The popularity of online bingo sites has grown so much that even popular online poker sites are listing places for online bingo players to play!

LTDPoker has always been a favourite site for online poker players to get free bankroll and exclusive deposit bonus and now they have extended this to the top online bingo sites as well!

The online community can find all the free bingo sites, the top bingo deposit bonuses and regular news updates.

Too little too late, is the message which is going back to the British Government, which plans to help the UK bingo industry this week with extra payout machines. It is widely expected that the £500 jackpots on Category B3 machines will be doubled.

As long ago as last February, Gerry Sutcliffe, the minister with responsibility for gambling, went on record as promising to help the industry, which was struggling with the smoking ban, a reduction in machines and double taxation. In the 11 months since then, 27 more clubs have closed, reducing the total number of UK bingo clubs in Britain to 590.

Seven months ago the Government said it was considering doubling the permitted number of the £1 stake B3 machines per club from four to eight. The subject was debated yesterday by an all-party committee.

The industry believes that more machines and higher prizes are not enough to revive the industry and protect the 17,000 jobs in bingo. In a circular letter to 200 MPs from operator Rank, chief executive Ian Burke said: "This has been a frustrating year for our industry. The Treasury has closed its eyes to the damaged caused by the continuing discrimination against UK bingo clubs and has refused to engage in any meaningful dialogue." He said that the DCMS - the UK ministry in charge of gambling - had 'dithered' over measures to help the industry. His company runs just over 100 uk bingo clubs.

Operators pay double taxation, both the 15 per cent gaming duty and the new 15 per cent level of VAT. But other forms of gambling, including betting shops and casinos, pay no VAT.

Compiled with the problem that bingo has found a new audience via online bingo sites that may have detracted bingo players away from going to more expensive bingo halls.

Popular online bingo sites like 888 Ladies, Wink Bingo and Foxy Bingo offer free games, big prizes and lively online bingo communities which the UK Bingo clubs just can't compete with.

Party Bingo management, one of the most senior members of the Party Gaming management team, who run PartyBingo as well as one of Europe’s largest poker sites, has announced that he will step down next month.

O’Malia has been Chief Executive of online sports betting group Gamebookers, which was acquired by Party Gaming in August 2006. He has been responsible for the integration of the sports betting product into Party poker business and it is understood his departure will have minimal effect on Party’s bingo business.

John O’Malia, Group Managing Director of Party Gaming, said he would leave at the end of February 2009 in order to pursue other business interests. Jim Ryan, Group Chief Executive, will take on his duties.

In an official statement O’Malia said: “My time at PartyGaming has been extraordinary. We have made enormous strides in repositioning the Group’s gaming portfolio, something that I was determined to achieve before moving on. I am enormously proud of the progress we have made and the fact that many of the Group’s games are now once again recognised as being best in class. Whilst I shall certainly miss the excitement of working for the world’s leading listed online gaming company, I am looking forward to taking on fresh business challenges.”

2008 Third quarter revenues from sports betting were just $5.1 million, against poker revenues of $65 million. Many analysts believe that Party has been unimpressive in its cross-selling of sports betting to its core poker audience.

Jim Ryan said: “Over the past two and a half years, John has made a significant contribution to the transformation and leadership of the Group. In particular, his vision and dedication were fundamental to the successful launch of the next generation of our signature PartyPoker.com product in September 2008. John is a natural leader and is keen to fulfil his potential in a more senior management role that will play to his considerable industry and management experience. Whilst saddened by his decision to leave the Group, we wish him every success for the future.”

The landlord of High Wycombe’s empty Woolworths store has said she may turn it into a bingo hall.

Felicity Devonshire, the managing director of Devonshire Investment Holdings, said the 60,000 square foot site would be sub-divided and the first floor would be an ideal bingo hall.

She told the Bucks Free Press: “It could be broken up into two or three units. It’s a big site, about 60,000 square feet including the first floor, and I do not think in the current climate there is much call for spaces that large. The first floor would be a good site for something like a fitness centre or even a bingo hall.”

