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Online Bingo, also called LOTTO, game of chance using cards on which there is
a grid of numbers, a row of which constitute a win when they have been chosen at
random. Online Bingo is one of the most popular forms of low-priced gambling in
the world.
To play Online Bingo, which is a form of lottery, each player purchases one
or more cards divided into numbered and blank squares. Randomly chosen numbers,
usually up to 75 or 90, are called out by a "banker." The first player
to achieve a card (or a line) in which all of the numbers have been called
shouts "Online Bingo" or "house" and collects the entire
stake money, usually less a specified percentage, if that is permitted by local
law. In another popular variation, the central square on the card is free, and
the first player on whose card five of the called numbers appear in a
row--vertically, horizontally, or diagonally--is the winner. The prize (jackpot)
may amount to thousands of dollars. Online Bingo is legal in most U.S. states
that prohibit other forms of gambling. It is permitted in Ireland when the
profits are for charity; and it is closely regulated in the United Kingdom,
where lotto halls were subjected to a tax in 1966.
Online Bingo has had many names and variations. The earliest name, lotto (or
loto), a children's game, was first recorded in 1778. The original American
form, called keno, kino, or po-keno, dates from the early 19th century. The only
form of gambling permitted in the British armed services, the game is called in
the Royal Navy tombola (1880) and in the Army, house (1900), or housy-housy.
Other American names are beano, lucky, radio, and fortune. At the height of its
popularity during the Great Depression of the 1930s, a variant (often called
screeno) was played in motion-picture theatres, with one night in the week
designated bank night, when patrons received free Online Bingo cards with their
admission tickets; prizes amounted to hundreds of dollars in cash or
merchandise.
Online Bingo has been played enthusiastically in Japan and has even been
introduced at the casino in Monte-Carlo. In Great Britain the game received its
greatest impetus when the Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 permitted the formation
of a large number of commercial lotto clubs. Within a few years, the game
achieved a popularity equaling or exceeding that which it had formerly enjoyed
in the United States.
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