Bingo News

There have been several interesting moves lately relating to the US online gambling saga, and one is the news that Paypal has begun to return to process payments for online bingo. This is seen by many as an indication that there will be regulated online gambling in America.

Going back several years Paypal was widely used by online gamblers, but this changed after Paypal was acquired by eBay in 2002. Soon after Paypal stopped processing payments due to the legal risks in the US. At the time this seemed to be a very cautious move, particularly as this was before the UIGEA. At the time the Wire Act was restricting payment processing for online gambling although in a low key way.

Recently though financial service, banking and credit card industries are becoming more vocal in their protests against the UIGEA’s restrictions and Paypal seems to be slowly re-entering the market. 32Red and Ladbrokes bingo have recently started to allow payments by Paypal, which many believe is a sign that Paypal is making a return to the world of online gambling. Paypal can also be used on the Virgin gaming network and it is expected it will be used by an increasing number of online casinos.

At the end of the day we believe that a greater choice in payment methods for players can only be a good thing, and we’ll certainly be watching this situation with interest.

Brought to you by London Bingo News

We have reported many times on how the decline in land based bingo has led to bingo clubs closing down and the buildings being used for new purposes, and in America, the bingo situation is no different.

Alabama has had a huge crackdown on gambling, leading to many empty bingo halls scattered around the state. One hall though is having a makeover at the moment and has become a church.

James Gardner is the pastor of the Jasper Christian Center and was in the same building for more than 20 years. In this time his congregation grew and so he and his wife started to look for a new building. He said; “Most people in the community think it’s about bingo. But for us, it’s about revival. We started driving up and down the road. We saw a for rent sign on this one, so we leased it for a few years so we can grow.”

The church have been holding services for a few months and began whilst they were still painting and cleaning the building. “It’s a funny irony,” Gardner said. “We have people who say they’re no longer going to shout ‘Amen’ they’re just going to shout ‘bingo.’ We have people doing that. We’re glad bingo’s gone. We’re against it as a congregation. But this wasn’t about us defeating bingo, legislation and prayer did that before. We’re just here because it was an available building and we needed space.”

From the sounds of things, the congregation objects to the community spending money to play bingo. Opposing views to this line of thinking clearly believe that it is our right to spend money on playing bingo games as we see fit.

When faced with the great news that they have become a multi-millionaire on the lottery most people would be rushing to quit their jobs, but for Ivan Westbury that thought is the last thing on his mind.

Along with his wife, Susan, he has just scooped a fantastic win of £7,706,631 on the lottery. The couple run a lightning protection business and are the first to admit that it has been a struggle over the last few years. They have 30 employees and have battled to keep things going throughout the recession, working every day of the week and going without a proper holiday for 4 years. However, because of their employees, they have vowed not to give up work, as they do not want to put them at risk of losing their jobs.

They plan to visit estate agents, travel agents and car dealerships soon, with a house with a pool and a Jaguar on their shopping list. Their first holiday though will be a £9.50 week bargain break in a caravan in Cornwall, which was booked as part of a newspaper promotion earlier in the summer.

62 year old Mrs Westbury bought the winning ticket for Saturday’s Lotto at a Morrisons supermarket in Nottingham last Wednesday. It was only when she visited a Tesco store on Sunday that she found out they
had won, when the ticket-reading machine advised her to contact Camelot, an action which only happens for big winners. She returned to her car ‘in a daze’ and called her 64 year old husband, who met her before they both called Camelot. They drove to a pub to celebrate and then, in an ironic moment, realised they had no money on them.

Mr Westbury returned to the headquarters of their company, Sentinel Lightning in Nottingham, to complete some unfinished business. He said; ‘I’m an ordinary man who has always worked. Susan and I have worked very hard to build the business up and we have got a dedicated workforce to think of. They have stood behind us through tough times recently so we cannot just walk away and leave them in the lurch now,
because there are no jobs out there. We will keep going in to work, although maybe only for four days a week, until we work out exactly what to do with the company. Perhaps we will sell it eventually, but
we will make sure the staff are safe. It has been a real struggle recently and I have worked virtually seven days a week for four years.’

The firm installs lightning protection and earthing systems on buildings all over the world, and was set up by Mr Westbury, a steeplejack by trade, 19 years ago – 2 years after the couple married. The couple have 3 children between them, from previous marriages, and 7 grandchildren, and live in a two-bedroom bungalow.

They enjoyed a champagne celebration with their staff who were also pleased with their win. Employee Ian Phillips said: ‘It couldn’t happen to nicer people. They are a very generous couple who work extremely long hours.’

Brought to you by London Bingo News. London Bingo gives you the latest lottery and UK bingo news and access to the newest Internet bingo rooms and exclusive bingo bonus offers.

Playtech’s Virtue Fusion Alderney, a leading developer and provider of online bingo solutions, has now launched a new multiplayer game called Multi Balls.

The concept of this is quite simple, in that players compete against each other to win a share of the Community Jackpot. The networked prize pool is made up from players on separate games. By matching combination of balls, players can win multiple amounts based on the total amount staked. The stake-per-game is 25p, and each winning ball combination of five or more characters will earn a cash prize as well as a set of points which gives the player a place on the leader board. Nice and simple, the higher on the ladder a player gets the larger their share of the community jackpot.

