At the time, it was the wealthy French bourgeoisie and elite who subscribed to the game. In 1774 the first attempt to a national lottery (“la Loterie de l’école Militaire) was created by the initiatives of Mme de Pompadour to finance the development of the “champ de mars” and build a military school (where a so called Napoléon Bonaparte would later study). Louis XVI decided to abolish it in September 1776 in orders in to create a Royal National lottery launched in October 1776 which would finance wars and other investment benefiting the monarchy. The concept was extremely successful and popular and each draw was eagerly awaited by both the people and a gambler elite prepared to spent large sum of money. Even the revolution events did not deviate the eagerness and passion for the game. Indeed, reportedly, 2 days after the Bastille was captured, a vast Parisian crowd gathered to play the monthly lottery draw.

2 girls playing the ancestor of Bingo 17th Century

The lottery is suppressed in 1791-93 and re-appeared in September 1797 by the name “loterie nationale de France”. It is during the golden age that the game imported from Italy, evolved and shaped into the modern bingo. The classic version of 'Le Loto' involved a playing card which was divided into 3 horizontal lines and 9 vertical columns (just like today’s Bingo 90 balls). Each row had 5 numbered and 4 blank squares in a random arrangement. The columns contained numbers from 1-10 (1st column), 11-20 (2nd column), and so on, up to 90; and, just like modern bingo, each card was unique. The numbers (1-90) were written on chips made from clay or wood, and they were drawn out of a bag or later on a dedicated device.

The game Beano

Bingo or Beano as it was called at the time, was discovered in Jacksonville, Ga. In 1929 by Edwin S. Lowe a New York toy salesman. It’s 1929 and a weary and stressed toy salesman by the name of Edwin S. Lowe is driving to Jacksonville, Georgia to prepare for some appointments. Soon after starting his own toy company a year earlier, the market crashed and Mr Lowe’s prospects were looking very bleak indeed.

Before arriving in Jacksonville, Lowe decided to cheer himself up by stopping off at a country carnival, being a night early for his appointments.

Only one carnival booth was open and very crowded. The excitement seemed to be generated by a game that was a variation of Lotto, known as Beano.

A horseshoe table was covered with numbered cards and beans. Every time a pitchman pulled a wooden disk from an old cigar box and called the number on it, the players reached for a bean and covered the corresponding number on their card, if they had it. When they had totally covered a line, either diagonally, vertically or horizontally, they had to shout Beano! They then received a doll.

Lowe wanted to play, but the game was too popular and no seats were available.

A Beano Card