Win a Brand New Mini Cooper

My absolute favourite online bingo website are at it again - pipping everyone else to the post with their fantastic bingo promotions - how do they do it?

At Bingostreet we have a theory, you’re only allowed to work at Wink Bingo if you’re a fun loving bingo mad genius - I’m sure it’s pretty close to the truth. Who would have thought that you could actually win a brand new Mini Cooper just by playing the bingo games on offer at Wink Bingo!

Well it’s absolutely true! And there’s more than one way to get into the absolutely massive bingo game that’ll be playing on New Year’s Day at 7pm - where the HUGE PRIZE is the BRAND NEW MINI COOPER!

The best way is to play bingo games at Wink Bingo, as many as you can, throughout December to build up your bingo points. Not only do you get the chance to win fabulous prizes and cash jackpots along the way in their Advent Calender bingo promotion special, but you can also play their regular bingo games or instant win games such as slots, casino games or even scratchcards! And don’t forget the tons of other special bingo games including the Risk Free Frisky Friday games - free bingo games where you get your money refunded if you don’t win the jackpot!

You’ll build up your points every time you play bingo games, or the other games too, and once you’ve got 500 points you can exchange for a Free Ticket to the HUGE BINGO GAME on New Year’s Day. So play bingo like there’s no tomorrow and get as many free bingo tickets as you can for the massive bingo game on Jan 1st.

Alternatively you could take the easy way and simply pre-purchase bingo tickets for the big game. You can do this anytime from the Wink Bingo lobby. Tickets cost £10 a go, it’s a wee bit more than their regular bingo games, but on the other hand - every ticket you buy gets you another shot at the fantabulous Mini Cooper!

There’s also quite a few other ways to build up your points in December, just check the Wink Bingo website for full details. And if you do happen to be the super lucky bingo player who wins this fantastic prize, you’ll be the guest of honour on Bingostreet in January!

What a way to kick off the New Year! Play at Wink Bingo and GL!!!!!!!

Written by Bingo Lady

Good and bad online bingo players

It is fun to look at good online bingo players and talk about what they do right. What is even more fun is looking at bad online bingo players and watching what they do wrong. This is one of the quickest ways to get really good at the game. If you learn from the mistakes of those players who just don’t seem to get it, you can ultimately succeed at playing the game. So what are the mistakes of bad online bingo players? Here are a few of them.

Bad online bingo players typically miss on even the most basic rules. Maybe they don’t know how to fill out their cards or they don’t know what each game means. When you don’t have a basic handle on the most elementary rules, you really don’t have a chance to win. Bingo games are highly predicated on luck. Because of that, you just have to be fortunate to win sometimes. The one way to take yourself out of the game is to not know what you are doing, though. The worst online bingo players to play with are those people who just don’t get the rules. Make sure you aren’t one of them.

Bad online bingo players often don’t pay enough attention. They busy doing something else, like writing a paper or talking to their friends, or downloading music or looking at videos online. These bingo players aren’t putting forth nearly enough focus to be successful. They are struggling to get by and they just can’t seem to get it through their head that it takes a huge amount of focus to win at bingo. The awful thing about mistakes like these is that they can be easily prevented. These people could, if they wanted to, play bingo online and win. They just don’t make the necessary moves to get that done and it’s truly sad.

Don’t be like these bad bingo online players. It is a game that can be fun if you are winning. Even if you aren’t fortunate enough to be winning, the game is so much more fun for people who really know what they are doing. Those that don’t are just there for us to laugh at. They are sad cases who often don’t understand why they are throwing their money down the drain, while we all realise that they are making mistakes.

Written by Bingo Lady

How to speak Bingo Lingo

Half the fun of online bingo is being part of the community and chatting with fellow b-i-n-g-o fanatics.

Online bingo chat rooms are controlled areas, because it’s a safe space for folks from all around the globe to chat, come together, and be entertained by each other and the current Chat master on duty. In this virtual bingo environment, you won’t have any vocal input but will have a general Chat window at your finger tips. Be sure to make yourself heard with the comments you type in this window.

If you have always despised people writing abbreviations like LOL in emails and texts, brace yourself… Bingo is a fast-paced game, especially if you choose the Speed bingo games on offer, and you won’t have time to type in any long drawn out conversations or Shakespearian prose. Therefore you will have to learn to speak Bingo Lingo if you want to keep up with the rest of the players.

Don’t despair though; it can be quite easy to learn Bingolese. If you already enjoy chatting in chat rooms, you should know most of the terms. If you are unfamiliar with chat room lingo, you will find a myriad of abbreviations to cover almost every aspect of the conversation, and it’s very useful if you plan to get a word in edge ways.

Bingo Lingo – some popular terms:

* 10x - Thanks
* 2U2 - To you too
* ?4U - Question for you
* AFK - Away from keyboard
* A/S/L - Age/Sex/Location
* AKA - Also known as
* ASAP - As soon as possible
* BBL - Be back later
* B4 - Before
* B4N - Bye for now
* BLNT - Better Luck Next Time
* BRB - Be Right Back
* CM Chat - Moderator/Master
* CUL8R - See you later
* CYA - See ya
* DIY - Do it yourself
* EOD - End of discussion
* FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
* FYI - For your information
* GG - Good Going
* GL - Good Luck
* GR8 - Great
* IC - I see
* IMO - In My Opinion
* L8R - Later
* L8RG8R - Later gaiter
* LOL - Laughing Out Loud
* PLZ - Please
* PM - Private Message
* PPL - People
* QT - Cute
* SD - Sweet Dreams
* TC - Take Care
* TX - Thanx
* TY - Thank You
* TYU2 - Thank You & you too
* WB - Welcome Back
* WTG - Way to go
* YW - You’re Welcome
* 1tg, 2tg, 3tg etc - one/two/three numbers left to bingo
* Y - Why?

Get to know some of these terms and practise chatting while you play bingo online, and soon you’ll become an expert in Bingo Lingo – GL!

Written by Bingo Lady

Huge online bingo cash prizes

If you are not used to playing bingo online you may be unaware of the huge cash prizes you can win. The ease of signing up online is safe and secure and it allows you to get right into playing the bingo games. You will find many ways to get online bingo cash prizes. While these sites have slot machine games as well this article will focus only on online bingo cash prizes.

You will have many opportunities to play many different bingo games online, depending on which website you decide to play bingo at. Each individual bingo site has its own bingo promotions and special bingo games, usually a wide range of smaller bingo games and advancing up to the more serious progressive jackpot bingo games. You can also find huge online bingo cash prizes with coverall jackpots.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the different types of prizes it will depend on what you play and how much you pay to get into the online bingo game. You can purchase bingo cards for as little as 5 or 10p per card, or even 1p on some bingo sites, but these bingo games usually offer smaller cash prizes. It will also depend on how many people are playing the game at the same time. These factors determine what the cash prize will be. You will generally have a fairly large selection of bingo games that you can play within this group.

After you feel comfortable with these online bingo games you might want to go on to a coverall jackpot, where the first person to cover all the squares on their bingo card wins – if you can win within a minimum set number of ball calls the bigger the prize. You can play Coverall bingo games on 75 ball game of a 90 ball bingo game and your cash prize can be very lucrative. Many of the sites have an established amount you will win for this type of game, but the prize value can also be tied to the number of bingo players in the game.
The next level of online bingo play might be a progressive jackpot. The money will accrue from game to game if there is no winner. The money can become quite a large online bingo cash prize. If for instance you would have won £250 in the first game but no one was a winner this amount would be applied to the next game and continue on until someone finally wins the bingo jackpot.

Whether you are an experienced online bingo player or not you are sure to find a type of cash prize that will appeal to you. When you play bingo online you could end up a bingo millionaire if your numbers come in on a huge game!

Written by Bingo Lady

The origins of Bingo

Everybody loves to play bingo games - who doesn’t? For some people, bingo is about raising money for charity. For others, it’s about taking a small chance on winning a very large prize. Others still see the game as a great opportunity to socialise.

But where does it come from, this game we love so much? What are its roots, and how did it evolve to be the game we play today? And did you know that at one stage the game of Bingo was banned by the Catholic Church?

The game of bingo is actually hundreds of years old. Its European country of origin is mildly disputed, but it most likely dates back to around 1530, to an Italian lottery game called “Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia.”

However, before 200 years had passed, the game had matured and was being played in France and Germany. The addition to the game of the ritual of calling out numbers is thought to be a French contribution. Amusingly, it gained a certain notoriety in Europe when it was banned by the Catholic Church, which for a time drove the game underground.

