- Title: ITALY: BINGO IS THE LATEST TREND IN ITALY
- Date: 8th January 2002
- Summary: (L!3)ROME, ITALY (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) ( ** GOOD SHOTS **) WIDE OF STREET SCENE IN ROME AT NIGHT /STREET LIGHTS BINGO SIGN OUTSIDE HALL VARIOUS, PEOPLE (MOSTLY YOUNG) QUEUEING OUTSIDE BINGO HALL AT NIGHT (6 SHOTS) VARIOUS, INTERIOR, PEOPLE PLAYING BINGO (2 SHOTS) SCU SCREEN ON TABLE WITH BINGO NUMBER SCU MAN LOOKING AT BINGO PLAY CARD SMV GROUP OF YOUNG MEN AROU
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA3EFUCVK0LGVTAWC675Z99YO6T
- Story Text: For Italians, image has always been important, whether it's wearing the right designer names, or being seen in the right places. Now, they have found a new fashionable place to go in the evening. It may be old hat for people in other countries, but for Italians it's the latest fad - going to bingo.
Bingo may be seen in countries such as Britain as a game for the elderly, shunned by the younger generation as boring. But, in Italy, queues of young people wait outside bingo halls all around the country for a chance to play the latest craze.
The game began sweeping through the United States as far back as 1929 and took off in Britain in the 1960s, but - despite being a direct descendant of an Italian game - it has been up and running for less than a month in the country, following the relaxing of gaming legislation.
It has been so popular that there are not enough seats in the 415 halls initially started in the country.
"We have queues in front of the door to get in of between 100 and 150 people. This means it's been a greater success than we expected, and greater than the number of places we had organised," said Leonardo Triulzi, manager of the bingo hall.
Bingo has taken some time to break its way through Italian legislation, as almost two years were taken up by the country's monopolies commission to decide who would be able to run the halls. This has added to the bingo mania which has been seen in its first few weeks.
"In Italy, we have been speaking about Bingo for two years. We thought we would be able to start long before, and all of our publicity drive began two years in advance. And so, everyone in Italy has been waiting for it," said Triulzi.
Despite bingo being a new game in Italy, they are still playing in the old currency. The euro hasn't quite made it yet, as organisers say the confusion with the new currency slows down the buying of the tickets and time is money.
It's not only the younger generation that have become hooked. Women in fur coats and children escorted by dad and grandad can also be seen rubbing shoulders with a whole spectrum of Italian society.
And there does not seem to be a consensus on whether the game is difficult or easy to play.
"I haven't won anything. It's really difficult," said eight-year-old Lorenzo Manetti, playing with his father.
"It's easy to play for everybody, for children for families - oh - just a minute!" said Claudio Leone anxiously turning back to his game. One thing is certain, you need a lot of luck to win the rather low bingo prize which relates to ticket sales and starts at about 250 euro.
Luck was certainly on Michele Zanetti's side: he won bingo three times on only his second day.
"See? I don't bring bad luck!" said his girlfriend, ready to pocket his winnings.
"All you need is luck!" Zanetti said, to the rancour of the rest of the hall. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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