Vegas Bingo Hits Winning Combination

Bingo in Las Vegas?

Yes, players flock to the 32 licensed bingo parlors in Nevada--just as they fill halls across the country--wearing lucky hats, carrying lucky charms, hoping to beat the odds.

“It’s like my second home down here,” says Martha Cowley, 71, who plays regularly at Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel and Casino.

Binion’s bingo parlor seats 500 and provides 10 one-hour sessions a day with an hour’s break after each. The casino averages between 2,500 and 3,000 players a day.

“If we can break even, we are happy,” says Harvey Puller, manager of the bingo parlor at Binion’s. “The reason that the casinos have bingo is to bring people into the property so that they can experience other things we have to offer.”

In fact, for the 12 months ending in February, Nevada’s casino bingo operations posted a loss of $466,000.

The minimum price per player at Binion’s is $4 for the session, which includes 12 games. Coffee, soda and cocktails are on the house.

Bingo, as we know it today, is a form of lottery descended from Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia, the Italian National Lottery, which was organized in 1530. The modern version of bingo was introduced to America in 1930 by New York toy and game manufacturer Edwin S. Lowe. Since then, the number of players has steadily increased.

In some families, three generations now play bingo, says Don Carrier, editor of the Bingo Bugle Newspaper, which has a circulation of more than 1.1 million.

Bingo parlors count about 1.7 billion visits per year in the United States, according to the Bugle Newspaper Group. That compares to 1.4 billion movie tickets sold, as reported by the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

Bingo is played in every state except Hawaii, Tennessee and Utah. Charity games in many states limit the amount of money that can be won.

Why do so many people play?

Some say they want to support a good cause at charity bingo. Others are looking for excitement and the challenge the games provide. Some simply want to meet people.

Making money is, of course, another reason for playing.

Denise Souza, seated at a Binion’s table with bingo cards spread as wide as she could reach, says she plays almost every day, and in the last few months she has had winning days of $500, $1,000 and, once, $4,000.

Thirty percent of the players are men, and that number is growing, Carrier says, because there is more money available to be won.

Ken Arnold, 51, who usually plays at an Indian reservation near his Florida home, won a bingo game called “The Letter X” during a visit to Las Vegas. The winner gets to climb into a glass box, the “money machine,” for 45 seconds, grab swirling cash and stuff as much as possible through a slot. His take: $250.

But ask most bingo players why they play, and the reason is the same: “To have a good time.”