The birth of bingo as we know it today happened in America in 1929. A toy salesman from New York by the name of Edwin Lowe stumbled across a game called Beano being played in a carnival tent in Georgia, played with beans.

Lowe was intrigued but didn’t get a chance to play bingo as the tent was so crowded, but he went home inspired. At home, he developed the game further and invited some friends round to test it. When one of his guests became so excited that, stuttering, she yelled “Bingo!” instead of “Beano,” Lowe realised he was on to a winning idea, and began to market bingo commercially as a board game for playing at home.

Ironically, the Catholic Church who had banned the game more than a century before was the reason for the game’s current epic success. A priest who had been using the game of bingo to raise funds to repair his church’s roof approached Lowe. He said he found the standard bingo cards that came with the box set to be too limited, and requested that some more complex ones be developed.

And so the popular form of bingo we know and love today was born, with 90 balls and thousands of permutations of bingo cards. So next time you’re having a quiet moment at a bingo hall, think about the fact that you’re part of a grand tradition, playing a game that was created almost half a millennium ago.

Written by Bingo Lady

Top 10 signs that you are addicted to online bingo

I love to play bingo online, and I’m sure you do too. Mostly I play over the weekends, but I’ve been known to log on for a couple of cards on the odd weeknight too.

Last week some friends and I were having a natter over a jar down our local, and the subject of bingo came up, mostly because one of my mates bought us a round with money he’d won playing online bingo the previous week. Naturally we started ribbing him about it, in spite of the free drinks, because my luck’s been rotten lately.

Mixed in with the good-natured banter were a couple of real gems, which I thought I’d share with you. And so without further ado, and with my tongue firmly in my cheek, I present the top signs that you play too much bingo online.

1. Your eyes are red because you’ve been up too late playing online bingo, staring at the computer screen and waiting for one more number, not because you’ve been out partying.

2. A mate tells you a joke and instead of laughing you say, “LOL!”

3. You see someone cute in a pub, but you feed a bit shy. You start wishing this was a bingo chat room.

4. Having worked up the nerve, you walk over and introduce yourself using your bingo screen name.

4. For that matter, the car that you drive has a vanity plate with your bingo screen name on it.

5. After waking up, you log into your favourite bingo website before you make coffee.

6. You’re incredibly bored because there’s nobody interesting to talk to in the bingo chat room.

7. You sign into a bingo game room, and you notice that there’s more than 20 people logged in, many of them friends. The first thing you do is query the Caller about the size of the bingo pot.

8. You nag your real-life friends to join up at your bingo website so that you can hang out with them more often.

9. Someone asks you to repeat what you said, and you respond, “BINGO!”

10. You recognise and laugh at too many items on this list.

There you have it. All things in moderation, eh? See you in the bingo chatrooms …

Written byBingo Lady

Bingo number 90 aka Top of the Shop

Traditional UK bingo is played with 90 balls. The last number in the online bingo progression is 90. It is a special number in many senses, and is revered in online bingo. In following the time tested online bingo tradition of giving call numbers different nicknames, it should be no surprise that this online bingo number has the most nicknames and some of the best. For those people who had so much fun making up nicknames for the numbers, this was the final chance to make their mark. So what are some of the online bingo nicknames for the number 90?

The first can be said in two different ways, depending upon which bingo game you are at. You might hear some callers say “top of the shop” and you might hear others refer to the number 90 as “top of the house”. Either is equally correct and they are both steeped in online bingo tradition. It is easy to see where this nickname came from. If you were to list all of the possible numbers of a bingo game in order, 99 would be at the top of the heap. That is why online bingo gives 90 this special nickname for its calling.

There are some other online bingo nicknames for 90, as well. While the others made it seem as if 90 was the head of some sort of vertical ordering system, these nicknames would apply to a linear numbering system. 90, in many online bingo games, is called out at “end of the line”. Any fool can tell why this is the nickname for this particular online bingo number. There is nothing past 90, so it is essentially the last remaining digit. There are often times when this is the last number that a player needs in order to have bingo, so these nicknames take on a special significance.

All in all, you will find some very interesting online bingo calls for just about every number that there is. 90 is no exception and it is only special because of the fact that it is the last number going. If you are an online bingo player and you haven’t heard some of these cool call number nicknames, then you are really missing out. Call nicknames like this are a great online bingo tradition and they have helped to make the game what it is over the years. They are worth getting to know if only for entertainment purposes.

Written by Bingo Lady

The team of Tombola Bingo are a booming bingo bundle of surprises, as I found out this weekend when I signed up to play bingo with them. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, there’s been a lot of hype floating around the bingo industry about Tombola, and I guess I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I was pleasantly surprised, the Tombola games are really fun and refreshing - it’s nice to see a good selection of online bingo games presented in new and different formats. What’s more, as Tombola do their own bingo software, their games are totally unique and you won’t find these bingo games anywhere else online!

Their latest bingo style game just released is Roller-Coaster - wow what a thrilling ride this is! And I love the concept - 40 bingo balls each get a name, face and catch-phrase, and everytime the roller-coaster loops the loop one of them falls out - and you gotta hope it’s got one of your names on it. All you have to do to play is pick up to 4 carriages with 5 empty named seats, and wait for them bingo balls to fill up your empties.

Tombola have really gone to town on this new online bingo game, there’s even a separate flash animation introducing the new game with all the bingo ball characters, click on each bingo ball to hear their catch-phrase - cool!

Of course when you see the Roller-Coaster looping round your computer screen, one bingo ball after another falling out with a scream, and the mad chatroom buzz as everyone shouts out the names they need to call bingo - LOL much fun was had by little old me, and kudos to Tombola for a new take on the great game of bingo online.

PS. Tombola are rumoured to be having a massively hot bingo promotion lined up for December – you will NOT want to miss their Wonderland promo - soon as we have more news on this fab bingo promotion we’ll bring it to you.

Written by Bingo Lady

Online bingo sites - Players have tough time choosing the right one

With so many online bingo sites out there today, players have a tough time choosing the right one. After all, they look the same and many of them use the same software. In many cases, online bingo sites are also offering the same promotions, as well. When this is the case, what is a player to do? How are they to tell one of the online bingo sites apart from all of the others? There are some very simple things that a player should look for in online bingo sites to find the right one.

All in all, online bingo sites need to be trusted. If you can’t trust your site, then there is no reason why you should be playing there. You are going to be trying to win some big prizes and some major bingo jackpots. When you get lucky enough to do this, don’t you want to know that you will be able to claim your prize from the online bingo sites? This should be the first thing you look for. Do the research on various online bingo sites and find out which ones are the most trusted by experienced players who are familiar with the online bingo scene. Be sure to check out the bingo forums too.

As a player, you should also be looking for a site that is willing to adapt to the changing technology out there. The online bingo world is constantly evolving. New bingo games, new software programs, and new incentive programs are popping up each and every week. This is why online bingo sites in this day and age have to keep up with the times. When you choose a site, you need to know that they are dedicated to providing you with only the best and latest in online bingo software. You need to know that they are keeping up with the competitors in this highly competitive field.

Online bingo sites must be able to give you quality service, as well. If you are going to be investing in them, then they need to be available to answer your questions and calm your concerns. This is something that you should demand in your online bingo sites and if the site cannot provide that, then you need to take your play elsewhere. There are way too many online bingo sites out there for you to be settling for anything other than the absolute best. As a player, you should demand that out of your online bingo sites.

Written by Bingo Lady

Win a pretty pink bingo laptop

Ladies, gents and bingo fans - if any of you are looking for a perfect pink pressie for one of your lady friends (or even yourself) this Christmas, then look no further, Bingostreet is here!

Bingostreet Pink Laptop Giveaway
Bingostreet are giving away a brand spanking new pink laptop with awesome processing power under the bonnet - this is how everybody should play bingo online - no joke, this baby is a beauty - and we’re giving it away for free this month!

Deadline to enter the competition is this Thursday, November 20!!!
All you gotta do is post a short story or poem in the Bingostreet Bingo Forum about your fave Wink Bingo experience. You don’t need to be a creative genius, just make the Bingostreet Boss laugh his socks off and you’ll win the laptop!

One laptop, one lucky winner, and 2 days to get your entries in!
If I wasn’t such a manly man I’d be entering this great competition too, but my feminine side has already been taken over by online bingo, it can’t quite stretch to a pink laptop too! And my bingo boss might not approve either, hmmm…

So c’mon guys, gals and bingo pals, get your entries in before the deadline and grab yourself some delicious online bingo booty in the form of a very cool laptop! Good Luck, and may the best Winker win

Written by Bingo Lady

Bingo enjoying a Renaissance

Bingo has always been a popular game, ever since it was introduced in the mid 1920s. Since that time it’s always been played, but of late there seems to be a surge happening in its popularity, both at traditional walk-in bingo halls, and on the Internet.

