National Bingo Game jackpots for the first time and the National Bingo Game introduced the "Big N" – an optional £1 jackpot charge to players which gave them a chance to play for a gold, silver or platinum jackpot which could exceed £1 million. Ticket sales for the jackpot were lower than anticipated and the prize was not won for a number of months, before the National Bingo Game decided to reduce the participation charge to 50p, but make it compulsory from January 2008. As a result of this move 3 millionaires were created in the 6 months that followed, but Gala Bingo's
Bingo (United Kingdom) the first modern version of the game appearing at carnivals and fairs in the 1920s, and is attributed to a Hugh J. Ward, who for marketing reasons most probably took the name from pre-existing slang. The patent for a modern Bingo card design went to Erwin S. Lowe in 1942. A typical bingo ticket is shown to the right. It contains 27 spaces, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains up to three numbers, which are arranged as follows, with some variation depending on bingo companies and/or where