GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 9 - June 2009

29 when he stumbled upon a carnival that had a tent set up for the game. Lowe watched curiously as a man pulled small numbered wooden disks out of a cigar box and called out num- bers while a huge crowd of players sat around a horseshoe-shaped table anxiously checking their cards. If they found the number called they would place a bean on their card and when they got a string of beans in one row theywould shout “Beano!” and receive a prize. Lowe returned home to New York, bought some dried beans and cardboard and invited friends to play the new game. The game was a huge success andduringone sessionaplayer mistakenly called out “Bingo!” instead of “Beano!” and the name stuck. Lowe hired a local math professor to help him in- crease the number of different bingo card combinations to as many as 6,000 andby 1934 the gamewas being played all over the country – particularly at church parishes where it was used as a fundraiser. Today, bingo is a huge part of theU.K. adult lifestyle. Accord- ing to the U.K. Gambling Com- mission, there are more than 675 licensed bingo clubs in op- erationandanother 1,000clubs and smaller institutions where bingo is played. And the British Bingo Association reported last year that 3.8 million U.K. adults (8.1 percent of the adult population) played land-based bingo. Online Bingo | GPWA Times $ 1 0 m i l l i o n The amount spentbyonline bingocompanies onTVadvertis- ing in2008. 4 0 The number of onlinebingo sites inSpain in 2008. In2007, the numberwas six. 8 0 % The percentage increase theon- linebingomarket saw duringa six-month span betweenMayandOcto- ber 2008,according to BingoPort.co.uk. 5 0 % The percentage ofbingoplayers in theU.K.whoareun- der 45yearsof age,ac- cording to theBingo Association. 1 6 % The percentage increaseduring the last sixyearsof people in theU.K. under theageof 41 yearsof agewho playbingo. MeccaBingo’sonline room is typical in that it featuresachat roomandoption for slot machines.