Bingo’s Roots
Bingo has been around for centuries under many different guises. Although the game has grown into what we know it as today, the basis of the game has always been the same. Throughout the ages, bingo has been a game of simplicity, chance and high levels of sociability.

There is one school of thought that believes that bingo started out as a lotto – Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia – in the early 16th century Italy. The game was believed to have been played on Saturday evenings with several cards laid out in rows. The highlight of this game was the social aspect. As soon as a player had filled up all the rows on the cards, s/he was declared the winner. This is how the game of bingo was born – and it is now one of the most popular games in the United Kingdom.
Bingo Spreads Its Wings

After the game started in Italy, it started to spread towards other parts of Europe, through France in the late 1700s and then to Germany where the game was used to teach children. The game eventually made its way across the sea to the UK where it again became a social game where peasants would play with shapes and figures as a way of escaping the harsh reality they lived under. Although bingo did differ slightly in language and culture between regions, the basis of the game remained the same.
The Rise of Bingo in The UK

Bingo, in its current form, rose to popularity in the UK in the 1960s after the Gaming Act of 1968. This was the first time that the gambling industry became regulated and people started to take bingo seriously as a game of both sociability and winning. This led to the surge in the building of bingo halls as many people flooded in to play the game of bingo. Bingo-related business thrived and the game was on an upward surge in popularity. Many unused Church halls and theatres were quickly refurbished and became primarily bingo halls – the central gathering of many communities.

Bingo halls became cheap and cheerful entertainment for the large British working class. Many halls were done up so well that they were even rented out as fancier venues for balls and high-brow events. This caused bingo to be taken ore seriously by the elite and by the 1980s, bingo started to appear in many of the world’s leading casinos frequented by the jet-setting crowd. 

Bingo Today
Today, there are many large bingo hall chains throughout the United Kingdom and these form the central gathering point for many people. Every bingo hall has its own style and culture, built up mainly by the people who frequent them.

Although online bingo has given opportunity to more people to play bingo, this has not diminished the bingo hall’s popularity. In fact, more people are playing bingo than ever before. The game is just going through the next phase in its growth. Companies such as Yahoo!, Virgin, AOL UK and MSN have all become associated with online bingo and there are currently hundreds of sites in the UK alone which offer online bingo.