So why Bingo? What is it about this game that keeps drawing crowds of fans week after week? Is it that it’s such an easy game to learn? Could it be because of the cash prizes you can win? Maybe it’s about the socialising?

And maybe it’s all of the above. But one thing is certain - bingo halls are more packed than they’ve ever been. Despite the economic downturn, traditional bingo games have continued to thrive.

In part, it could be to do with the whole experience of the live event. Playing the bingo game on a computer is one thing, but turning up at the local of an evening is a chance to meet new friends and to socialise.

Bingo games rarely cost more than a couple of pence, or a quid at the outside, so perhaps it’s that a visit to a live bingo event offers an entire evening of entertainment for less than it would cost to rent a DVD?

Interestingly, there’s a fast growing youth demographic who are taking part in bingo, despite perceptions that bingo nights are populated exclusively by the elderly.

But it’s not just the live bingo halls that are seeing growth this year. The online bingo experience is proving as attractive a draw as the live experience. We’re seeing new bingo sites springing up all the time, and tried and trusted ones are going from strength to strength.

So what is it that’s so appealing about playing bingo online? For one thing, there’s the convenience factor - not having to trudge down to the local hall when its raining is a plus.

Then there’s the playing assist - most sites now have features that will automatically daub your card for you if you’d like, which is great if your concentration isn’t up to scratch. It will even call Bingo for you when you win.

So whether you prefer to play online, or get your coat on and turn up at your local bingo club, perhaps you should be seeing what all the fuss is about? You might even have a good time while you’re about it.

Written by Bingo Lady

888Ladies extra big bingo bonus for Bingostreet

One of my personal faves when it comes to bingo online is 888ladies - they’re also pretty hot among the rest of you Bingostreeters too!

888ladies are offering a turbo-boosted first deposit bonus of 200% up to an incredible £200 FREE for all new bingo players who register from Bingostreet in November! You’ll need to use the special code: bingostreet when you register.

The regular first deposit bonus is 150%, so it really is super boosted. Deposit £100 into your bingo online account at 888ladies and you’ll get £200 on top of that - I’d do it but I’ve already made my first deposit, and a few on top of that too!

Don’t forget of course that new players get £10 Free which is another plus, as you can try all the bingo online games for free before deciding if you’d like to play for real money. IMO online bingo sites that don’t offer some kind of freebie generally suck. Try before you buy is an important concept in the UK, and the same rule applies to bingo online.

You might also want to check out the 888ladies Xmas Raffle promo - just started today. £1000 each in xmas spending cash for 5 lucky bingo fans - and the best thing is you just gotta do what you love most – play bingo online at 888ladies Full details are in our weekend newsletter, you can also see the latest copy in our Bingo Newsletter archives.

So enjoy a cool weekend of fun and games doing your bingo thing at 888ladies, and maybe see you there!

Written by Bingo Lady

Fun evening playing bingo online

Ever had one of those evenings when you’re at home, you don’t want to go out, but you’re kinda bored? Easy solution – spend the night playing bingo online and you’ll find it’s pretty cheap too!

Most online bingo sites have special games, with extra cheap tickets especially during the week, so just have a poke around your favourite bingo sites to see what kind of bingo action is on offer, and you can have a great evening of bingo fun and entertainment – and maybe even hit one of those bingo online jackpots!

Wink Bingo is one such bingo site we’d recommend, as it has tons of action on every day of the week, 24 hours non-stop bingo fun, so you can login and play bingo online at anytime. With plenty of daily, weekly and monthly jackpot games, plus a whole load of exciting Slots, casino and Instant Win games, you’ll never have a bored evening again!

Wink Bingo have regular online bingo games with pretty sizeable guaranteed bingo jackpots, starting from £1,000 up to £10,000 monthly bingo games. When the jackpots are guaranteed, this means that one lucky bingo player MUST win the jackpot in that game and will take home the full prize.

These guaranteed jackpot bingo games at Wink Bingo kick off regularly every month on specified dates:

• £10,000 guaranteed jackpot – 10th of every month at 10pm
• £5,000 guaranteed jackpot – 30th of every month at 10pm
• £3,000 guaranteed jackpot – 20th of every month at 10pm
• £2,000 guaranteed jackpot – 5th of every month at 10pm

Tickets for all these great bingo games at Wink Bingo cost just £1 a ticket, and can be pre-purchased which is great, because if you have a hot date you can just pre-buy and your tickets will be played for you automatically in your absence. Usually there is a minimum purchase of 5 tickets for these games, but the great thing about pre-purchasing your bingo tickets is that you can allocate a set bingo budget for the month, to make sure you don’t spend more than you can afford.

So, the next time you’re twiddling your thumbs of an eve not knowing what to do, get on down to Wink Bingo and liven up the night with some hot bingo action!

Written by Bingo Lady

Bingo Blackjack strategy

At various online gambling sites including online bingo there is a potential to play blackjack. You can play bingo blackjack, which is actually the same game as regular 21. We want you to have an edge to the game so we have come up with a bingo blackjack strategy that may just work for you. The bingo blackjack strategy is not a hundred percent foolproof and that means we can’t guarantee a win every time. In fact our strategy is just to increase your odds of winning over losing. It is also about making the best decisions when you are playing the game.

The first thing you have to realise is that there are certain rules at a blackjack table for when you have to take another card. Most blackjack games say you must take a card if you have a hand lower than 15. This is not always the case and sometimes it only applies to the dealer. However, you don’t want to stand on 15 anyway. We will look at why in a little bit.

Our blackjack strategy is going to be about when to take a hit, stand, fold, double down, or split. First you can only do a split when your first two cards are the same number. In other words when you have two 10’s in your hand you could split. Of course you are taking a big gamble with two 10’s. Two ten’s makes a total of 20. Unless the dealer gets 21 you win the game. In this case or in the bingo blackjack strategy you wouldn’t want to split the 10’s. You have to place a second ante wager or beginning wager when you split, so why risk losing double the money if you can win instead?

You want to split when you have less than 17 as your total. In other words if you have two 8’s you can split them for better chances. You don’t want to hit on 16 because you have a higher potential to bust when you do.

Doubling down is when you decide you want to place a second wager and get one more card in the hopes that you win. You can’t take another hit after you double down. Again you want to be careful when you double down because you don’t want to bust your hand. You also don’t want to have such a low hand that you are stuck losing the extra wager, plus the first wager. For example if you have a 2 and a 3 you have five. If you double down and get a 5 then you only have ten. In this case the dealer really needs to bust for you to win. You want to take a hit in our bingo blackjack strategy when you have less than 15. You should stand on 15 or above. We hope you find these hints helpful on your next game of bingo blackjack!

Written byBingo Lady

Pre-Helloween bingo frenzy

A truly record-breaking day for bingo, Halloween, Friday October 31, 2008 -will see the online bingo scene metamorphosed into a furious frenzy of cut-throat competition with bingo sites fighting for the best bingo action this weekend. It’s a glorious opportunity for us online bingo fans to pick and choose at leisure where we want to spend our Halloween bingo budget - and pick up some crazy bingo prizes on the way!

Never in the history of bingo online has there been so much action in one day, so many bulging bingo marketing brains behind boombastic bingo promotions on the Halloween theme, and so much bingo treasure up for grabs! It’s a totally wild day for online bingo, and the cleverer sites like Wink Bingo are keeping the action going all weekend, not giving us poor bingo lovers a chance to do anything else except play bingo online non-stop through the weekend. But oh, the wicked treats that lie in store for us…

No pain, no gain, my bingo buddies and friends. So grit your teeth, get in the supplies, pull up your lucky bingo socks and make a list of those important games you just can’t miss and settle down for the long bingo grind.

Make sure you don’t miss Friday night’s £1K guaranteed jackpot bingo game at Wink Bingo - if you don’t win you get a full refund on all your tickets - LOL - in my honest opinion, one of the coolest Halloween bingo promotions this year! Just love them cheeky folks at Wink Bingo!

If we’re really on our toes at BingoStreet, we might just make your life easier and make a list of all the best bingo action on this weekend - save you poor folks the trouble, so you can conserve your energy for the loooooooong online bingo weekend ahead.

Wherever you play, enjoy the freaky wild fun and boosted bingo jackpot games as it comes but once a year, and enjoy the bingo!

