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Most industries within the entertainment business develop a language of their own and gambling is no different. From the language punters encounter at racetracks, including the unique sign language bookies use to exchange odds, to the phrases used at table games, all have a place in the gambling industry despite being confusing to punters. 

Even something as straightforward as a slot game comes loaded with its own lingo. If you are a regular visitor to slots casinos then chances are that you are familiar with the Random Number Generator, Return To Player Percentage, high volatility slots and low volatility slots. However, the gambling game that boasts the most unique lingo is of course bingo. The main reason for this is that it is the most sociable of all the top bingo games and because of this, a mutual bingo lingo has developed over time. 

Bingo History 

The bingo lingo that is used at land-based and online casinos today, has only developed gradually and when you discover that the history of bingo dates back to Italy 1530, it really has had plenty of time to develop. Bingo is actually a spin off from an Italian lottery game that was transformed into Le Lotto by the French and this was the closest form of the game that resembles the bingo we play now. It is not clear if any bingo lingo accompanied the games back then, but it is thought that the development of bingo lingo came into play much later on. When bingo arrived in America it was known as beano until a player accidently used the term bingo to celebrate their win. Marketing men ran with the term bingo instead of beano from that point onwards, as they thought bingo was far more customer friendly than beano. 

Modern Bingo Lingo 

Even though the French did most of the donkeywork when it came to creating the modern bingo game, it was in the UK where bingo lingo really took off. The terms that were invented in Britain still can be heard echoing through bingo halls and these have also transferred to the computerized bingo callers of online casinos. 

Bingo Lingo 

Everyone has heard the bingo lingo ‘two fat ladies’ for number 88, or ‘Cup of tea’ for number 3. Then there is Knock at the door for number 4. These are very traditional phrases but some have undergone change for the online bingo market. Online casinos have bingo lobbies and bingo boards that display the numbers being revealed and it is very common for bingo games to be accompanied by automatically loading chatrooms, where seasoned bingo players use a whole host of conversational abbreviations for words. 

The most common abbreviation is WDW and this is used to congratulate fellow bingo players for winning. The full meaning is ‘well done winners.’ ‘3 to go’ is players letting other punters in the chatroom or roomies, as they are referred to nowadays, know how many numbers away they are from a win.

Sam Allcock