Things are looking pretty grim for Gala Bingo these days.  Just a few weeks ago, they closed five bingo clubs and this past week they announced to staff that they would be cutting managerial jobs across the 150 remaining bingo clubs.  They are citing the new bingo tax increase and the ban on smoking for reducing the number of players and therefore revenue.

One memo said, “As you are aware, the bingo industry has, over the past two years, faced an unprecedented level of decline due to the impact of the smoking ban and punitive legislative change.  As a result the company has reviewed every aspect of its business and a key part of this is the way in which our clubs are structured to meet the challenge”.

Within the next month, changes will be implemented that will specifically affect those in the positions of deputy manager, assistant manager, team leader or departmental controller.  With the new structure, these positions will be eliminated to be replaced with new job titles with half of the number of employees.

Did you see the first episode of the Cube last weekend?  The new iTV1 game show looks to be a hit with over 5 ½ million viewers during it’s premiere episode.  Of course, some of that viewership may have carried over from the highly popular X Factor which aired right before.  The newest game show in the UK is hosted by Philip Schofield while the participants face challenges from within a giant Perspex cube.

Well, when you watch the show again in the coming weeks, try to pay attention to the adverts.  I know most of us take the opportunity to grab ourselves a snack or use the loo during the adverts but you may want to see the latest Wink Bingo advert.  That’s right – Wink Bingo just signed to a sponsorship deal with the Cube.  This isn’t a new thing for Wink Bingo as they also have sponsered Family Fortunes, a game show also in a Saturday night time slot.

The advert itself is too cute for words.  There is an adorable tiny kitten that is attempting to do the same challenges as the contestants within the Cube.  The only difference is that instead of the red balls used in the game show, the kitten attempts the challenges with bingo balls.  Seriously – how cute is that?

Wink Bingo has garnered a good share of the UK online bingo market in the relatively short time it has been around, however this advert in this particular time slot should make them a household name within a brief period.  There is a huge audience for the Cube and that audience continues to grow.  Online bingo in general and Wink Bingo specifically will be reaching new market segments with these newest adverts.

Just a few days ago, on 20 August, another brand new online bingo site was launched.  Live Bingo seems to be off to a good start and looks like it will be a good addition to the online bingo offerings in the UK.  One thing that should be reassuring to those who want to give it a try is that you can register for the site without providing any financial details until you are ready to either deposit or withdraw.

With the slogan “free to play everyday”, you can imagine that you will find a plethora of free bingo games on the site.  They have a variety of online bingo rooms catering to the free bingo players, each with its own unique theme.  Of course, there are plenty of regular cash games that you can play to try to win higher prize amounts.

They are starting right out with some great promotions, as well.  There is the Live Bingo Breakfast Club in the Cupcake Dreams 90 bingo room where you can get two tickets for the price of one between 7 am and 9 am every day.  Each day also sees a “Roomie of the Day” award of ￡20 with that roomie going into the “Roomie of the Month” contest, as well.  These awards are voted on by the chat hosts and based on “friendliness, room participation and fostering our community spirit”.

There are daily promotions scheduled which means there is something special no matter when you like to play online bingo.  Monday mornings bring a cashback offer from 9 am to 10 am; Tuesdays is 3 for 1 tickets between noon and 5 pm in the Lava Lounge 90 bingo room; Wednesdays is Mid Week Madness featuring 200% pots from noon to 1 pm, again in the Lava Lounge 90 room; Thursdays brings 3 for 1 tickets in all cash rooms from noon to 1 pm; Fridays has bonus cash for full house winners that end with 5, from 5 pm to midnight in the Lava Lounge 90 room; Saturdays is the Lucky Sevens day where from 7 pm to 8 pm, full house pots get bonuses for bingoing with a number ending in 7; and Sundays is a mystery competition with awards even for the Unluckiest Streak of the week.

