Today, bingo is the most popular game in the UK.  It’s played at town halls across the country and on the internet.  Millions of people all over the world play it and enjoy the online bingo bonuses and great offers. But where did the game come from?  What is the history of bingo in the UK?  The game did originate in Europe, but not in Britain.  It is believed that it derived from the Italian game, Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia, which was played in the early sixteenth century.  The Italian Lotto is still played to this day as a separate game than bingo.

The game came to America where in evolved into the game that we all know and love today.  A salesman named Edwin S. Lowe came across it when travelling in the southern states one day.  A game called “Beano” was being played in a carnival stall where it attracted many enthusiastic players. The object of the game was to yell “Beano!” upon winning.  However, one overly excited player shouted out what sounded like “Bingo!” after winning.  Edwin S. Lowe was very impressed that he went on to commercialize the game. Little did he know that it would turn into a great industry with promotions, codes and hundreds of online bingo sites and thousand of  bingo halls.

In the 1930’s, there were over 10,000 bingo games held across the US every single week.  Eventually, the game of bingo as we know it today made its way to the UK, and became one of the most popular games in the world.  The first online bingo sites started being launched in the early twenty-first century.  Some of the earliest UK sites include:  http://www.bingo-lottery.co.uk/, http://www.astrobingo.co.uk/, http://static.jackpotjoy.com/, and http://www.rainbowbingo.com/. These sites started off with offering games for Pennies and little bonuses. Later on as the industry and competition grew, so did the prizes and the jackpots. The bonuses for free play as well as for deposits and reloads grew proportionally. From 25% and a few Pounds the bonuses grew to hundreds of Pounds and as high as a 200% bingo bonus and even 300%.

In the early years, online bingo in the UK wasn’t as popular as it was in real life.  Many bingo lovers didn’t think it would be possible to replicate traditional bingo into cyber bingo.  They were wrong, apparently, since now hundreds of thousands of British and other European internet users play bingo online on a regular basis.  In fact, the industry has become so huge, that there are hundreds of internet bingo portals in operation! The name of the game today is bingo bonus and more precisely deposit bonus bingo anyway you look at it, it’s the operators best card in attracting new players.

Some of the big names on the internet, such as Yahoo!, MSN UK, and AOL UK are associated with the internet bingo market.  Some people simply playing the game for fun, and don’t gamble for real money. Others do play for real money, although they have to be of legal gambling age and live in an area where internet gambling is legal. An estimated £600,000,000 is spent on online bingo cards every year, and that number is rising all the time.  Since there is no sign of any downturn in the market, that number is only expected to grow a lot more.

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