Written by Bingo Lady

Bingo chat room social etoquette

Bingo chat rooms are a buzzing online community. There are certain socially acceptable behaviours that are allowed in the bingo chat rooms and certain things that are not. What you have to remember is that bingo is a heavily social game that encourages players to become part of a community and share the pleasures of the great game of bingo.

Whether the bingo game takes place in a traditional bingo hall or in a church, the community aspect of the game is always the strongest. Bingo is also a favourite way for the community to raise money for charity, and have some fun at the same time, everyone coming together to support each other and make new friends.

The advent of bingo online still focuses on the community spirit of the game, and every good bingo website worth its salt will have a selection of bingo chat rooms with a buzzing bingo community full of chatty players and friendly CM’s, allowing you to chat and play bingo online simultaneously.

Bingo chat rooms are all being social and having a great time, sharing the latest gossip (if you’re already familiar with the other bingo buddies), cheering each other to win, watching the 3TG, 2TG’s pop-up on screen and hoping you’ll be the one to shout Bingo at the end! Online bingo players definitely love winning, but they’re also some of the most generous hearted people you’ll find online, and are always ready to congratulate other bingo players on their lucky jackpot wins.

We’ve put together a pointers for budding bingo enthusiasts on the social etiquette expected from you, and from other bingo players, in bingo chatrooms, and hope you find them helpful.

• The first rule is to be social. Don’t just sign up to play bingo online and ignore the other players. At least offer a good day, how are you, and congrats to the winner. If you are the winner always be sure to thank everyone for their congrats.
• Don’t go into the bingo chat rooms with an attitude. For example don’t put other players down when you win. Or if you lose don’t be rude.
• You should be polite at all times in the bingo chat rooms even if you feel bad. The other players will be polite to you and offer you condolences. Usually there are only one to three winners in a game, so think of the others that have lost.
• Foul language is not warranted at anytime, even if you are trying to be funny.
• Other players will offer respect where they receive it. They like to be appreciated for their part in the game, just as you will.
• It’s always nice to introduce yourself, and invite others to do so too.
• You can even start the chat in the bingo chat rooms if conversation is lagging.
• Take advantage of all the social features on the bingo sites. You will feel rewarded and enjoy a much richer experience while playing bingo online.

These are just some of the social etiquette rules you should follow in the bingo chat rooms. The most important one is to realise that you have joined a community that loves to socialise and wants you to take part and have fun with them in the bingo games.

Written by Bingo Lady

Bingo online guide. What you need to know

Are you new to the world of online bingo? If you are feeling a bit lost then don’t worry, there are many online bingo guide sites to help you. The very first thing you need to decide is where to play bingo online, and we would recommend starting your online bingo action with a safe, trusted and established bingo website such as Wink Bingo – perfect for newbies to bingo, a really friendly and helpful bingo community with lovely Chat Hosts and many other bingo players ready to help if you get stuck, plus a cool £15 Free no deposit bonus you can use to try out all the bingo games first at no cost to yourself.

The biggest and best thing about bingo online is that it’s a very social game – but there’s absolutely no pressure on you to be social if you’re not in the mood, or are a bit intimidated by all the goofy gossip in the bingo online chat rooms. It’s always your choice to join in or not. You can just login and play bingo online without using the chat feature – but you can still watch other people chatting, which is a great way to learn the bingo lingo and the many shortcuts that bingo buddies use to communicate. However you’d be missing out on a lot of fun, not to mention the great bingo chat games, and the chance to make new friends playing bingo online.

So, you’ve chosen a good site to play at, you’ve been reading the chats of other bingo players, and you’ve played your £15 Free – you might even have hit a bingo jackpot in which case you’ll find other players congratulating you – it’s always nice to say thanks, and you’ll find that bingo players are always cheering each other on, so it’s a great way to plunge into the chat feature and start making new bingo buddies.

The next thing you’ll want to do is fund your bingo account – Wink Bingo offer a wide variety of payment options, so you should have no problem choosing the method that suits you best. Simply fund your online bingo account and then you’re ready to purchase bingo cards – you can always choose from a selection, so you can pick lucky numbers, or just go with the flow. The more bingo cards you buy for a bingo game the better your chances of winning, but this also depends on the number of people in the bingo game. At Wink Bingo you can buy bingo cards for as little as 5p, which means you can play online bingo to your heart’s delight without spending a ton of cash.

Traditional British bingo is played with 90 balls, and these tickets are sold in strips. But if you buy bingo tickets for a 75 ball game you can buy single bingo tickets. Both games are played differently, there’s 3 chances to win in 90 ball bingo and generally just one chance in 75 ball bingo. The more you play the more you’ll find out which type of bingo game suits you best. At any time if you don’t understand the rules just ask for help, the guys at Wink Bingo offer superb online help, and also Chat Room help – all you have to do is ask, and enjoy the bingo fun!

Written by Bingo Lady

How to find the best bingo website?

When you set out to find the best bingo game around many people rely on bingo reviews. It is a good way to find the best online bingo site because they will tell you all the different aspects of each site they have visited. When you look on the web for reviews they will show you the top sites and why they think they are the best bingo site.

How do you decide which points of the review give you the most comprehensive data? It will take a little time to research the online bingo reviews on different sites and see who you get the most benefit from. There are many sites that don’t review the game site as much as they just tell you what they have to offer. While this is good information and you will want to have it, it differs from an actual review.

You will want to know why people think the bingo site they play at is best and what options the website has to offer. Most review sites will be unbiased and just give you some facts. They will point out the highlights of a particular bingo site, what drew them to the bingo site and any current bingo promotions they may have. These key points should help you determine which sites you want to look into. They also should give you the confidence that they are legitimate sites. Don’t forget there are bingo websites out there that are scams and you should be able to avoid these by reading more than one review.

The review sites usually tell you the top five or ten bingo online sites. You can feel confident when you look into these bingo sites that you will find the best bingo site to play on. A good indicator is how long the bingo site has been in business. The rating system on one such online bingo review site uses a star system so that you can easily see if they have top star billing.

The best online bingo sites all have chat rooms that customers really enjoy as you can develop a social network of bingo friends with the same interest. You will find that this creates a fun atmosphere for playing bingo online. We found new bingo sites in many reviews that have consistently been in the top five. They have easy sites to navigate, great incentives and bingo promotions for new players and top deposits bonuses. They also offer big bingo jackpot games throughout the month that can pay amazingly high cash rewards. So when you want to find the best bingo site read a review to help you.

Written by : Bingo Lady

Bingo Heaven this week at Paddy Power Bingo

Paddy Power Bingo are having a month-long party with their Octoberfest celebrations in honour of their Gold Bingo room turning 2 earlier this month. This Irish online bingo website is worth it’s weight in gold, and bingo fans are truly spoilt for choice this month with extra bingo promotions and a whole load of free bingo games to choose from!

Free Bingo Games are always a plus for any bingo buddy, as they brings an extra thrill of winning something for nothing. Those of us who are tuned into online bingo and love the game for it’s sheer unpredictability and the great social scene, never say no to a game of free bingo - that would be silly!

There is a special breed of bingo player that refuses to play free bingo games - and I’m definitely not one of those. Show me a free bingo game and I’m on it! I look upon free bingo games as a reward for the time and money I spend at these bingo sites, and I appreciate them. If you find an online bingo website that doesn’t do free bingo games, at least sometimes, their bingo roomies won’t be so happy.

Written by Bingo Lady

The international game of Online Bingo

There’s a brand new online bingo site just launched last week in Finland, and the locals are going crazy for it and just can’t get enough!

I’m not exactly a linguistic expert, let alone in English, but I wonder how you say ‘Bingo’ in Finnish? It’s probably one of those words that’s impossible to translate. And where did the word Bingo come from anyway?

Some say that the term Bingo is related to the game of Keno, dating back to as early as 1814 in USA, which comes from the Latin word ‘quini’ - meaning five (winning numbers) as in a Lotto game.

Others say that Bingo started off as a Lotto-like game that can be traced back to the mid-16th century in Italy, and slowly spread across Europe arriving in the USA in 1929 where it was promptly called Beano - due to the fact that it was played with beans instead of bingo balls!

I think I’d enjoy a game of Beano, it does have a certain ring to it, but if you compare the phrase Online Beano to Online Bingo, for me the latter comes out tops.

Written by Bingo Lady

Wink Bingo 3K Jackpot coming up soon

Wink Bingo are holding their cool £3K guaranteed jackpot bingo game on Monday night at 10pm sharp. This game kicks off every month on the 20th, and although not as huge as the £10K guaranteed bingo jackpot on the 10th of each month, I definitely would not complain if I won £3,000 for playing my favourite online bingo games at Wink Bingo!

