When did Bingo become such a popular fundraiser for churches?

IN 1930, a priest in http://www.answers.com/topic/wilkes-barre-pennsylvania, PA, thought of using the game of http://www.answers.com/topic/bingo to raise money for his church. He bought several sets and invited his congregants to play. At that time there were only a small number of different cards, resulting in several winners per round. The priest approached the game's innovator, Edwin Lowe, and asked him to come up with more variations. Lowe worked with a math professor to increase the number of combinations on the Bingo cards. Eventually, they came up with 6,000 different variations, and Bingo grew into a $5 billion-a-year charitable fundraiser. December is Bingo month, celebrating the game - then called Beano - which Lowe first saw played in December 1929. He brought it back home and developed his own boxed set, which became a major hit. Bingo!http://reference.answers.com/ http://reference.answers.com/