Bingo is a game of chance, based on the random draw of ninety numbers, it is derived from the Lotto and is very similar to traditional bingo played in Italian families. The name "Bingo" has a curious origin: it derives from a game similar to bingo, played in Georgia, which was called Beano (Bean, in English, it means "bean", "grain") because of the dry beans used to cover the drawn numbers on the card. The one who first covered all the numbers in the card with dried beans exclaimed "Beano!" to announce the winning of the stake : once, a lucky winner instead of "Beano", shouted "Bingo", perhaps out of excitement or uncertain pronunciation.
Since 2000, in Italy the State controls gaming through the AAMS. The Administration grants the exercise of the game to private individuals who make the necessary investments and apply suitable business tools and manage the game according to rules, whose observance is constantly verified, to protect people from problem gambling.
Italian legislation aims at giving the game of Bingo a connotation of entertainment, socialization and pleasant use of free time, substantially differentiating it from other games, based mainly on individual behaviors and on the distance, both physical and temporal, between the moment of the game and that of winning.
In 2006, the game of Bingo, played by over 1 million people, half of whom attend Bingo halls systematically, grossed about €1.8 billion: over 1.6 billion cards were sold, of which about 65 % of the value of €1.