Members of Blackpool Club Bingo, Tiki Bingo or Prestige Bingo may be wondering what happened to their favourite bingo sites.  Well, owner William Hill Bingo has decided to consolidate all three of those sites into one brand, Ruby Bingo.  The site runs on Playtech software and has a very slick design and interface without the bubble gum colours found on many online bingo sites.  However, great design or not, we have to wonder what William Hill expects to get from this merger.

The site does offer a no deposit required bingo bonus, however it is ￡5 lower than the Blackpool Club used to give, at only ￡16 and a very nice 300% match bonus for first time deposits.  There is a good selection of bingo games, both 75 ball and 90 ball, along with a good number of side games.  There isn’t anything that struck as standing out about their promotions but perhaps that will come with time?

Honestly, the site seems to be more in line with funnelling traffic through to the William Hill Bingo site as a pop-up shows on the home page of Ruby Bingo that offers a ￡25 bonus for signing up on William Hill Bingo.  We could be wrong but our feeling is that once they’ve enticed many of the players over to the other site, we see them consolidating further and Ruby Bingo will disappear as well.  Time will tell.

Given the huge number of UK online bingo sites and the fierce competition for players, consolidation does make financial sense for the bigger players.  Doing it slowly as William Hill Bingo seems to be doing may be the easiest way to make the transition, for both players and operators.

Foxy Bingo has been expanding like crazy of late.  They’ve been one of the top choices for UK bingo for a long time but now they’ve gone into the free bingo trend with the recent introduction of Foxy Zero – where you can play bingo and win cash with zero money out of pocket.  Then it was a push into High Street territory with their new online shopping portal where you can buy not only Foxy branded merchandise, but lots of other products with more coming on board all the time.  Now they are also moving into the rest of the online gambling market with their latest venture, Foxy Flutter.

Foxy Flutter is the company’s online casino – yes, Foxy has definitely moved beyond bingo!  The new website offers tons of games including favorite classics like blackjack, poker, baccarat, craps, roulette, video poker and slots.  They feature some of the most popular slots games on the market like Wheel of Fortune and Cleopatra.

They even have penny games with jackpots up to ￡2,500 – talk about a tremendous value and return on investment!  They have already set up some very nice weekly recurring promotions such as the Tuesday Tenner and the Wednesday Reload.  Knowing the Foxy brand, we are expecting to see some fantastic promotions as they build and promote their new brand.

As always, Foxy rewards their regular players well.  There is a sign up bonus of ￡100 to get you started and a terrific loyalty scheme.  Loyalty points are earned for playing games and wagering, with more possibilities coming.  Foxy is one of the few sites that enables loyalty points to be converted to cash, although you get more mileage out of them when you use them to play more games.

So now Foxy has found a way to get those without the budget to play bingo and those with a expendable cash to play bingo, shop and play other casino games.  We have to wonder if the rapid expansion will pay off and what they may be considering next.

One of the newest additions to the UK online bingo line-up is Bunny Bingo.  In the past fortnight or so since it launched, it has made quite an impression on many online bingo players.  The theme of the site, contrary to the bunny in the name, is actually more of a celebrity gossip theme.  With a fun quiz game called “Who Am I?” and its very own gossip column bringing you the very latest news about all your favourite stars, you can enjoy your online bingo games and still stay updated about what’s going on in the world of the rich and famous.

The site offers a ton of variety, starting with several variations of bingo including 75 ball bingo, 90 ball bingo, pattern bingo games and speed bingo.  Between games or just to take a break from bingo, Bunny Bingo also has a large number of exciting side games available including slots and scratchcards.  Of course, what would an online bingo site be without lots of thrilling and lucrative promotions on hand?

They offer a number of regular promotions including a deposit bonus and great daily specials like the Cheap Ticket Tuesday and the buy one, get one free games available on Thursday.  The prizes run the gamut from WiFi set-ups to high-def televisions and naturally, everyone’s favourite prize – cash!  The site has several progressive jackpot games where the cash jackpot keeps rising…and rising…and rising until it’s hit.

The UK online bingo industry has simply exploded in the past few years and now we seem to be seeing a new site at least every fortnight.  We’re not complaining, though, as it is a great thing to have such a huge variety of sites and games to play at.

Ricardo is the Mexican jalapeño with a beard that will soon be dancing across the telly in the new Virgin Bingo adverts.  He will be dancing around dressed in the traditional Mexican style, even down to the sombrero.  While it is an animated character, Ricardo is quite grown up and not designed to appeal to children.  That, of course, is to keep within the laws and regulations governing any gambling advertising campaign.