Live Bingo proves that there is always room for a new UK online bingo site, especially when they offer free no deposit bingo where you can still win real cash.  Add to that the fun daily promotions and it looks like Live Bingo will prove to be a winner for all online bingo players.

Bucky Bingo is giving out some huge jackpots during recent weeks.  This is just another example of how far online bingo has come during the past few years and how high the winnings now reach with this so-called “soft” gambling game.  Prizes like these and even higher jackpots are showing that online bingo is a real gambling game that can result in life changing wins today.

A 93-year old grandmother recently won the Bucky Bullseye Jackpot game for a whopping  ￡50,000!  That same day at Bucky Bingo, an incredible 279 other bingo players won ￡50 each for a total of ￡63,950 given out that day.  The thrilled woman from Liverpool said that it was the first big win in her entire life and she needed to think about what she would do with it.  The Bucky Bullseye game takes place two times per day and is the result of a network from all 11 Buckingham bingo clubs.

On 4 August, Bucky Bingo had another Bucky Bullseye winner for another ￡50,000.  That winner was a 64-year old woman from Leyland who said she was simply speechless over the shock of the win and she couldn’t even make a coherent comment for the excitement.  That game, Bucky Bingo gave out a total of ￡59,600 with 192 players who won ￡50 each.

What happened next stunned everyone for a mere six hours later, the second Bucky Bullseye game was hit again and that ￡50,000 was divided among four lucky winners!  At the end of the day, Bucky Bingo had given out an incredible ￡1,300,000 in cash prizes – and they call bingo a “soft” gambling game?

Mecca Bingo has been supporting their favorite charity, the Whizz-Kidz all year and they are having a lovely promotion to do so right now.  If you are a member of Mecca Bingo (and who isn’t?), then you have until 30 August to submit your favorite recipe on the promotions page.  Your recipe must take no more than 90 minutes to prepare and cook and produce a meal for four that costs £5 or under.

The best recipes will have the chance to cook their dish in a professional kitchen during the London Grand Final cook-off, with accomodations provided that includes dinner and a West End show.  They also will get £250 in supermarket vouchers to use to stretch their grocery budgets.

The best recipes will also be published in a cookbook to be sold in order to raise funds for Whizz-Kidz.  The overall winner will see their dish served publicly at their local Mecca Bingo club on a celebration night and get £500 in supermarket vouchers, as well.

Whizz-Kidz is a charity which focuses on enabling disabled children to be able to live as independent a life as possible.  They provide mobilitiy equipment, training and support to thousands of disabled children across the UK.  The group also campaigns to raise awareness of the issues facing these children and try to emphasize the need for change with decision makers.

I hope at least some of you have been participating in the Champion League that has been running since April over at Bingo Day but if you haven’t, you want to get involved now as this only runs until the end of September.  15 players have been chosen each month to win a £25 bonus and entry into the Hall of Fame at Bingo Day.  There remains 15 players to be chosen this month (and there is still time to get your entry) and 15 for next month.

All 90 online bingo players will be able to have a playoff from October 1 to 15.  The player with the highest combined total will take home a very nice £1,000 and be declared the champion.  There will also be some great runner up prizes so this will be a good tournament to enter.

To gain entry to the Hall of Fame and subsequent playoff, you must purchase the maximum number of tickets.  The 15 players will come from those that did so and won a bingo game.

Everyone who enjoys accessing their online bingo or gaming account from wherever they are at using their mobile device, Gone Bingo has introduced an innovative new feature that they call “World of One Account”.  Most online bingo sites have a platform for mobile access but this is normally an independent platform rather than the same games that are available on the site.  With this new feature, Gone Bingo members will be playing alongside all the other bingo players on the website and can access all the same games.

This new technology is very welcome and one that we hope spreads to other online bingo and gaming websites.  To try the software at Gone Bingo, simply download the software to your mobile phone.  If you are already a member, you can log in using your standard username and password.  Just for trying it, you’ll get
£20 for buying bingo tickets – that’s a lot of bingo, people!  The new integrated platform is compatible with most newer smartphones and all iPhone versions.

