lags behind the UK 90 ball game it is becoming increasing popular due to the rise of online bingo sites and jackpots.