Favorite Pastime

Bingo, that great American gambling game, is the favorite weekly pastime of millions living in cities, towns, and hamlets throughout the United States. My survey reveals that each year 22-million players, of whom 18 million are women, wager approximately $3 billion at game legally and illegally. Since the average game operator returns about 50% of his handle in prizes, these 22 million players paid $1.5 billion for the pleasure of playing the game, an average annual cost of $68 each.

Bingo and proposals to legalize it have caused more debate and controversy in the American press than any other form of gambling. It is now legal in about half our 50 states and a number of other states will bring the issue to the voters in the near future.

Before legalization, New York State, with its many $2,500, $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 jackpot prizes, topped all other states with its illegal online bingo handle of $200 million. The New York State Lottery Control Commission reported that the gross Bingo handle during New York's first year of legalization, with a jackpot prize limit of $250, was $41,390,243, and paid admissions were 12,046,474. Remember that, like other businesspersons, few gambling promoters, legal or illegal, report all their winnings to state and Federal authorities.

The action of the 22 million players throughout the United States in recent years was handled by about 130,000 game parlors, some of which operated daily, many weekly, others only once or several times during the year. About 60,000 of these were operating within the law in the states where no cheating allowed in this. The remaining 70,000 Bingo parlors, at church, club and civic affairs, at casinos and carnivals, fairs, amusement parks, arcades and other amusement centers, operated in direct violation of state gambling laws.

Some writers on Bingo say it is the origin of English, Swedish, or Dutch. It shows that it is a more complex version of the all-time-favorite Italian parlor Lotto game, which is emerged from the more than 44o-year-old Italian national lottery.

Other writers say that Lotto is a direct descendant of Keno, a form of lottery popular in the gambling dives in and around New Orleans in the early 1840s. (Keno, in a revised form, is still played in many American casinos today, particularly in Nevada, where the maximum payoff odds are 25,000 to 1 for picking 10 correct numbers out of 20 called numbers from a group of 80. A $1 winning bet will get you $25,000 in many Nevada casinos.) The truth of the matter is the reverse: Keno is a descendant of Lotto, because the latter was played in Italy centuries before Keno made its appearance in New Orleans saloons.