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Strange, Odd and Interesting
Bingo Facts and Stats

  1. Bingo originated in Italy where it was played by the Romans and later given the name "Lo Giuco De Lotto" and is a state run lottery which is still played on Saturdays.
  2. A game very similar to the one played today was played in France in 1700s
  3. A game similar to Bingo was used in Germany as an educational tool in the early 1800's. The games taught children their multiplication tables.
  4. Mathematician, Carl Leffler, is rumoured to have gone crazy while figuring out the number combinations for the original 6000 bingo cards.
  5. Earlier versions of bingo were played with coffee beans.
  6. The predecessor to Bingo was a game called "Beano" and it was played with…dried beans.
  7. If it wasn't for a slip of the tongue, Bingo would never have got its name. A woman playing "Beano" called out "Bingo!" by mistake and the name stuck. One wonders if it would have been as popular today if its name hadn't changed.
  8. People play bingo for many reasons, the most common of which are to have fun and to socialize. It seems winning is just an added bonus.
  9. In Australia, bingo is known as Housie and was originally played in big marquees.
  10. There are two bingo songs. One is a song for children about a farmer with a dog named Bingo and the other is a humorous song by Ashley Wheelhouse called the Bingo Song.
  11. Commercial bingo hit the UK scene in the 1960s.
  12. In the UK more than three million people play bingo on a regular basis.
  13. The land-based National Bingo Game happens to be the second largest computer-controlled game in the UK.
  14. Bingo players in the UK consume 15 thousand tons of chips every year. Bingo UK has lead to the consumption of 10 million hot drinks and 4 million pints of lager as well as 47 miles of jumbo sausage. As for how much online bingo players consume, we have yet to find out.
  15. Joe is supposed to be the luckiest male name when it comes to playing bingo. More men named Joe win bingo every year than men by any other name. Could this maybe indicate that Joe is a common name?
  16. What's in a name? Women with the name Margaret are more likely to win bingo games in the UK. We're not sure if any study has been done on the names of online bingo players yet.