As well as this Virtue Fusion have also launched two new games. One is a new five reel, twenty five line slot game, George and the Dragon. The other is a nine square scratchcard, Treasure Time Traveler.

Bob McCulloch, the CEO of Virtue Fusion Alderney said; “I am sure that bingo players across our network will love playing these new games. The community jackpot which is also part of our Blockbusters game is a feature that helps make online bingo even more sociable, so we expect it will be very popular.”

Virtue Fusion is a vast network of online bingo sites and is the worldwide leader in developing and licensing bingo software and online bingo games. Amongst the bingo rooms who have chosen Virtue Fusion as their home are bingo sites such as Bet365 Bingo, Crown Bingo, Paddy Power Bingo, Virgin bingo, Ladbrokes, & William Hill Bingo.

The Austrian betting giant, bwin, have now agreed to sponsor the Italian second tier Serie B for two years. The league will now be known as Serie bwin, and the deal is expected to bring vital revenue to the struggling league, who only recently separted from the two division professional league, leaving Serie A to run itself.

The deal, which will run until 30th June 2012, was announced between the Chairman of Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B, Luca Ferrari and the CEO of bwin Italy, Paolo Di Feo, at the Serie B offices in Milan.

Paolo Di Feo said; “We are delighted to be working alongside the new Lega Serie B in this exciting new adventure. bwin is continually active in high-end sports sponsorship and this will continue at the international level. Today, with the advent of Serie bwin, we are facing a very exciting new challenge, giving us real contact with local situations.”

Bwin is a giant in the online gambling realm, as they put forth a terrific offering of casino games, arcade games, lottery games, and scratch card games, as well as poker, sports betting backgammon, and other skill games for money.

To many people, a casino is a casino. However, the true player has to wonder, are all Internet casino sites created equally? Sure, most sites host the same or similar selection of table games and have their own variation of online slots games, but one could argue that it is the software driving the games that makes the casino. The look and feel of the online casino site’s software, as well as how smoothly the software runs is imperative to delivering an enjoyable, fair, and profitable gambling session at the Internet casino.

Of the universe of online casino sites, three major software providers stand out from the rest. The three elite online casino software providers are Microgaming, Playtech, and RTG. Each of these three top casino platforms has plenty to celebrate, as the best casino gaming experiences derive from the superior software that these casinos are known and respected for.

Microgaming Casinos are the elder statesman of the bunch, as they are thought of as the pioneers of the online casino. The first Microgaming online casino went live in 1994 and features well over four-hundred different games on their software. A little more than 100 online casino skins let Microgaming power their games, delivering slots, table games, and video poker games in both flash (no download) and a full downloadable software format. Players rave over how smooth the Microgaming software runs and whether you play by Mac or by PC – you can have a flawless and enjoyable day at the Microgaming Casino nearest you.

Playtech Casinos rely on the software developed by publicly listed company Playtech Ltd. Playtech has been in the online casino business for over ten years and serves a unique and wide variety of chance and skill games such as table games, scratch cards, video poker games, slots, and even arcade games, poker, and bingo. Playtech customers appreciate the attention to detail in the delivery of high quality graphics and some of the higher payouts you will find online come from Playtech Casinos. If popularity is rated in terms of player base, then Playtech is surely the most popular online casino software provider in Europe, as more European Casino players flock to Playtech driven casinos than any other online casino platform in the world.

When looking to USA casinos RTG stands out as the leader in the online casino marketplace. RTG Casinos are extremely popular in the United States and these RTG powered Internet casinos are well known for having some of the best graphics and interactive gaming of all online casinos. In addition to providing a captivating look to their games, the RTG Casinos software is fast, reliable, and quite flexible. Players truly appreciate that they can use the RTG flash (no download) casino or the full download version without sacrificing quality. Both the no download RTG Casino and the full download version provide innovative graphics, and sound effects that keep players interested and coming back for more.

Whether you play casino games with RTG, Microgaming, or Playtech – you really cannot go wrong, as these are the three most respected casino software companies around. All three provide licensing to ensure fair gaming and they each strive to deliver the highest quality online gaming experience they possibly can.

Bingo was very much a simple game when it started out but it has definitely evolved over the years. Starting from land based bingo clubs it eventually moved onto the internet, where now there are a large number of online bingo sites. Since then though it has continued to adapt to new technology; it can now be found on social media sites such as Facebook, on game consoles such as the wii, and the latest news is that iPad have now decided to bring out a children’s version of the game.

One thinking behind this development is that it will be a great tool to help ease the boredom of long car journeys, particularly now as more and more people are choosing to holiday in the UK. Several applications can be downloaded from the iTunes store which can be played on the iPad, the iPad Touch and the iPhone, making it an ideal travel companion.

The iPad is considered to be particularly suited for kids as it has a large, high-definition touch screen, making it very child-friendly. You can download the Road-Trip-Bingo onto the iPad which two children can play at the same time. Instead of numbers the bingo boards have things on them which might be seen on a car journey, including different coloured cars and road signs. When they see an image they simply tap it on their card, and the first one to get bingo wins.

Anything that might stop the timeless wail of ‘are we there yet’ has to be a good thing in our eyes!