Three grand is a fair whack of dosh, and I’m quite sure I could even spend it in less than a day. It’s an amount that’s not too overwhelming, and if I do win the £3K jackpot at Wink Bingo this month I know how I’m going to spend it.

I’d pre-purchase my tickets for the whole month of big jackpot games at Wink Bingo, even if I only buy 5 bingo cards for each online bingo game that’s just a fiver - and the chances of winning the bingo jackpot are always there…

I’m sure that all bingo online players dream of hitting the big one, it is after all the underlying reason why we play bingo online - to win a huge pot of cash! But there’s definitely more to online bingo than the big winnings, I’m equally thrilled to win a small bingo game jackpot, even a 1 line win on bingo sends me spinning with delight!

That being said, if I do win the 3K jackpot on Monday night at Wink Bingo, I might just disappear for a few days, as I’ll probably be recovering from a huge bingo booze hangover!

Written by Bingo Lady

Take part in the Bingo World Record attempt

Friday night at 11.45pm if you’re not out partying then stay at home and bingo your way into the Guinness Book of Records with your TV and free bingo cards!

Instead of my usual Friday night routine (fish and chips for one, online bingo, and a DVD) I’ll be perched on the edge of my seat with my free bingo tickets, doing my bit for bingo record breaking with ITV’s Bingo Night Live. It’s actually free to play, you just have to register to play bingo online at their website.

BingoStreet reported earlier this week of a £60K jackpot, well it’s now grown to more than £100K Guaranteed Jackpot! Plus there’s some really cool bingo prizes (for bingo blokes at least), including 75 season tickets to Old Trafford!

I know TV Bingo is comparatively new but with huge guaranteed bingo jackpots and prizes like these up for offer, it’s not surprising that it’s getting to be the hottest thing in bingo since the invention of bingo balls! And tell me, how often do you get the chance to break a world record?!

Written by Bingo Lady

Immortalise yourself for free with Wink Bingo

Wink Bingo are pulling out all the stops to promote their online bingo games to the general public in the UK, and I truly applaud these folks for the sheer originality of their bingo campaigns.
Wink Bingo are currently making pitstops all across the UK with a great freebie for members of the public – your own professional portrait! Normally you’d expect an online bingo campaign to be more relevant with respect to the game of bingo, but the only connection you’ll find between a portrait and bingo is Wink Bingo.
I’m sure this campaign will increase the bingo site’s popularity even more, as members of the public will be flocking to the Wink Bingo website to view their portraits, and also perhaps discover the delights that online bingo has to offer – at least at Wink Bingo!

They’ve already conquered Birmingham, and over the next few weekends in October will be visiting Dudley and Redditch too, see our online bingo news article for details – if you’re in the area, why not pop down and immortalise yourself, courtesy of the Wink Bingo team.
Now, when are they coming to London….

Written by Bingo Lady

Promos for October

I just love months like this, when any excuse for a party is good in the world of online bingo. The advent of the colder months for us Brits, and Halloween coming up at the end of the month, makes it an ideal opportunity for online bingo sites to appeal to our spine-tingling senses with extra prizes and bingo promotions to celebrate such events. So far the best dressed site for me is the 888ladies bingo site - they’re really going to town!

I take great pleasure in comparing the bingo promotions alongside one another, looking at what one bingo site does, and then checking against the next. The online bingo industry has a massive 3 million and counting customer base of bingo fans in the UK, but with so many bingo sites to choose from, competition for our attention is very tough!

Bring it on, I say! Pile on the bingo promotions like there’s no tomorrow. I love to play bingo online anyway, so all the better if there’s an extra carrot for the donkey! Plus it’s getting colder and we’re all spending much more time indoors, in front of the computer or television, playing the odd game of online bingo!

Enjoy the bingo this weekend folks, I most certainly will be!

Written by Bingo Lady

online bingo vs traditional bingo

For those traditional purists who maintain that bingo should never have made the transition to online bingo, I gently thumb my nose at you. The move to the internet bingo has injected a totally new lease of life into this popular game, and made it even more accessible and available to people who might have poopoohed bingo before.

The social aspect of bingo has always been a vital factor in the game’s appeal. A night down at the bingo club, traditionally a pastime for the older generation, who are we to sniff when 20, 30 years later down the line there’ll we be too? (Except we won’t have to traipse down to the local bingo club for a game)!

I won’t go so far to say as online bingo is a genius move, as it was just the logical next step - what with online casinos, poker etc. However, this is one game that has truly profited from the move to the virtual world, sparking a massive interest from players new to the world of bingo and online bingo, and staying true to the social roots of bingo.

Moving bingo online has opened up the delights of this deceptively simple game and made it available for the pleasure of millions of bingo fans around the world. And I’m proud to be one of them!

Written by Bingo Lady

Shiny new green bingo balls of light

Green bingo balls of light doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as “Great balls of fire!” - but never mind.

As you might guess from the headline, I’m referring to the latest energy-saving campaign from Mecca Bingo - who teamed up with local domestic power supplier to provide a pair of enery-efficient light bulbs to every bingo player who visits their bingo hall.

I’m full of admiration for any company, which includes an increasing number of bingo halls plus online bingo websites, that do their bit for charity, or even the general population - which is also charity when it comes down to it.

Traditional British bingo companies have quite a presence in focusing public awareness on subjects we might not spend much time thinking about - except perhaps when we’re playing a boring game of online bingo - which doesn’t happen that often!

We’ve got the poor staff from Gala Bingo climbing up mountains, Mecca bingo doormen giving away lightbulbs - whatever next! All in the name of progress!

For those online bingo players among you who want to do your save energy bit, using a laptop is considerably greener than a standard desktop computer. You could also try turning out the lights at the same time.

Written by Bingo Lady

Playing online bingo by mobile phone

Has anyone ever tried this? It’s something I’ve yet to do, play bingo online via my mobile. It’s definitely an intruiging concept but I can’t quite imagine online bingo successfully morphing to mobile phone mode.

For one thing you need a whole lotta space. I’ve played other casino games on my mobile before, blackjack, even poker, but never bingo. Apparently it’s possible to load most of the online bingo site features onto your handset, almost the same as the website you normally use.

I guess it’s down to the type of mobile phone you have. If you’re an old fuddy duddy like me then you’ve still got your Nokia from 5 years back, which does all the basic things a mobile phone should do and that’s it.

I bought it before I was into online bingo, and never imagined for a second that I might use it to access online websites, let alone online bingo sites – surely this is what computers are for!

Call me an old fashioned bingo head, but I think I’ll stick with my laptop for the internet and playing bingo online, and I’ll keep my phone for my mum – I’m always the first one she calls if she scores a full house playing online bingo! Bless her cotton socks!

Written by Bingo Lady

What is so bad about online bingo in the USA

The way the US government has handled the whole fiasco starting from the 1961 Wire Act up to the UIGEA still leaves me gawping in shock and amazment. For citizens in the land of the free, where the 5th amendment is used daily in courts all over the land, what is the big deal about online bingo, online poker or even online casino games?

Online bingo is my thing, it keeps me going. And if I want to play online bingo there’s nothing stopping me, as a British citizen. However if you happen to live in the good old USA it’s another matter entirely. My question is why?

America gave birth to the internet and the dot com boom, and a whole new industry was born. Gambling has always been an inherent part of our nature, and online bingo is just one facet of that.

I tune in and drop out in the evenings and at weekends to play my favourite online bingo games. It’s harmless, you can play for hours on pennies, or if you’re really good at keeping a schedule you can get by on just playing free bingo games without having to spend a penny of your own!

I’m just trying to imagine the uproar it would cause if Gordon Brown suddenly turned round and declared it illegal to play online bingo - he would be lynched! There’s no way anybody’s going to tell me I can’t play bingo online. No way Jose!

Written by Bingo Lady

Addicted to online bingo

An article published earlier today in Bingostreet news section reports about the huge fight going on in the UK about online gambling. As online bingo enthusiasts this affects us all, but it is a controversial subject.

A new NHS clinic is being opened to care for problem gamblers who suffer from addiction to gambling. The main problem facing the clinic is funding, and who should do the funding. The clinic has funds to operate for a year, but the future after that is in jeopardy.

The 2005 Gambling Act made pretty sure that all online bingo operators, online casino operators etc., who wanted to operate in the UK had be regulated, and were also subject to increased revenue tax - all great news for the Treasury.

But where has all this money gone? Organisations like Gamcare, which is already funded by the online bingo industry among others, is fighting against the RIGT trying to find an answer to the funding problems for clinics such as these.