The landlord is unable to start converting the property until Woolworth’s administrators, Deloitte, hand back the lease on the site.

Although many bingo halls have closed because of the smoking ban and the increase in online bingo site, good sites for bingo halls are still desirable for operators and new bingo halls have been opening on a regular basis in the UK

Popular online Poker community site which has provided thousands of pounds of free bankroll to online poker players has now introduced a number of top online bingo sites to their site.

Many of the popular online bingo sites featured come from the same operators as their best online poker rooms such as Paddy Power Bingo, PartyBingo, 888 Ladies, and Gala Bingo.

Also new to LTDPoker is Wink Bingo, Sun Bingo, Posh Bingo, Bingo Fabulous and Jackpot Joy.

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Also new to LTDPoker is online casino sites and online sports betting sites.

The votes for Which Bingo’s Site of the Year award have been announced and the winner is Jackpot Joy. In a very close vote they just edged out Platinum Play Bingo and Crown Bingo.

In the new site of the year award Bingo Playground took top spot, followed by Tombola Bingo and Wink Bingo.

The votes were something of a surprise as Platinum Play Bingo was a new site in 2008 and they must have worked very hard to get all their players and friends voting for them. By contrast Jackpot Joy is a huge site and has thousands of players every day. Crown Bingo, who finished third last year as well, continues to build on its reputation as being the friendliest online bingo site in the UK.

Top 98 bingo sites in the UK, according to Which Bingo:

1 Jackpot Joy
2 Platinum Play Bingo
3 Crown Bingo
4 Bingo Liner (UK)
5 Sun Bingo
6 Tombola Bingo
7 Bingo Playground
8 House Of Bingo
9 Gone Bingo UK
10 Foxy Bingo
11 Bingo MagiX
12 Free Bingo.co.uk
13 Rehab Bingo
14 Wink Bingo
15 Gala Bingo
16 Harry’s Bingo
17 All Bingo Club
18 Ladbrokes Bingo
19 Mecca Bingo
20 888Ladies
21 King Jackpot UK
22 Bingo.com
23 BingoSKY.co.uk
24 Paddy Power Bingo
25 Game Village
26 Think Bingo
27 Blackpool Club Bingo
28 Cyber Bingo
29 Bingo Cafe
30 Wow Bingo

Gala the company behind the famous Gala Bingo has teamed up with Virtue Fusion and launched an all new online bingo site - Minxy Bingo.

The site, which displays the Minxy Mascot - a white Siamese cat, claims to provide its players with some unique online features via its ultra-modern bingo software.

Surprisingly, the Gala brand name isn't evident on the homepage at Minxy Bingo and this new site operates using completely separate software to the Gala Bingo site.

Minxy Bingo was launched without any publicity and to date has not been the subject of any form of media campaign which seems unusual for Gala.

There are many subsidiaries within the Gala Coral Group but this is the first subsidiary which could be considered in direct competition with one of its existing divisions.

One leading online gaming analyst recently commented:
“There is a major question of why they would spend £5 million a year on their bingo technology when they can outsource the contract to a software provider for a small percentage of their gaming profit.

When they launched they had an outstanding product but now they are pretty much on a level with their rivals and without substantial expenditure they could slip behind.

Gala Coral has an absolute debt mountain to overcome and the last thing they need is a big capital expenditure project on bingo.

I’d say that Minxy Bingo was a test for them to see how the numbers stack up with a rival operator and, if they look good, they will be onto Virtue Fusion software within six to nine months.”
Sadly throughout the course of 2008, Gala Bingo was forced to close down 13 of its land based bingo halls in addition to four high street casinos.

With the UK slipping into recession, the future of the land based UK bingo hall remains uncertain and it is possible that the Gala Coral Group have realised that online bingo is the way forward for their business.

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Wink Bingo | Paddy Power Bingo | Sun Bingo | Jackpot Joy

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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