Gone Bingo has a lot to offer their players, including their spiffy new facelift and interface.  They offer a huge 300% deposit bonus for first timers and then 350% bonus on further deposits.  Not only do players get to play all the guaranteed jackpot games and other online bingo games all day long, each day they win a game also gets their name into the daily Bingo lottery.  Each day the site chooses randomly from the day’s winners to give them an extra £5 to £15 on top of the game winnings.

Game Village Bingo has turned their popular online bingo site into a Christmas wonderland for the month of August.  They’ve done this in recognition of the unseasonably cold weather pattern lately and to bring some cheer to chilly UK players.  You can find the Christmas tree, snowflakes and even snowmen on the Game Village Bingo homepage but they also have a full array of Christmas treats for the cold weary bingo players.

There’s Festive Bingo Radio at 8 pm each evening along with Christmas House pattern games, Santa’s Hot Balls and great 90 ball Advent Calendar games.  Then they also have a ￡5 Christmas Star Reward, Christmas Call 25, Christmas Cash Gems, Christmas House Party Hour and even Santa’s Bedtime Quiz.  One almost expects to hear jingle bells ringing!

This online bingo site always seems to have many fun things for their players even when they are not celebrating Christmas in the summer.  They start off with giving new registrations ￡20 free bingo money without even making a deposit in their free 30 day trial offer.  Of course, once you get playing, it won’t take long to realize that making a deposit will really ramp up the fun factor at Game Village Bingo.  Once you’ve made a deposit of at least ￡10, you gain full access to the chat rooms and the forum, plus will be able to play all the great games on the site.

Speaking of games, Game Village Bingo has some of the best games around.  From the progressive jackpot games like Village Inn Bingo and Chip Van Bingo to the innovative bingo variations like Elimination Bingo and Speed Bingo, the online bingo enthusiast will find a lot to like about this online bingo site.  They also have a couple of popular original side games that offer a different type of fun when you need a break from Bingo.  Both SuperGems and Dingo offer large jackpot prizes and tons of excitement.

One of the most recent additions to the free bingo arena is making a serious splash since launching in June.  The latest buzz is over a recent lucky winner who has piled up a massive 14,000 pounds in less than a week of being a member.  She played free bingo, particularly big jackpot games, and the gamut of instant win games available to accumulate that amount of cash.

“I wasn’t really looking to make any money when I registered at CostaBingo.com, as I’ve never won anything in my life,” said Anne S. of Northampton, “I just wanted to play a few free bingo games and chat with other players but thanks to Costa Bingo, I can now afford to go on holiday this year and I’ve already started looking for a brand new car.”

It’s certainly easy to see why Costa Bingo has become one of the fastest growing online bingo sites in such a short period of time.  With free bingo jackpot games every three minutes and 1000 pound guaranteed jackpot games every evening, there is much to like about this new site.  Thousands of players have taken advantage of the 200% sign on bonus as well as the 50% ongoing deposit bonuses so it’s not just free bingo lovers that are joining in droves.

If you are already a member of Facebook, you will really love this news.  If you aren’t, now might be the best time to join and create your own social media footprint.  That way you can join in the fun by participating in Wink Bingo’s latest promotion – found on their new Facebook fan page!

They’ve had the Facebook fan page for a while now but recently decided to step it up a notch.  Tying into their upcoming Winktastic Big O jackpot game, they’ve created a Little O promotion only to be found on the Wink Bingo fan page.  On the page, there is a trivia question.  If you think you know the answer to the question, send the answer by email to Rich.  The very first person to to get the right answer as well as every tenth person with the correct answer will win ten free tickets to the Big O game on 13 September.

Many businesses are finding the Facebook fan pages to be a great way to reach their customers in a different avenue.  Wink Bingo is no different and has been using their fan page to let all their Facebook fans know about the latest promotions.  If you haven’t joined their fan page yet, now would be a good time as they are giving new fans 2000 bps.