The Gambling Commission, also funded partially by the online bingo and casino industry, has little support from the apathetic government since the super-casino fiasco, and doesn’t really know what’s what.

So who should pay? The online bingo and casino industry, plus the land-based industry is already paying huge taxes, plus has donated £250,000 to the clinic already. As an NHS clinic shouldn’t the government be funding the rest?

Personally, I believe that the biggest problem is getting society (and the government) to recognise that addiction to gambling, as with any kind of addiction, is a serious condition that requires treatment. Once they get that into their thick heads then we can all get on with our daily fix of online bingo fun.

Written by Bingo Lady

Obama-bingo -- whatever next?

I just had to laugh out loud when I saw the bingo headlines this morning, Barack Obama with his own online bingo website! OK, so it’s not quite true. Apparently a couple of guys set up www.obama-bingo.com to bring two dynamically opposite worlds together - politics and bingo. (Reminds me of one of our recent bingo polls - who would you prefer to play bingo with, Obama or Hillary Clinton? - It was very close, but Hillary beat Obama by 1%)

There is a deeper meaning to Obama-Bingo that makes it a very worthy cause, winners get to donate their prize to their favourite charity. And there’s a really nice twist in this online bingo game that’ll be put to the test tonight in the US, when Obama makes his next convention speech.

The bingo cards have keywords instead of numbers, that featured in previous Obama speeches. There’ll be an electronic link from the convention to the online bingo site, and as soon as he opens his mouth and pops out a featured word it’ll be transmitted to Obama-Bingo players. First person to Bingo on a line wins the grand prize - and their lucky chosen charity gets the full benefit. Just another reason why I’m mad for online bingo!

Written by Helen

Paddy Power Bingo-- thank you for the free online bingo room

I’d like to dedicate this post to Paddy Power Bingo – for providing an exclusive Free Bingo Room for Bingostreeters earlier this week. This was the first ever bingo promotion of its kind that we’d ever done at Bingostreet, and I think that some of my colleagues were secretly concerned that it might not go down well, just because it was so new.

However I’m very pleased to report that it was a roaring success and the free bingo room was totally buzzing with Bingostreeters meeting and chatting with other Bingostreeters while they played free bingo. Tons of free cash prizes were won by happy Bingostreeters, the CM was an absolute delight, and we got a lovely bunch of thank you emails from contented Bingostreeters after the free online bingo event that really warmed our cockles!

Paddy Power Bingo also said that it went really well – it was a first for them too – and I’m pretty sure we’ll be holding more of these great free bingo room events in the future!

Paddy Power Bingo might be relatively new to the world of online bingo but they sure know how to party in real bingo style! WTG guys, and thank you for your generousity in giving our Bingostreeters a really fabulous evening of top free online bingo!

Written by Bingo Lady

Wink Bingo "highly offensive" advertisment banned

Ok, so here’s the deal, something’s really bitten my goat today. You’ve probably read in the news that the advertising agency for Wink Bingo has unintentionally landed its sponsors in hot water - their latest ad being banned by the ASA - the Advertising Standards Authority.

You might think that the advert must have been pretty racy, raunchy, offensive, aimed at minors, or something of that order to have offended the stuffy bigwigs of the ASA. But check this out - the ad shows a nurse in the maternity ward, she’s celebrating her bingo jackpot win at Wink Bingo - you can see her laptop on her trolley, and in the background is a woman giving birth. The catchphrase is: “Find the appropriate moment…”

So somebody please tell me what’s wrong with that, or am I the only one with a sense of humour here? The ASA says that it’s inappropriate (funny choice of word when you read the catchphrase) as it means that a professional health-care worker is ignoring the poor woman suffering in labor because she’s just hit the jackpot at Wink Bingo.

It’s so obviously a joke that their decision to ban this ad isn’t funny. The UK is becoming so flipping PC it’s ridiculous. The advert doesn’t show sexy young things winning the jackpot, nor does it promote Wink Bingo to underage kids (unless you count the unborn baby), nor does it use bad language, so does that mean it’s offensive?

We all know that bingo players and online bingo players alike are mostly women, though it’s becoming much more popular with the menfolk too. So here’s my question - what’s the big deal with this? I think the point of the advertisment is simply to show that anyone can win the bingo jackpots at Wink Bingo at anytime. Simple as that. And I for one do not find that offensive in any way!

Written by Bingo Lady

EiG to bring out the legal big guns to discuss UIGEA

I will be looking forward to the 2008 European Interactive Gaming (EiG) conference in Barcelona, set to take place on between 23 and 25 September. Why? Because this year we will get to hear some pretty prominent online gaming industry experts debate the state of affairs regards the US legal situation.

Those readers of Bingo Street who have been following this blog will know about the devastating effect the US’ UIGEA legislation had on non-US online gaming companies when it was introduced in late 2006. Online bingo games operators and UK online bingo halls were all, with one fell swoop, banned from operating in the US market – it was a major dislocation to business which forced many to seek new markets in able to recover.

Clarion Gaming, the organizers of the EiG event are to be congratulated in assembling this array of experts willing to discuss the ramifications of US legislative policy. I for one am going to be very interested to hear what they may be predicting regarding the future of the US online gaming market.

Written by Bingo Lady

Alberta approach to problem gambling not the answer

If there is one thing you cannot accuse the online bingo industry of doing, and that’s not recognizing its responsibility in limiting the effects of problem gambling. I would say that bingo online as an industry practices some of the most aware policies in trying to negate the effects of problem gambling and its social consequences.

A story out of Alberta, Canada, recently caught my eye in which an attempt has been made to get problem gamblers to sign onto a list of people who have voluntarily banned themselves from going to casinos. Guess what? The scheme has not worked.

The problem gamblers who signed on have subsequently found it all too easy to sneak past security who can’t be expected to remember the faces of all 1,500 people on the list. Oh well,… at least they tried.

I prefer the way in which UK online bingo halls are able to minimize problem gambling through being able to operate in a well regulated gaming environment. The UK leads the world in this regard and online bingo games have maintained their sociable nature as a result.

There are always going to be people who take things too far and problem gambling is a serious problem for those affected by it. However, the Alberta experiment has shown us the way not to deal with this problem – Online bingo seems to be doing a much better job,… at least here in the UK.

Written by Bingo Lady

Canadian professor backs online gambling regulation

A leading Canadian academic has called for the liberalizing of Canada’s online gambling industry as a way of providing better regulation to reduce gambling’s harmful effects.

June Cotte, a marketing associate professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, believes like any sane person that regulating online gambling is a far better way to control problem gambling than to criminalize gambling.

“One potential solution is to allow legitimate corporate sponsors, like the corporations that run the major casinos in Las Vegas or the government sponsors in Canada, to enter into a newly regulated market for online gambling,” said Cotte. “Just as legalised commercial gambling in casinos allows governments to regulate it, so, too, could the legalisation of online gambling allow for better regulation and attempts to reduce the growth of problem gamblers.”

Let’s hope more voices like this are heard in Canada which runs the serious risk of following the very flawed approach of the US. As we all know, online bingo and many online bingo hall operators were badly burned by the implementation of the notorious UIGEA legislation in the US. It actually forced Canadian online bingo games software developer Cryptologic to seek the friendlier shores of Europe rather than risk a Canadian version of UIGEA coming about – the lose was all Canada’s.

Written by Bingo Lady

Gala continues a worth bingo tradition

Charity and bingo have a wonderful history of going together and the online bingo world has definitely taken up the bingo tradition of giving to those in need with a number of online bingo games charity events.

The latest effort comes from Gala Bingo, one of the big names in both land bingo and bingo online, which has taken up the challenge of fund raising for the Sue Ryder Care charity, an organization that helps those with some of the more terrible illnesses that stalk our society.

If you get the chance, try visiting Gala Bingo to support this fundraiser, if only to give something to those in need. It’s good to see one of online bingo’s leading brands take the lead in such a worthy cause.

Written by Bingo Lady

Say bingo with flowers

The famous Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is about to become a part of the online bingo community thanks to an interesting promotion by online bingo hall Crown Bingo.

In a statement from Crown Bingo.com we learn:

“In honour of this fantastic display of horticulture, we are giving you the chance to win a bouquet of flowers for every day the show is on (the 8th to the 13th July).

“To win a beautiful summer flower arrangement, all you have to do is buy the most cards in room 2 throughout the day. You do not need to do anything else, just sit back, play and you could win yourself a fantastic bunch of flowers!”

