In the U.S., bingo was originally called "beano". It was a country fair game where a dealer would select numbered discs from a cigar box and players would mark their cards with beans. They yelled "beano" if they won.

Bingo as we know it today is a form of lottery and is a direct descendant of Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia.When Italy was united in 1530, the Italian National Lottery Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia was organized, and has been held, almost without pause, at weekly intervals to this date. Today the Italian State lottery is indispensable to the government's budget, with a yearly contribution in excess of 75 million dollars.

Bingo then stems from a French lotto lover who developed an alternative version of the lotteries that existed at the time. The initial alteration had three horizontal rows and nine vertical rows with numbered and blank squares in random arrangements. The columns were broken into sets of 10 numbers, 1-10, 11-20, all the way up to 90 in the last column. The bingo balls were chips in those days, and pulled out of a sac by the caller. The first player to cover a horizontal row was declared the winner.

Thanks to our world of technology, and the develoment of the internet or web, bingo lovers can now play bingo in the comforts of their home on the computer. Playing bingo online has become a very popular pastime throughout the world. There are thousands of on line bingo sites ranging from free to some very large cash prizes. To play bingo online is not as hard as some may think. Most of the work is done by the computer allowing the bingo player to have time and freedom to chat with other fellow bingo players.

While most bingo players are accustomed to the fun of a bingo hall, the sound of the balls in the cage, and the fun of marking the papers or cards, the same excitment can be obtained by playing bingo online.