A woman described herself as ‘gutted’ after she won £5,000 playing bingo at a popular UK Bingo Club - because she thought she had won £250,000.

Louise Payton was playing at the Bilston Mecca Bingo club when she hit what she thought was the regional jackpot. She only learned the following day it was a national jackpot and had been shared between multiple winners at different clubs.
Mrs Payton, 30, who lives at Clare Crescent, Wolverhampton, told the Wolverhampton Express and Star: “The staff told us it was a regional only final and they told me I’d won a lot of money. I was very disappointed to find out I’d won a lot less.”

She said she had already planned a trip to Disneyland with her two young daughters before learning that her win was much lower than she expected.
two young daughters after she called house on the draw on December 21.

But on Monday she received a phone call to say that there were several winners and that she would receive just over £5,000.

Mrs Payton said: “The staff told us it was a regional only final and they told me I’d won a lot of money. I was very disappointed to find out I’d won a lot less.” General manager Natalie Smith, from Mecca Bingo, confirmed Mrs Payton was playing a national game, rather than regional

Still a bet alot of you in the bingo community would be chuffed with five grand right now - I know I would!

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888 Holdings is a planning a major expansion of its bingo operation. The group has signed three agreements to launch bingo networks, with two planned for the UK.

The new bingo networks, due to launch next year, will be launched on behalf of third party companies and will significantly increase 888 Holdings' business-to-business presence. It is hoped the new games will boost revenues and geographic reach.

As well as the UK networks, the company is to launch a bingo site in Spain, its first specifically aimed at that market.

The group's current third party online bingo portfolio includes Foxy Bingo, Mirror Bingo, Cashcade Network, think Bingo, Thinkbingocosy, Bingo Scotland and Wink Bingo.

888 chief executive, Gigi Levy, says the new initiatives represent an acceleration of the company's bingo activity, currently the fastest growing segment of the online gaming industry and also its focus on expanding its B2B operation.

It is not yet known how the new bingo networks will be branded. 888's popular bingo website, 888ladiesbingo recently launched a VIP members club called Golden Ladies, offering extra benefits for regular members in an effort to combat the habit bingo community have for flitting between several sites.

There have been mounting claims over the past few months for the government to reconsider its current tax whammy on bingo clubs. Under the current regime, bingo club revenues are subject to both VAT at 17.5% and gross profits tax at 15%. There has been strong evidence to support the claims that this double-tax sting is a major contributor for the closure of over 100 uk bingo clubs in the past year alone.

Stewart Hosie MP said, “Licensed bingo remains the only gambling product subject to double taxation, which results in an effective tax rate of 28.2 per cent compared with 15 per cent for most other gambling products … Bingo halls provide a safe and friendly environment for the whole bingo community but especially older people to meet and socialise.”

It does seem strange that bricks and mortar bingo halls have to be subjected to these extraordinary high taxes. The government want to help communities not strain things further by closing down meeting areas such as bingo halls. Perhaps we need to start dishing out bingo cards to those that sit down at Parliament so they can see how much fun playing bingo games can be.

The growth of online bingo has resulted in a drop in numbers of bingo players playing at UK Bingo Clubs. Whilst the gambling industry continues to grow both in popularity and profits so all of us here at LivetheDreamBingo support the bingo community in calling for tax breaks for UK Bingo Clubs.

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