This flower show is part of the legacy left by Henry VIII, who never had the chance to play online bingo, who built one of the finest gardens in the world at Hampton Court Palace. Today it is the home of the one of the world’s largest horticultural shows. Up to 150 specialist nurseries take part.

So all you green thumbed online bingo games players out there, if you fancy some pretty flowers to put beside your gaming computer, go to Crown Bingo and start playing bingo online.

Written by Bingo Lady

More room for online gaming at ICE in 2009

We all know online bingo is growing as an industry, just like the rest of the online gaming industry - and to prove it Clarion Gaming has revealed that the interactive area at next year’s International Casino Exhibition (ICEi) will include 40% more room to meet demand from remote gaming companies.

The show, scheduled for between 27–29 January, 2009, at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London is a major gaming industry event which saw 69 exhibitors from twenty different jurisdictions take part in 2008.

Anthony Medica, Clarion Gaming’s Sales Executive responsible for ICEi, commented: “2008 was a record-breaking year on a number of fronts. The final attendance figures confirmed that 2 861 unique i-gaming professionals drawn from 68 jurisdictions made the journey to London, a year-on-year increase of 21.2 percent. These factors contributed massively to generating what was a universally positive response from all of our various stakeholders.”

He further added: “The international remote gaming community continues to see ICEi as its exhibition of preference and demand for the additional space is strong with all indicators pointing to there being another great show in 2009.”
Online bingo games are expected to be one of the growth success stories for the rest of 2008, so watch out for a large bingo online presence when this event roles round next year.

Written by Bingo Lady

Crumbs from the government glad i am in online bingo and not ordinary bingo

Well, we got the announcement everyone was expecting regards the government’s attempt to help the land bingo industry by upping the number of jackpot slot machines in bingo halls. They now can look forward to a whole eight machines instead of the four – should double their profits, that!

I think this is pretty ‘scraping the barrel’ stuff for land bingo which is losing customers hand over fist at the moment. Some blame the smoking ban and the tax laws – I blame a wholesale attitude change by people who want to play bingo online instead of in some tired musty old hall.

In the online bingo industry we don’t need to substitute bingo games for something else to succeed in bingo. Our players can play slots if they want, but the real attraction at any online bingo hall - as any Bingo Street visitor will tell you - is the actual bingo action!

Written by Bingo Lady

Celebrate Fathers Day with Crown Bingo!

This June is man month at Crown Bingo. Here are some special bingo promotional offers you may want to take advantage of to make him happy.

Monthly Prize Draw

This month any player who deposits £10 will be entered into the draw to win a Sony 32” digital LCD TV, perfect for the footie (or a Sex and the city marathon!). The draw will be made on the last day of the month, and the lucky winner will be notified within 24 hours.

Friday 13^th

On Friday 13^th themed Chat Games will be played throughout the day for the chance to win Friday the 13^th on DVD, spooky!

Fathers Day

Sunday 15^th June on the hour between 10am and 6pm full house winners will receive a Nivea for men gift set, then at 7pm the full house winner will receive £50 red letter day vouchers.

Charity Bingo – Orchid Cancer Awareness (Testicular Cancer)

June 23^rd will be charity bingo day this month. Between 7pm-9pm 50% of prize pool will be donated to Orchid Cancer Awarness, so don't forget that the more you play bingo the more Crown Bingo will give away! As well as this charity pins will be given away throughout the day.

Feel lucky? Play at Crown Bingo to win!

Gala Bingo special offers for June 18th and 19th 2008

We have two special offers from Gala Bingo for you this week. On 18^th of June, 2008 you can take advantage on the “Buy one and get one free” offer and from the following day you can nominate yourself to be one of the guaranteed winners. Gala Bingo’s “Everyone’s a winner” promotion starts on 19^th of June, 2008.

Wednesday June 18^th 2008

75 and 80 ball B.O.G.O.F.

Buy one and get one free offer

Interstate 75, Area 75, and 1980 clubs

Take advantage on the B.O.G.O.F. offer!

Thursday 19^th June 2008

Between Thursday 19th June 2008 and Monday 23rd June 2008 galabingo.com will be making everyone who buys a bingo ticket a winner. Simply buy a bingo ticket and you are guaranteed a win! Play online bingo in any of Galabingo.com’s clubs during the promotional period and you’ll become a Galabingo.com winner.

Lucky winners will receive 50p into their bingo accounts. Remember, free bingo does not count. You have to buy at least one ticket. Also, you can only win once a day, but you can purchase a ticket and win on the next day .. till the end of the promotional period.

Play to win at Galabingo.com!

Online bingo summit kicks off

Online bingo summit kicks off

online bingo vs tv-bingo

I will be very interested to see how ITV’s new bingo show (called Bingo Night Live) performs.

For those of you that do not know about this, ITV has employed the services of former glam model Melinda Messenger to front its latest foray into the nation’s favourite game. The show begins tomorrow night and plays out Tuesdays to Saturdays every week.

While you couldn’t call this online bingo, there is an online element to the show in that players can buy their bingo cards online at the shows website.

Here’s my take on the whole TV bingo thing: Why play for only one hour each night at a time you have no choice about when you can play at one of the Bingo Street-rated online bingo halls like Wink Bingo any time you want?

In a nutshell: You can win just as much when you play bingo online and there’s no time restriction in going after those juicy online bingo games jackpots!

I’ll be interested in seeing how Melinda does (wink, wink!), but I don’t see a very long-term future for this type of bingo over free online bingo, if you know what I mean!

Written by Bingo Lady

PartyGaming to buy its way out of us trouble

I wonder what’s going on here?

There have been claims in the New York Post that PartyGaming, that heavyweight operator of bingo online games and other online gaming activities, may have to pay a massive $1 billion to the US government to avoid prosecution over its pre-UIGEA gaming activities in the US market!

That’s $1 billion folks!

See, all you have to do if you’re a government wanting to make a few extra bucks is make a new law and then make it retroactive so you can go after people who innocently operated in a time when that law did not exist – nice!

While it’s true original PartyGaming founders Russ de Leon and Ruth Parisol scored a cool $7 billion when they took the company public in London, it may be that they are willing to part with $1 billion just to avoid a shareholder revolt.

However, $1 billion here, $1 billion there, and you’re starting to talk real money. In my humble opinion, that’s 1$ billion that will not be available for prize money for us poor bingo online players looking to make our own score in online bingo.

It could be worse however. The US could simply decide to smash PartyGaming with a massive law suit that would see one of the more popular online bingo halls disappear down the memory hole. I hope it doesn’t come to that – so maybe $1 billion isn’t such a bad price to pay for staying in business?

Written By Bingo Lady

Play bingo online instead of football in new european bingo championship

Ireland’s online bingo games operator Paddy Power is launching a new European Bingo Championship aimed for June. It’s the latest entry into the red-hot online bingo sector which has been enjoying substantial growth for the last three years.

The competition is obviously designed to cash in on the upcoming football Euro Championships – so all you football widows out there now have your own championship to take part in!

For those who play online bingo at a high level (and we’ve got some of the best here at Bingo Street), Paddy Power’s championships is offering a new Chevrolet car, travel and laptop prizes and bonuses. A grand final is scheduled for June 29 with the competition’s qualifiers taking place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Written by Mike

Call to sex and the city wannabes

888ladies.com is asking whether you want to make your wardrobe look as fabulous as the stars? So what does this have to do with online bingo?

Well, for starters, 888ladies is right in the middle of its May Fashion Month. Inspired by the hit TV show Sex and the City and its highly anticipated movie version, 888ladies.com is giving you the chance to indulge in the ultimate 888ladies experience, and where else but in England’s home of hip - London!

The promotion includes an overnight stay at an exclusive hotel in London along with the chance to preen and pamper yourself at the hotel’s spa. This is followed by a matinee screening of Sex and the City the Movie at a plush cinema and then it’s cocktail time for a chance to indulge in drinks and some Sex and the City gossip.

But here’s the best part of the deal – you get to share it with a friend!

And all you have to do to be in to win this amazing experience is simply play bingo online - for each 10p you wager in any 75 - ball bingo room, you receive 1 promotion point with the top 4 roomies with the most promotion points being sent off to London for a night out that even Carrie would envy!

So, all you fashionistas out there, get along to 888ladies online bingo games chat rooms while there’s still time (ends Sunday May 25) and play online bingo like the stars you are!

Written by Bingo Lady

Peers of the Realm tell it as it is

The news from the British Parliament’s House of Lords has brought into sharp relief French protectionist attitudes in maintaining its state-run gambling monopoly.