This is the very first television advertising campaign for Virgin Bingo and is scheduled to last three weeks beginning on 5 October.  The adverts will be broadcast on the Freeview and terrestrial channels so everyone should have the opportunity to see them.

The one aim of the new adverts will be to spread the word about the three hours of absolutely free bingo Virgin Bingo is hosting every single day.  This should result in a huge influx of new members to the site and we know that the hope is that many of those attracted by the free bingo will decide to also deposit and play the cash games eventually.

This advert campaign comes not long after Virgin Bingo’s transfer from the St. Minver network to the newer Virtue Fusion platform.  With the new software, players can now access both the online bingo website and the casino site from within the same account.  Virtue Fusion also brings access to new games and several high number progressive jackpot games due to the size of the network.

With the huge variety in online UK bingo sites available, it’s no wonder that there is such a glut of unique and creative promotions on tap.  We did a bit of scouting around and found what we feel to be the most innovative promotions around right now.  Prizes seem to get bigger and better all the time but it’s less common for an online bingo site to come up with something truly creative.

Champagne Bingo could pay your household bills for you!  Three lucky winners each month will be awarded payment of their gas, electric or water bill.  This is a prize draw but you earn entries by playing and winning on the special pattern games for this promotion.  Just buying a card for the game earns you an entry (for each card, so buying more makes sense) plus you get another entry if you should be lucky enough to bingo on the special pattern.

The National Theatre has devised a unique game called Musical Bingo.  Instead of numbers, the game cards have names of songs.  Throughout the evening on Fridays in the Green Room, you will be able to enjoy listening as the DJ plays an assortment of classic favourites.  When you recognize a particular song, you will mark it off on your card.  Players will be able to win a bucket of beer, DVDs or other prizes each week.  Oh, and did I mention that it’s free to get in?

Crown Bingo has come up with a unique promotion to celebrate “British Food Fortnight”.  You don’t even have to play a bingo game to get an entry into this delicious prize draw.  Instead, what they want you to do is to fill out the form found on their website.  You will need to tell the judges what your favourite British meal is and include either your favourite recipe or your most entertaining story revolving around food.  You have until 4 October to get your entries into the competition for the decision will be made on 5 October.  The entry that has the most impact on the judges will win a lovely meal out along with a night’s stay in a hotel.

We found two things that we just had to share with you today.  One is a real life news article about bad hospital food (is there such a thing as good hospital food?) and the other was a satirical blog that we came across.that did a great spoof about a bingo ball shortage.  We laughed at both stories and we hope that you enjoy them as much as we did.

“Traction Man”, as he’s been dubbed by the press, is a freelance journalist who recently spent more than twenty weeks in the hospital after a serious bone infection.  While there, he started posting photos of his meals to a social networking site and inviting his friends to guess what the food was.  With time, Hospital Food Bingo evolved from his escapades and somehow the press caught hold of the story.

Between pictures of the mystery meals and his witty comments at his blog, the unknown “Traction Man” has brought quite a bit of attention to the dietary department and policies of the NHS.  He has commented to reporters his opinion that the food may be delaying some patient’s recovery times as it is all “minced and slushy and overcooked”.

The Spoof (thespoof.com) has some funny stuff on it but the several “stories” revolving around the supposed world shortage of bingo balls is nothing short of hilarious.  Blaming the shortage of bingo balls for the closure of hundreds of bingo halls, the site also then claims that this has led to a new disease, known as A1B1 syndrome – basically a loss of bingo.

Another related story accuses Iran of stockpiling bingo balls and causing the shortage to escalate.  It is claimed that an entire warehouse was found, filled to the rafters with bingo balls.  Naturally both the US and the UK are up in arms over such an interference with the world’s love of bingo.

This second story is a natural evolution from a spoof done last year on the site which claimed that Iran’s leader was a secret part-time bingo caller.  Apparently that hobby developed from the long time influence of his two closest advisors, Ayatollah Ladbroke and Ayatolla Williamhill.

We all sympathise when mistakes are made but sometimes it’s the way they are handled that can make all the difference.  The Top Ten Bingo Club in Billingham, Teeside is getting some bad press right now over their decision not to honor their mistake and now the Gambling Commission will be the ones to decide the outcome.

When Lynsey Dickenson hit on house at the club, she was very excited to see the screen show a wonderful prize of ￡5,000.  She tehn was given a prize winner’s document by a staff member that also stated that amount.  The problem arose when she went up to collect her winnings and was told that it should have said only
￡1,000 and that’s all they would give her.  Needless to say, Lynsey was disappointed and angry with this result.

