WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1: BINGO

Profile America -- Saturday, December 1st.  Several times a week in firehouses and community centers all over the country, people gather to play bingo.  The roots of the game go back to a 16th century Italian lottery game.  In the U.S., a toy salesman named Edwin Lowe observed a game at a carnival near Atlanta in December 1929.  Players put dried beans on numbered cards and declared "beano" if they completed a line.  Lowe took the concept home to New York and refined it.  His new "bingo" became a hit almost immediately and has grown into a multibillion dollar a year fundraising tool.  Bingo is also played at some of the nation's nearly 1,500 commercial betting and lottery facilities, which generate revenue of nearly $6.8 billion a year. Profile America is in its 16th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources:  Chase's Calendar of Events 2012, p. 572
2007 Economic Census, NAICS 7132902

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau