And Bingo Was It's Name-o

Trivia about popular game:

Census Bureau Daily Feature for Dec. 29 -- Bingo

12/28/2004 9:36:00 AM

To: Feature Reporter

Contact: Rick Reed or Tom Edwards, 301-763-2812, both of the U.S. Census Bureau WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature for Dec. 29 from the U.S. Census Bureau: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29: BINGO

Profile America -- Wednesday, Dec. 29. Several times a week in firehouses and community centers all over the country, people gather to play bingo. The roots of the game go back to a 16th century Italian lottery game. In the U.S., a toy salesman named Edwin Lowe observed a game at a carnival near Atlanta this month in 1929. Players put dried beans on numbered cards and declared "beano" if they completed a line. Lowe took the concept home to New York and refined it. The new "bingo" became a hit almost immediately and has grown into a $ 5 billion a year fund-raiser. Bingo is also played at some of the nation's 13-hundred commercial betting and lottery facilities, which generate revenue of nearly $4 billion a year.

Find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau on the Web at http://www.census.gov.

Chase's Calendar of Events 2004, p. 606

1997 Economic Census, NAICS 713290

http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97/industry/E713290.HTM

Source: U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Census Bureau Daily Feature for Dec. 29 Bingo"