| The origins of contemporary bingo go back to 16th | | | | Georgia. |
| century Italy, where the lottery game Lo Giuoco del | | | | On his way back to New York, Lowe had purchased |
| Lotto dItalia was introduced. The popular chance game | | | | beano equipment including dried beans, a rubber |
| was introduced to North America in the late 1920s by | | | | numbering stamp and cardboard. At his New York |
| the name of Beano. A toy salesperson of New York | | | | home, Lowe has been hosting friendly beano games. |
| was responsible for changing the name of the game | | | | During one game, one excited winner who had |
| into Bingo and to the increase of its popularity | | | | managed to complete a full row stuttered out Bingo, |
| throughout the US. | | | | instead of Beano. Listening to the excited stuttering girl, |
| In the late 18th century, the original Italian lotto game | | | | Edwin S. Lowe thoughts went away. Lowe decided to |
| made its way to France. Historical evidence shows | | | | develop a new game that would be called Bingo. |
| that a game called Le Lotto was popular among the | | | | While Lowe's Bingo game was making its first steps in |
| French high society who used to play the game in | | | | the market, a Pennsylvanian priest asked Lowe to use |
| parties and social gatherings. | | | | the game for charity purpose. After a short tryout |
| Le Lotto used to be played with special cards that | | | | period, the priest had found out that the bingo game |
| were divided into three rows and nine columns. Each | | | | causes the churches to lose money. Since the variety |
| of the three columns consists of 10 numbers, while | | | | of bingo cards was limited, each bingo game ended up |
| each column had five random number and four blank | | | | in more than five winners. |
| spaces in it. Each player had a different lotto card | | | | In order to develop the game and to lower the |
| where he used to mark the number announced by the | | | | probabilities of winning, Lowe approached Prof. Carl |
| caller. The first player to cover one row won the | | | | Leffler, a mathematician from Columbia University. |
| game. | | | | Leffler was asked to create bigger variety of bingo |
| By the 19th century, the lotto game spread around | | | | cards that each of them will have unique combination |
| Europe and started to serve as a didactic childrens | | | | of numbers. By 1930, Lowe had 6,000 bingo cards and |
| game. In the 1850s, several educational lotto games | | | | Prof. Leffler went insane. |
| had entered the German toys market. The lotto | | | | Since then, the popularity of the bingo game as a |
| games purpose was to teach children how to spell | | | | fundraiser continued to grow. In less than five years, |
| words, how to multiply numbers, etc. | | | | about 10,000 weekly bingo games took place |
| By 1920s, a similar version to the lotto game, known as | | | | throughout North America. Lowe's company grew to |
| beano was popular at county fairs throughout the US. | | | | employ several thousands of employees and to |
| In beano, the players placed beans on their cards to | | | | occupy more than 60 presses 24 hours a day. |
| mark the called out number. The first player who | | | | Now, bingo is one of the most popular chance games |
| completed a full row on his card, used to yell out | | | | in the world. It is played in churches, schools, local bingo |
| Beano!, until one night in December 1929, when a New | | | | halls and land based casinos in the US, the UK, |
| Yorker toys salesperson by the name of Edwin S. | | | | Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world. |
| Lowe visited a country fair outside Jacksonville, | | | | |