Bingo in the 21st Century: A Generational Upgrade for the Traditional Game of Chance

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Bingo Night at the local community hall for me conjures up images of senior Darbys and Joans in studied concentration amid pin-drop silence, exuding a tranquillised, almost soporific ambience, punctuated only by regular stentorian shout-outs of the magic word. The game of bingo no doubt still holds a charm for dyed-in-the-wool purists, a good night-out’s entertainment for devoted followers of the “bingo lingo”, with its sometimes odd, sometimes predictably ho-humdrum lists of number calls – as in 3 Cup of tea, 11 Legs eleven, 55 Snakes alive, 66 Clickety click, 89 Almost there, and so on ad tedium.

The roots of bingo are thought to have originated in Italy around 1530 with Il Gioco del Lotto d'Italia, a public lottery in which players matched numbers drawn each week.  French aristocrats called the game Le Lotto. What we recognise as the modern form of bingo we owe largely to one Edwin S Lowe, a New York toy salesman in the 1920s. Lowe happened upon carnival workers playing a card game using beans to cover numbers on their cards, when a player won he or she would shout “Beano!” From this evolved modern “Bingo”, incorporating a formalised set of rules. To enhance interest in the game Lowe collaborated with a Columbia University professor, Carl Leffler, who developed thousands of unique card combinations. Thanks to Lowe’s efforts, bingo was transformed from a small fairground game into a devoted pastime in both America and Britain (‘Who Invented Bingo? History, Origins, and Fun Facts’, Bingo Blitz, 29 September 2025, www.bingoblitz.com).

The British version of Bingo adopted a 90–number system…the game’s popularity in the UK really exploded after the 1960 Betting and Gaming Act paved the way for commercial bingo (and lotto) with redundant cinemas and community halls revamped as popular gaming venues. In Australia a variant of Bingo known as Housie (or Housie Housie) evolved, allowing individual players to win cash prizes (a “Full House”) while helping to raise money for registered charities. 

Over the decades, the game of bingo has come to be viewed as distinctly “old school” – enter the innovators!  Bingo, as we knew it in the past, has in recent times received a transfusion in the form of a whole new spin on the traditional game, precipitating a demographic takeover by young urbanites of the hallowed blue rinse granny turf. “Singo Bingo” (or if you prefer, “Bingo Singo”) also utilises (grid) cards but instead of listening intently for a number, players mark off artists and songs from musical playlists on their cards while launching into unrestrained karaoke–style renditions and even a bit of “soft shoe” work. The first player to match five titles in a row on their card is a winner.

Since 1996, the internet, inevitably, has enabled an influx of online bingo punter offerings from big brand names in the gambling world. Online bingo sites utilise a random number generator for players, with links to online poker and other casino offerings. This includes  free online bingo games which require players to sign up and provide demographic information, in turn, members would receive targeted ads based on the demographics provided.