Why is Bingo so Popular?

Why is Bingo so popular? It may be because its such an easy game to play, it has no age or gender limits, and by some its not even considered gambling. Recently I became a member of my local hall and it has to be said I love it. Even though I have very little luck it’s still a great night out. There are some pretty interesting facts about the game of bingo. Here are just a few of them…

1. An early form of Bingo was played by the Romans.

2. Bingo also called Beano was first recorded as a children’s game in 1778.

3. It was made popular by an American salesman Edwin S Lowe in 1929.

4. Today more that 3 million people play Bingo.

5. Bingo cards have 552,446,474,061,129,000,000,000,000 combinations (no wonder I have only won once).

6. The average speed of a Bingo caller is 23 numbers a minute.

7. The game that we call Bingo used to called ‘beano’ where beans were placed on the shouted numbers. They would then call out BEANO when a line was filled.

8. The UK largest Bingo win was in Sheffield on 22 December 2002, the lucky winner walked away with £950,000.

9. Today in the UK on average the ratio Bingo players of women to men is 80%-20%.

10. To-date 96% of all Bingo players have won at least once (that includes me!)

Traditional bingo halls are a part of everyday society, people go there to meet their friends and form new friendships. But for me the biggest attraction of Bingo – it’s great fun.