50 Fun Facts About Bingo

[00:00:04] Hello and welcome to The Broke Bingo Addict. This is a podcast that ventures through the wild and crazy world of bingo. This is much more than your grandmother's bingo. My name is Shari and welcome to this week's episode, which as always is for entertainment purposes only.

[00:00:28] Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode of The Broke Bingo Addict. You know with all the high payouts that I'm seeing at all the little bingo clubs now and a lot of the casinos and other places. You know a lot of pool tabs paying $1,000, $5,000.

[00:00:43] South Point Casino just having its big $2 million extravaganza where $50,000 worth one. I thought it would be interesting just to Google real quick and see what was the highest amount ever paid for a bingo game.

[00:00:57] So I was trying to Google that but in the midst of doing that I found something even more interesting. I found something that claims to be 50 interesting bingo facts. 50 interesting bingo facts. Now this is on a website called hitia.com. That's H-I-T-Y-A-H dot com.

[00:01:19] And so just for the heck of it I decided to go through some of these and I'm going to read them to you as I read them. So number one fun facts about bingo. Number one educational bingo tool. All tickets were used by the Germans in 1800.

[00:01:33] They used the game as an educational tool which was designed to assist students with multiplication tables. Who knew? Okay, number two bingo arrangements and a bingo card. For the American style 75 ball bingo there are about 552 million billion billion possible number combinations for a single bingo ticket.

[00:01:57] Okay now personally I've always wondered about that. I've always thought how many different configurations were there but I had no idea it was that many. So let me say it again 552 million billion billion possible number combinations. So that's interesting.

[00:02:12] For number three we've got the joy of bingo, one of my favorites. The top priority with new bingo players is to find enjoyment while playing the game. While winning a jackpot prize is only ranked fifth place which again I agree with

[00:02:27] totally I think bingo is such a fun community. It's great to get out, be among people and just have a good time and relax. For number four bingo boost the brain. One of the best bingo facts right here.

[00:02:41] Did you know that playing bingo can keep your brain in trim? That's an expression I don't know that expression in trim. According to Southampton University bingo players are more mentally agile than non-bingo players.

[00:02:54] It also suggests that social activity such as playing bingo is just as good for your health as doing physical exercise. And again absolutely believe this I think when you're playing the game and you've

[00:03:05] got to keep these patterns going you know you've got to remember you know what am I trying to do? Am I trying to get four corners? Am I trying to make a six pack? Am I trying to do four corners and a six pack? I really like that.

[00:03:15] That's one of the things that I enjoy about bingo now that I'm in my sixties. Anyway now that I'm in my sixties I feel like that really helps me to you know keep my brain alert because I've got to keep remembering these patterns. So that's number four.

[00:03:33] For number five it says Scottish players play more. Okay who knew? One in five Scots people played bingo regularly compared to one in twenty in the south of England. Okay so I have a fill in this website it's generated over in the UK.

[00:03:48] Number six even royalty love bingo. Apparently the queen and Prince William are two royals who are first in line to play bingo when the bingo tickets are being handed out at Buckingham Palace. Not a big surprise because everybody likes bingo. Number seven bingo is actually Italian.

[00:04:06] The game can be traced back to fifteen thirty to an Italian lottery game and the game is played on a Saturday in Italy to this day. So number eight the origin of kino. Bingo is the origin of the popular game called kino.

[00:04:22] Not a big surprise I can get that but it's kind of weird because kino isn't like in a line I guess it's just the amount of numbers that you bet and the amount of numbers that actually pop up so little different but I can see the correlation.

[00:04:33] Number nine the first charity bingo game it is recorded that the very first official fundraising bingo game was played at Wilkesbury in Pennsylvania. So for those of you guys who are from Pennsylvania I've probably said that wrong.

[00:04:47] It's W I K E S H I F N B A R R E in Pennsylvania. Number ten the average age of bingo players people of all ages played bingo but it has the reputation of being an older person's game.

[00:05:01] The majority of players who participate in the game are in fact below thirty five years of age and absolutely I believe this because if you're going to go by the average I mean you're talking Texas and there's some other states where kids can play and

[00:05:16] there's always people over a hundred who are playing. I know my Bosco Tech had four ladies one particular time that were all in their 90s playing so yes the range is pretty wide but I'm not surprised at the

[00:05:26] average ages below thirty five years of age as it becomes more and more popular as well as profitable. So eleven ten thousand games played in four years. Hmm by nineteen thirty four there were ten thousand games being played on a regular basis.

