Bingo is one of the most prominent games when it comes to great British pastimes these days. It’s a game we all know and love and millions play each and every day whether that be online, in bingo halls across the country or from home!

It’s changed significantly over the years and it’s only actually been relatively recently in the game’s long history in which it has become the game we know and love today.

This article traces bingo across its history, right through to 2020 when you’ll find more and more interesting bingo games than ever before.

The Beginnings of Bingo

Many believe the very beginnings of bingo dates back to the 16th century and an Italian lottery game named Il Gioco del Lotto d’Italia.

It’s said to be the humble beginnings of bingo and spread across Europe in the 18th century, with Le Lotto being a remarkably similar game to 90-ball bingo.

It was a game that used 90-balls in which players would mark off on their cards, with the first to do so winning. At this stage, it was a game that was mainly played by the upper classes and aristocracy in the country and it wasn’t until the game landed in the UK that it started to become more and more popular.

This is where it started to become a hit with the working classes, with Elizabeth I using the game as a state run style lotter to generate revenue and help fund the nation’s war efforts.

Bingo During the War

The game continued to go from strength-to-strength and it was a huge hit within the ranks of Royal Navy and British Army regiments. It was a game played during the downtime and was in fact the only gambling game sanctioned by the authorities at this time, providing a distraction from a life of battle.

Many have highlighted there were some big prizes on offer during this time, most notably around pay days and it was becoming a hit not only in the trenches but back home too as those up and down the country also looked for distraction.

Post War Bingo

After the war had ended and people tried to return to normal life, the boom of the 1960s brought bingo back to life and more and more bingo halls started to appear on the waste grounds that had been left by bomb sites.

The first commercial club opened in 1961 following changes in the law that now allowed players to win money. Within two years of that law change, there were over 14 million registered bingo players.

Across London there were a significant number of new halls opening, and that spread far and wide across the country with the 1980s, with some bingo hall chains welcoming as many as 150,000 players per day.

Bingo Today

Since the turn of the millennium however, there has been a decline in the number of bingo halls in the UK, with the arrival of a new phenomenon – online bingo.

Online bingo has continued to go from strength-to-strength over the last decade and at Moon Bingo today we welcome thousands of players each and every day.

It’s a thriving community with new variants of games such as slingo bingo and Swedish Bingo taking the country by storm. What’s more it’s having an impact on offline bingo too, with online generating a younger audience who are now beginning to turn up at local bingo halls to give that variation a try.

It’s a bright looking future for bingo in what is an ever-changing landscape for the game. But one that continues to be a favoured one across the British public.