In the United States, 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.
The game's history can be traced back to 1530, to an Italian lottery called 'Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia', which is still played every Saturday in Italy. From Italy the game was introduced to France in the late 1770s, where it was called 'Le Lotto', a game played among wealthy Frenchmen. The Germans also played a version of the game in the 1800s, but they used it as a child's game to help students learn math, spelling and history.

Going by the name of lotto until 1930, bingo assumed its present name when an American patented the title. The game of Bingo was originally played in America during the Depression as a way for churches to raise money for the poor. Bingo was first legalized in the 1950's in the cities of New York and New Jersey, and today takes in more than 3 billion dollars a year.