“I was over the moon when I won, really excited, I’d never won anything big before.  The board definitely showed ￡5,000 and I am convinced it was announced for the same amount although they deny it.  What’s more, a member of staff even signed a document, called a Prize Winner’s document,  for ￡5,000.  Now I have made a complaint and it is going to go before an independent third party.”

No matter which way the commission decides on this, Top Ten Bingo Club is certainly getting a lot of negative publicity over this.  When a similar glitch happened to Foxy Bingo last year, the company honoured the mistake rather than make a customer upset.  They didn’t legally have to and apparently Top Ten Bingo feels that they are not obligated beyond the apology they issued but the question is what is the goodwill of customers worth?

Perhaps you were one of the over 200 women who answered the call a few months back when Unlucky For Some first advertisied their Bingo Wings Idol promotion?  Well, ten finalists have been chosen and have been invited to the final selection being held in London on 24 September.  The lucky lady chosen to be crowned as the first Bingo Wings Idol 2009 will not only get a cash prize, she will also star in an upcoming commercial for the telly.

The ten finalists range in age from only 22 years old all the way to 50 years old and have widely varied backgrounds.  Several have a show business or theatre background but others include a student at Bournemout University and a former accountant turned real estate investor.

Lucky For Some has quotes from all of the top ten finalists on their website but we just want to share a few of them with you here today:

“I have modeled underwear with Katie Price and been on the Trisha Goddard show to promote larger people.  I am fun, honest, hard working and reliable,” says Emma Dunn from Poole, one of the youngest participants.

Joycelyn Phillips from London says, “I am an experienced fashion and catwalk model having worked for everyone from Versace swimwear to Vivienne Westwood press shows.  I’m now a plus-size model and music manager.”

“I’m a chubbyish girl, very outgoing and could talk a glass eye to sleep.  I want to be a part of something that is different from what I do all day – the things the we all do – eat, sleep, work, loving time,” said Tracy Morgan from Cardiff.

One thing that is notable is that almost all the finalists mention being chubby or plus-sized.  It is nice to see a competition where the emphasis isn’t on who is the thinnest but instead features normal size women, more representative of the actual bingo playing public.

The location of the actual final competition has not been released to the public but the Unlucky For Some owners did invite the press to be present so we should expect to see some news on how it goes.  Of course, in time we will see who the winner is by watching the next advertising campaign when it comes.

With a new month generally comes new promotions and the month of September appears to be a good one for UK online bingo players.  Here are three that we found to be very exciting and different from some of the run-of-the-mill bog standard promotions that we sometimes see.

888 Ladies Bingo has introduced their new Pink Plonk game and it’s proving to be quite popular.  They also have the very classy 888 Ladies Gold Club.  To become a part of the club, you must write to them and request it and tell them why you should be a member.  Once in the club, you will find many extra perks and benefits.

Gala Bingo has a great month planned with their Summer Winathon promotion.  Actually this is several promotions in one as each week has something special going on.  This week you can double your money with Gala Bingo’s Windicate feature.  You can invite up to five of your Gala Bingo friends to be your Win Buddies.  If any of you win a full house, the rest all get a bonus ￡1.  They will have a full 120 games that participate in this special.

Golden Hat Bingo has a great prize draw for a Family Photo Shoot voucher.  The promotion runs from 14 September through 30 September and to enter the draw you need only be a depositing player during the promo period.  The winner of the voucher will be able to have a professional family portrait done.

Ireland has it’s very own online bingo destination now.  Powered by the trendy Virtue Fusion platform, the new Bingo.ie is billing itself as Ireland’s premier online bingo site.  One interesting feature of the new site is that the currency offered is also in euros rather than only the typical pound sterling of most UK online bingo sites.

If you have been on an other Virtue Fusion websites, the interface of this new one will be easily navigated.  It has the same design elements and sharp graphics as the rest of the sites powered by Virtue Fusion.  With the large network, bingo.ie will enable access to some of the biggest progressive jackpots in the online bingo industry.

To get new players started on the right foot, they will be given ￡1 to play for free at first.  One thing that is very nice about signing up for this new site is that you aren’t required to give any financial details until if and when you decide to deposit real cash into your account.  So you won’t have to worry about dealing with that unless you find you want to stay with the site.  Although, registering a card and making a deposit does have its perks as they will match it up to ￡250.