The Bingo Gamble:

"BINGO!" someone calls from the back of the room and you instantly feel defeated; you've been beaten down again less by the winner, but more by the odds of the gamble. The game of bingo is as much a gamble as poker or roulette, sitting there with a card in front of you, hoping the announcer will call B7 or G58. And if they do? Let's all celebrate: You're a big winner! And if they don't? There's always another number, another card and another game. The game of bingo was inspired by several different countries' interpretations of it, dating back to as early as 1530 Italy, where it was, and still is, a weekly lottery. It made its way around the world and ended up at America's Georgian doorstep as a fair game in 1929. When Carl Leffler stumbled upon the game, he revised it, increased the chance of loss and created 6,000 bingo cards. It is said that he went insane afterwards; maybe he could not beat his own game? Just a thought. What are your chances of getting a bingo? It seems very simple. If there are ten cards in play, and you have two of them, your odds for winning are 2:10, which gives you a twenty percent chance of winning. If there are four other people playing and each person has two cards, that's not too bad. But let's look at the numbers. There are seventy-five of them. You only need five numbers, but chances of them being called are 1:75. Per number, per card. This is no longer a game of odds. This is a game of luck. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, it is a gamble. So how much money do you waste each year on bingo? The polls say that over $90 million is collected per year from Americans alone. But maybe none of that money is yours. You might prefer to play online instead of dealing with the crowds of silver-haired ladies at your local church basement or veteran's hall.