UK-based online bingo games operators and online bingo players alike will be heartened by the general dissatisfaction expressed by the nation’s peers over what they say is an unfair policy penalizing those merely seeking to access the French market under European Union Treaty terms.

One Lord James pointed out that the penalty for downloading child pornography was the same in France as for making a small bet with a British bookie.

Lord Davies claimed French policy does not defend the French consumer (the usual excuse given for state-run gambling monopolies), but only protects French state gambling monopoly.

“The European Commission has made it clear that the French law is not acceptable within the framework of the European Community, and as a consequence we have no intention of following that atrocious example,” Lord Davies said.

My Comment: Here, Here! Play bingo online in France! Here, here! What, What! No British online bingo halls in France! Disgrace! Battle of Agincourt! Hmmph! Here, here! I resign! . . . chortle, chortle chortle, . . .

Written by Bingo Lady

Guess what! Online bingo is part of the third fastest growing internet industry

I’ve often said it, and I’ll say it again: Online bingo is one of the fastest growing niches in the online gambling industry.

Now we have a report by a respected source saying that online gambling is the third fastest growing industry on the Internet. If this is true, and we have no reason to doubt it, then that means online bingo games and online bingo halls must also still be one of the fastest growing online gambling sectors.

For the record, online news site ZDNet is reporting that latest US statistics for February and March 2008 show an increasing interest in online gaming with the industry garnering the third largest percentage monthly increase.

Online gambling followed radio entertainment with a 27% growth and gay and lesbian themed sties at 26%. Online gambling came in at 14%.

Written by Bingo Lady

Swedish gambling chief resigns

It’s all over for Jesper Kärrbrink, the now former CEO at Sweden’s gambling monopoly Svenska Spel. Kärrbrink is leaving his post due to conflicts with the company’s directors on how the Swedish gambling monopoly needs to be run.

Or is it?

“Lately it has become obvious that my ideas on how to run Svenska Spel do not agree with the conception of the owner,” Karrbrink said about his departure. “Therefore, I and the Board have reached a mutual understanding that the best thing to do in this situation is that the Board finds a successor as CEO.

“My years with Svenska Spel have been fantastic, I will remember them with much delight – especially all the wonderful co-workers and their incredible commitment,” he said.

The recently appointed Svenska Spel board chairperson Margareta Winberg has issued her own statement concerning Kärrbrink’s departure:

“I regret that Jesper Kärrbrink now leaves Svenska Spel,” said Winberg. “He has been a creative leader and has re-organised Svenska Spel in an efficient way. But I also understand Jesper’s situation. If you do not share the owner’s fundamental perspective on how the company should be governed you can no longer be the leader of the company.”

Those of you who have been following the stellar growth of online bingo in the Scandinavian market will also be aware of the pressure being put on Sweden’s gambling monopoly by the European Commission. It’s this pressure that is obviously behind Kärrbrink’s resignation.

Kärrbrink has done a great job at Svenksa Spel where the company has seen excellent growth over the years to become a powerhouse in online gaming, including online bingo games. Kärrbrink has also signed an agreement not to work for a competing company for one year.

So what happens in one year? Will we see Svenska Spel confronted by the double whammy of losing its monopoly status and the emergence of Kärrbrink at a competing company? I wonder if Kärrbrink will take his expertise into the bingo online industry if he does decide to stick with online gaming. After all, the market for those who play online bingo in Sweden is one of the most robust in the world.

Written by Bingo Lady

Looking at yesterday’s Bingo Street news I saw an article reporting that Gala Bingo, a very fine online bingo site, was claiming the most winners in online bingo. I quote:

Gala Bingo, a popular online bingo hall you can access through online bingo portal Bingo Street, is claiming it has more online bingo games winners that any other bingo online site.

Gala’s claims centre around its fixed 50p win in its One-To-Go games, a process the site claims can be converted into many extra wins because a win of 50p can then buy an online bingo player 10 extra cards, thus multiplying the chances of more wins.

This is clever marketing and my hat goes off to those who dreamed up this claim based on wins of 50p. But I think we can all agree that the prizes we all take notice of are the big money prizes, a case in point for the argument of quality over quantity as a true measure for online bingo prizes.

Written by Mike

Sisters take each-other to court over bingo win

A nasty little dispute has erupted between three UK land-bingo playing sisters who are taking each other to court over a £50,000 win according to a Sky News report.

Siblings Linda Kenny and Doreen Thomas are teaming up against their sister Edna Sexton in a bid to get an alleged share of the £50,000 that they say she backed out on paying. The two plaintiffs say they had all agreed to split the winnings three ways after the win on a National Game ticket at the Buckingham Bingo Palace in Hunts Cross, Liverpool last June.

Both Linda and Doreen are suing Edna for £16,666 each plus interest.

In her defense, Mrs Sexton says the three sisters had made a different agreement in which payments over £1,000 were not split.

According to Sky News, the case continues.

My bet is that Edna has already splurged on the winnings and doesn’t have any prize money left to split. As for Linda and Doreen, maybe they should think about getting involved with an online bingo hall and putting their efforts into learning how to win and play online bingo games. There are plenty of great prizes to be won in online bingo, such as Wink Bingo’s £1,000 Guaranteed Jackpot – now there’s something they could put their effort into.

Written by Mike

The taxman and land casino freedbies

It’s often been said that land-based gaming operations will always have one major advantage over their online competitors – the ability to load on freebies in the form of complementary meals, extra entertainment, free accommodation etc. However, the worm seems to be turning with reports that the US taxman is now targeting what are called ‘comps’, the American land-casino tradition of plying its customers with extras and add-ons.

Online bingo does a fine job of providing its players with attractive bonuses and promotions and, best of all, it’s all above board and okay with the taxman. If you play bingo online, you can expect to see exceptional jackpot wins and the chance to win some pretty amazing prizes – and you don’t have to travel halfway across the country to enjoy it.

However, land-based gaming operators could find themselves having to cut back on their freebies which some government revenue services see as a potential money earner. How amunsing.

Your average online bingo games operator does not have to worry about such things which means they can work on providing the best free online bingo service they can. The same can’t be said for our land-based bingo cousins who are suffering badly at this time.

So, if you’re thinking about enjoying a night of bingo, go online and save yourself the time of traveling to a land-based gaming operation that is probably more worried about what it can cut back on than what it can offer you.

Written by Mike

Tv commercialism a sing online bingo is alright

There is no doubt that we are seeing increasing amounts of bingo adverts appearing on UK television screens. With the relaxing of advertising rules allowing gambling to be promoted on TV, it was inevitable that the fastest growing niche in online gaming, online bingo, would take to the airwaves to promote its message.

It actually goes all the way back to Think Bingo’s original online bingo ad in September of 2005 – ancient history now! Since then we’ve seen the likes of Jackpotjoy advertise its ‘The Price is Right’ game followed by efforts from the Sun newspaper to use TV to promote its bingo site.

For those of us who play online bingo via a trip down Bingo Street, the Foxy Bingo advert is probably the most memorable of the bingo online related TV commercials. Remember how the site’s mascot ‘Foxy’ leading a crowd of people down a street as a few famous bingo calls are made, complete with two fat ladies (88), a knock on the door (number four) and two little ducks (22).

Then there’s the celebrity factor appearing on TV with online bingo halls. Vic Reeves’ made an appearance in 888 Ladies bingo’s TV commercial. He is seen gettingup in drag complete with a pink wig and pint of beer to play bingo online.

What this all points to is that the online bingo industry is positively humming. The cost of placing a TV ad is not insignificant, and only an industry on the move can contemplate such promotions. Is online bingo taking over TV? Maybe it will be the next big thing after the reality TV trend has finally done its dash.

Written by Bingo Lady

Investing in online bingo proving a winning strategy for 888.com

The dramatic decrease in 888.com’s profit over 2007 is yet more evidence that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) has proved very damaging to the online bingo games industry. To its credit, 888.com went on to invest in online bingo halls in the UK as it withdrew from the US market to avoid possible prosecution by US authorities. Despite the company losing nearly 55% of its sales due to the loss of the US market, 888 believes it can look forward to a bright future. “2007 was a year of transformation,'’ Chief Executive Officer Gigi Levy said in a statement after the company released its 2007 results. “With many strategic initiatives now underway, we see a bright future.'’ I would say that a major contributing factor to 888’s optimism is its continued investment in bingo online and in the belief that the amount of people who play bingo online will grow. Online bingo is still one of the fastest growing niches in online gaming and with the growth in the Scandinavian markets assured it’s a pretty safe bet that companies that follow a bingo investment model will do well.

Written by Bingo Lady