[00:05:45] Well we hate to see how many that is because trust me there's so many bingo games being played. Number twelve by nineteen sixty commercial bingo appeared. Commercial bingo first appeared on the UK scene in nineteen sixty. Number thirteen chat host awards.

[00:06:04] Did you know that online chat host can win yearly and monthly awards. There is an online site dedicated to presenting these awards. Now that's an interesting fact but unfortunately it doesn't tell you what that online site is so good to know. Number fourteen church bingo became popular.

[00:06:20] Churches use bingo events for fundraising. This made the game even more popular. Yeah I think we can all agree with that too. I think most of us that's how we think of bingo originating is that it was used in the church is certainly I think most in particular

[00:06:34] Catholic churches are the ones that I always remember having bingo games are you hearing about them having bingo games for fundraisers and stuff so when I think about it that's where I think of bingo originating. Okay number fifteen Margaret is the winning name.

[00:06:49] Did you know that women with the name Margaret are more likely to win at bingo compared to any other name. I wonder about this I don't know when this website was created it doesn't have a date on it I know it's certainly within the last twenty years

[00:07:03] but I wonder about Margaret because I don't know that many people who haven't have the name Margaret. I was trying to think about the last time I met anybody whose name was Margaret so I think this particular point could be a little dated so we'd have to see.

[00:07:16] So number sixteen bingo odds playing multiple tickets give players a better chance of winning the game if you play four tickets at a time and there were forty people playing the game with you then your odds would be four out of forty or one out of ten.

[00:07:31] Well you know but in my mind I get it technically yeah but I have certainly seen people with one beat somebody who's got ten so I don't think that should stop you if you don't have the ability to spend as much money as other people

[00:07:44] might have to spend you should go have a good time anyways and you definitely have the opportunity to win just with whatever it is that you're playing. Number seventeen online bingo beats land based. Okay let's see it's definitely better to play your bingo games online you will

[00:08:02] get extra bonuses and special promotional offers if you played in a bingo hall then no free bonuses will be given. Okay I think somebody's promoting here because you might be winning more online absolutely I think when you're playing these little games of

[00:08:17] which my sister plays constantly you're probably winning a lot more and you're getting nice coins and stuff but an actual cold hard cash you are definitely getting a lot more money if you're playing it in person. Number eighteen millions of female players playing by 2012 okay so we

[00:08:34] so we know this is at least since 2012 did you know that by 2012 there were 2.5 million female players enjoying online bingo and again this is based on the UK stuff so we know that this is most likely originating from that area.

[00:08:52] Number nineteen online bingo has started in 2001 online bingo games were announced to the UK these games became a big hit and today there are loads of bingo sites available there are so many online bingo sites that the market is

[00:09:07] said to be overcrowded. I don't know if that's the case in the United States I don't feel like we have that many bingo sites you see it all the time though on television now that they're advertising I think we've all seen

[00:09:19] the Drew Barrymore wine was she'll somebody says I'll have what she's having for the takeoff of the movie with Meg Ryan but I can't name that many and it could just be because I don't play that many but I definitely don't

[00:09:31] feel like it's overly saturated in this country so just interesting to know if we go to the UK that will find out that they have a lot more online bingo sites than we have here. Okay less is more it's best to play

[00:09:45] bingo when there are fewer players in the game this will increase your chances of winning hell yeah okay that's number 20 but I don't think we need it to say that I think we all got that one of number 21 bingo winning combinations

[00:09:58] did you know that in a standard bingo ticket a player can come up with 1 million 474 200 different winning combinations now I wonder what that's based on I wonder I'm assuming that's just based on your basic line you know either a horizontal vertical or diagonal we have so many other

[00:10:16] combinations now you know three bingos or two six packs or inside outside corners there's so many other ways that we have now that I'm sure that those numbers are also pretty high but it's just amazing how many different ways

[00:10:30] you can't you have to play bingo number 22 online chat is good many online bingo sites such as land blokes offer their players a chat feature so that's lad brooks brooks lad br okay es bingo offers their players a

[00:10:49] chat feature because of this around 47% of the users form a circle of new friends there is normally a chat house in the room who will sometimes play chat games and the players such like bingo trivia the game is similar to

[00:11:04] a bingo questionnaire I don't know if we've got that here like I said I don't really play online bingo I know that several people do and I know that you can play with like your favorite players and I'm sure there's a lot of

[00:11:14] chatting going on so I'm sure that's really popular and that helps I'm sure with the community aspect of it I still feel like in person is better but I totally understand that there's so many people out there that can't

