Mecca Bingo Originating From the Italian Lottery and Expanding Into A Popular Online Game
Added 2011-01-21 10:22:18Today it is difficult to find a person who doesn’t know how to play mecca bingo. There are so more fans of this game worldwide than one can shake a stick at. But there are still more wondering who it was that brought this game and commercialised it so that everyone could enjoy their time when they felt like it. Well, there is no need to wonder anymore. The game of mecca bingo is as old as the hills. Original records of bingo can be found as far back as the sixteenth century. It is believed that the first to play it were the Italians. It was considered a national lottery there, but then the idea of this game extended around Europe. First it spread to France where it was known as le lotto and was played by the French aristocracy. In the nineteenth century it was even used as an educational tool to teach children multiplication tables, spelling and history. The contemporary entertaining game of mecca bingo as it is known today started in the United States. There it was used as a means of fund-raising for good causes. Initially it was played with beans and received the name of ‘Bean-Go’ which was later abridged to ‘Beano’. One businessman from New York City saw the potential to make some money from the game. He employed a math teacher who would create more bingo cards. The math professor in his turn created 6000 variations of bingo cards. It was Eric Morley who in the early sixties brought the game of mecca bingo across the pond. Morley had presided over the Miss World show, and saw that bingo would be a great way to fill the United Kingdom’s dance halls which had been largely abandoned since the ascent of television. Bingo was also seen as a great way of getting people out of their homes to socialise. Morley gave his new bingo company the brand name ‘Mecca’ and it has become the most recognised brand name in the land. Even the mecca bingo callers have become well-known.Today the mecca bingo empire includes 120 shops all over the UK, which have over three million members. The company is considered as one of the most powerful gaming establishments to be found. While mecca bingo was a pioneer in the bricks-and-mortar bingo industry, the same cannot be said about the online bingo niche. As a matter of fact, the mecca bingo site did not open until 2005. Since then online games area has expanded beyond classic bingo and into the realm of casino games and other betting games, offering customers a variety of themed games and slots. Some themes can be even from popular TV shows, board or card games. Also some of the games boast huge jackpots while others present exclusive promotional offers. This expansion into online territory has also created a larger community of virtual gamblers, with sites catering for this via community sections dedicated to the blog and user contact information. These areas also allow players to check recent news and game updates.In a word, mecca bingo is growing as one of the most popular games in the UK. It runs at the forefront of online gaming services drawing attention from all corners of the country and, bearing in mind increased availability online and on mobile devices, mecca bingo could safely remain at the forefront for a while.