Bingo is a very popular lottery game, which is widely played especially in the UK, the USA and the Philippines. It is a descendant of the social game Lotto. The origin of today's bingo game can be traced back to the 16th century in Italy. But how does bingo work and how have sales developed in the past year?
Generally speaking, bingo is played in three rounds. Each participating Player receives his cards with the numbers printed on them. In round 1, a number is then drawn and called out within 20 seconds. If the number is found on the player's card, it may be marked. This process is repeated until the first player has a complete row of numbers full. This must be vertical, horizontal or diagonal in each case. From this point on, round 2 starts, whereby two complete rows of numbers must already be present in this round. In round 3, all numbers on the card must be completely drawn and marked accordingly. The respective bingo round is finished when the respective winner shouts "Bingo" loudly.
Yes, in the meantime bingo can also be played easily on the Internet at various online providers. In some cases, it is even possible to test bingo online free of charge in demo mode. The nimbus of the "old people's game" has bingo felt already lost a long time ago.
Bingo is now considered a numbers game and is extremely popular, especially in the UK. Current estimates put the number of online bingo players in the UK at around 3.5 million. Some celebrities such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Robbie Williams are also considered avowed bingo fans. It is estimated that more than 100 million people play bingo worldwide.
According to the statistics portal Statista, the revenue of state-owned gaming companies with Keno and bingo in Germany has recently declined. While the turnover of keno/bingo was still 371 million euros in 2005, it was only 223 million euros in 2010 and as low as 192.4 million euros in 2017.