[00:11:26] go out and play in person which again is really cool about tiktok I like it because it gives the opportunity to people who can't physically make it for one reason or another to go play bingo in person it gives them the

[00:11:38] opportunity to actually watch people and these people who watch online are so loyal and it's so great and they do develop these wonderful friendships and this great community so again I do think in person is better but if that's not possible absolutely it's wonderful to have this online

[00:11:54] presence so people can you know kind of communicate with each other and again tiktok is great because you can actually see it's not just playing computer game it's actually seeing the person that you're following play bingo it's actually typing in responses getting a response back chatting with other

[00:12:09] people who are also watching that person play on tiktok and everything so I think that that's really something that is absolutely amazing that has been brought to people again via tiktok or or Instagram or Facebook or YouTube

[00:12:26] so that I think is really nice when it when you're talking about the online stuff that you can actually see the people kind of makes a difference so number for 23 by the way this is the one that I was looking for this is the

[00:12:37] question I was actually searching for 23 the biggest win so it says the largest win playing online bingo is a huge 430,900 dollars in pounds actually it says pounds so 430,900 dollars or 900 pounds anyway that's about a half

[00:13:00] million dollars no matter how you look at it but I'm sure that there's actually been bigger winners than that and I have to go back another time and continue to research that because I think there have been winners I'm sure there

[00:13:10] have been winners that have won over a million dollars playing bingo so just just keep that in mind now number 24 the jackpot prize according to online records it states that 96% of regular bingo users have won a jackpot prize at

[00:13:26] least once in their lifetime so I don't know I wonder if that qualifies me since I did have that nice win at South Point at the end of last year where I split the $25,000 win hey that was a jackpot prize I loved it I'm still

[00:13:42] excited about it getting ready to pay my taxes on it so yeah I'm gonna go with that so number 25 more tickets mean better chances okay that kind of goes with the one that they had before do you know that the more tickets you're

[00:13:54] playing than the bigger your chance of winning like I said they just said that in the other one I don't know if that's necessarily the case I think what happens is that if you're gonna win you're gonna win technically if you're

[00:14:07] gonna be mathematical about it yeah the more you have the better your odds of winning but there have been people I've seen who've had a ton of tickets or papers and they didn't win and somebody out there who has won and has won

[00:14:19] multiple times okay so you just don't know what's going on it's going to happen and I think that that's one of the most interesting things about bingo it's 26 bingo can relieve stress the game has shown significant effects in

[00:14:32] approving players cognitive abilities too this is one of the top bingo facts and again I agree with this too even though it can cause a lot of stress when you're sitting there waiting for a number and they don't call your

[00:14:42] freaking number it does relieve stress you get out you're among people you're having a really good time so I absolutely agree with that 27 bingo is enjoyed by millions you think the game is very popular in the UK and millions

[00:14:56] of members play bingo each day da it's very popular around the world number 28 bingo jobs did you know that online bingo sites have contributed in hiring people to work for them the bingo economy has increased over the

[00:15:09] past years because of this and the industry employs well over 20,000 people I gotta say online or not I got that definitely is much higher I'm sure in the United States number 29 bingo man arrested okay Davis Jeffries known as

[00:15:28] the naked bingo man was arrested in 2011 when he stripped down to his underwear when he wanted bingo Fimo bingo players came to his rescue and built I haven't seen that happen in the United States yet so who knows okay

[00:15:47] number 30 all in a day's work apparently around 48% of online bingo players play the game at least once a day making it a big part of their daily routine absolutely again I don't but I know that so many people do number 31

[00:16:01] bingo outweighs football what more money is spent on bingo tickets in the UK in one year than is spent on football events okay and I'm gonna go for that on the United States too I mean we got the Super Bowl we got all that stuff that is

[00:16:14] at certain times of the years and bingo is day in day out all year long absolutely and 32 best time to play a jackpot game did you know that the best time to take part in a jackpot game in the UK is on a Friday or

[00:16:30] Saturday that is when the price has been won more times than any other time I'm gonna go with that in the United States too I think bingo is just by the nature of the beast there's more bingo on Friday and Saturday because people are

[00:16:41] off work and stuff and more people have that open I'm usually when I play bingo I'm playing on a Saturday and stuff so I'm sure that's probably the case in the United States too number 33 celebrities enjoyed bingo did you

[00:16:53] know that some celebrities start their career calling bingo numbers this includes Shane Richie Keon from Westlife and Russell Crowe okay I only mentioned that because I read it and I saw that I said Russell Crowe because I

[00:17:07] don't know who those other people are but Russell Crowe there are also tons of celebrity who enjoy hosting bingo games or just visiting halls to play who knows you might unknowingly be playing bingo online with Catherine Zeta-Jones

[00:17:22] Robbie Williams or David Hasselhoff and as you all know we have Anthony Anderson's mother who likes to play bingo so we definitely have celebrities out here in California who like to play bingo as well number 34 the most popular

[00:17:37] dober color most bingo players prefer their dober color to be purple interesting I'm kind of a teal person or blue but I did play purple yesterday so that's interesting 35 Australia shout housey in Australia bingo is known

[00:17:54] as housing okay so they don't call it bingo they call it housey which is interesting too because I certainly when I've gone live had had a lot of people from Australia watching my games and most recently I got a nice comment about

[00:18:06] the podcast from somebody in Perth Australia I would give a name but it was just a user but yes thank you for listening to the podcast Australia appreciate it number 36 bingo makes money for charity again they did

[00:18:19] always said that because we all know that bingo is a fundraiser but this says bingo game is the number one fundraiser for charities across the world yeah we all like to play bingo number 37 the most popular game is bingo

[00:18:31] 90% of the world plays and enjoys bingo and it's known as the most popular pastime again and people always use that phrase it wasn't on my bingo card you've heard that a dozen times it wasn't on my bingo card as an

[00:18:44] expression number 38 the amount bingo players spend each day the average bingo player spends between this says 15 to 20 pounds each day so again yeah no not in the United States we spend a lot more than that but what can I tell you

[00:19:00] number 39 the speed of bingo numbers do you know that the bingo numbers are announced at the rate of 23 balls in a minute sounds about right and depends on when you're playing it I have to think about that how many seconds is that

[00:19:14] in a minute so that's like 23 balls it looks like every three seconds something like that certainly at the bingo club number 40 game play duration have you ever wondered how long it takes for the normal bingo game to play

[00:19:26] start watching the next time you play because it's estimated that the bingo game lasts from three to six minutes again I think that sounds about right that works for me number 41 new technology the majority of players

[00:19:39] play on their mobile devices anywhere and at any time again this is speaking about the online stuff number 42 the speed of 90 ball bingo which by the way again in the UK I think it's in Mexico and a lot of places they play with 90

[00:19:56] numbers as opposed to 75 so the average 90 ball bingo game will take around four minutes to play so a little longer than ours 43 love is in the air many people have found true love in the bingo chat rooms who needs online dating when

[00:20:11] you can meet the love of your life while playing bingo and I would say this is not only online but I definitely know that there are people who've met and fallen in love playing bingo you know and I certainly love going there and

[00:20:21] seeing a lot of couples playing bingo number 44 multitasking while you play bingo 83% of bingo players multitask while playing the game they're either watching TV involved in Facebook cooking or taking talking on the telephone they do this because they know that you will never miss a number because

[00:20:39] the game is automatic okay lazy 45 superstitions many bingo players hold their bingo game close to their hearts some are superstitions and believe in having lucky charms by their side when they're playing bingo some superstitions include lucky pins certain colors of dobbers and lucky numbers number 46

[00:20:59] bingo could make you rich online bingo could potentially make you a millionaire through jackpots and smaller prizes hell yeah I mean like I said some of these prizes are going to be astronomical and it's absolutely amazing that there can be so life-changing so 47 bingo wings slang

[00:21:17] huh the slang bingo wings is a stereotype of Cheb you know of cheb you ladies who play bingo when they win at bingo they flap their arms about just like wings okay that's rude okay that's the UK that is definitely not the

[00:21:31] United States that is rude 48 animal lovers many bingo fans love animals but majority of them love cats more than any other pet that's surprising because you know I certainly go to bingo and there are lots of ladies who bring their dogs

[00:21:44] with them I don't ever see anybody bring their cats so maybe they're talking about the online people okay 49 Bing Crosby's nickname the famous being Crosby even got involved in bingo because his childhood nickname was yep

[00:21:57] bingo okay maybe I wonder if that's how he got bing and he just shortened it don't know number 50 online bingo software all bingo sites that operate online need a provider to run their games the better the bingo software than

[00:22:13] the better the gaming experience okay absolutely that makes sense and you do want to get to a good site that's got a lot going on for it so anyway some of these are applicable some of these are not but I just thought it was hilarious

[00:22:24] when I ran into the site and saw this it's like who knew I'll keep looking maybe there's something comparable in the United States anyway that's it for this week's episode of the broke bingo addict I hope you got some

[00:22:37] information that you found at least interesting if not helpful and I hope you'll come back to listen to the next episode thanks so much