Bettys Online Bingo Blog: June 2008 Archives

The Liverpool Echo had an interesting article today about Bingo Night Live presenter Nichola Dixon and the reason for the interest was the Nichola, prior to becoming a Bingo Night Live presenter, was a former weather girl for North West Tonight.

With more and more online bingo sites offering huge guaranteed jackpot prizes it would be remiss of me not to try and bring you a weekly round up of where and when some of the best guaranteed jackpot games are playing throughout the week. For now I will concentrate on the one of the biggest names in online bingo, Foxy Bingo but as more bingo sites hop onto the band wagon the list will grow and grow.

It always amazes me how people come up with songs around the game of Bingo so thinking I had them all covered I was shocked to find yet another Bingo song on You Tube, this time it's called the Bingo Dabber and in this video clip it's performed by a gent called Bannock Boy, he is also the writer of the song.

Checking through my Google News alert this evening I was interested to see an article about the launch of a new Free Bingo site and rushed along to the site to check it out. Free Bingo, a slight rip off of the domain owned by the same people as run Which Bingo, seems to be just a marketing tool to get you to play at the online bingo site Jackpot Joy Bingo.

A little while ago now Foxy Bingo launched a competition to find the Mum and Dad of the Year at their online bingo site and all their bingo players where given the opportunity to nominate people that they believed deserving of such a title. The nominations were then whittled down to just three entries and all players where then given the chance to vote for who they felt should be the winner.

Reading through the articles at Bloomberg today I came across one entitled "Online Bingo Industry poised for growth" and was interested to note some of the figures that were used in a quote by Phil Fraser of Which Bingo. Mr Fraser is quoted as saying that the market is currently growing at "about 3% month on month versus about 10% about a year ago". The article also talks about European expansion and bingo on TV.

Lily English, a 93 year old woman from Andover, has been hailed as the perfect bingo player simply because she has played the bingo game now for some 40 years! That's a long time, I wonder if she ever got RSI from dabbing? 40 years worth of bingo playing equates to over 10,000 games at her local Mecca Bingo hall which first opened its doors and called "Eyes Down" in 1967.

Bet365 Bingo is quite new to the online bingo scene but using the Virtue Fusion bingo software platform and offering £10 free when you make your first deposit of £5 it seems to be that it could soon catch on. As with many online bingo sites Bet365 Bingo offers all bingo players at their site the chance to win extra bonus money by participating in their chat games in the bingo chat rooms.

Wikipedia has to be one of the best known research resources on the web, well it's definitely one of the resources I use most and this evening, out of curiosity, I thought I'd search for the word "bingo" to see what Wikipedia could offer me by way of bingo related information. Boy! Was there a lot to choose from? Maybe I'm just a tad too interested in bingo nowadays and I need to get out more but I learnt a lot whilst looking at some of the links available.

This Friday it could be you if you head on over to Foxy Bingo and pre-buy a ticket for the big game at 9pm this Friday. The last Friday in every month sees the best online bingo site, Foxy Bingo, offering all their bingo players the chance to walk away £25,000 richer. Hey, even if you share with another player that's still a lot of pocket change! If you have a night out with your friends planned then you don't have to miss out because if you choose to use the pre-buy option your tickets will still play and you don't even have to be logged into Foxy Bingo to win.

With the huge impression Bingo Night Live has made on the late night TV viewers and the new craze of bingo on TV I was interested to read an article in Bramley Today that talked about one of the presenters, Nichola Dixon playing bingo at a local Mecca Bingo hall with her mum.

I have to admit that I have never heard of Gamesville or BingoZone but when Google sent me the news of a new version of a game I didn't know about I was completely thrown. I was sat here thinking "I know everything online bingo" and it is becoming apparent that I still have a lot to learn - but hey, we learn something new everyday and that is what keeps our minds active.

Sunday June 8th this year proved to be an eventful day at the Deluxe Bingo Club in Hastings and not for the right reasons. I was expecting, as I'm sure you are, when reading this article to be hear about some big winner at the club but that isn't what happened - although I'm sure they have produced a few in their time.

Bingo Night Live appears to be grabbing the UK insomniacs and bingo players interest and viewing figures are rising daily as well as the number of players taking part. Recently two new presenters have joined Melinda Messenger and Michael Underwood on the show and I have to admit I've never heard of either of them.

I don't really read the Sun (although I do play at Sun Bingo) but this news article interested me simply because Katie Price, aka Jordan, was up until about January this year the face of Foxy Bingo. It was thought that losing Katie Price because of her extortionate price tag may be detrimental to Foxy Bingo but they have continued to go from strength to strength with their new improved advertising campaign for their online bingo site with the rather suave Foxmeister having the limelight all to himself.

Way back in March this year I wrote about InterBingo and how the site had closed well today I bring news that this online bingo site has re-launched on the St Minver / Parlay platform. InterCasino and InterPoker have both been around sometime so I was surprised to find that the original InterBingo had been closed.

Yesterday I logged into Foxy Bingo and found a new button in the "my account" section which said "Self Exclude". I was curious as to what it was and investigated further. On clicking the button I was taken to a page which offered me the option to exclude myself from playing bingo there! Now why would I do that? I love Foxy Bingo! It did however make me question why this has become an option and was it only available at Foxy Bingo?

Bingo Night Live has been running a couple of weeks now and I will admit to having clicked a few times online to claim my free tickets (when I remember) but I haven't as yet managed to win anything! One of the sections throughout the programme that runs from 12.35am to 1.40am approximately is the Russell Grant and his astrology.

June 29th sees the final of Euro 2008 and Ladbrokes Bingo are running a special promotion to celebrate for all those who don't eat, sleep and breathe football! Two of the rooms at Ladbrokes Bingo will be linking up, The Attic and the Lounge.

Well I'm back from the Online Bingo Summit and I have to say in all honesty I had a superb time! The whole event was well organised and I for one learnt quite a bit about the online bingo industry from all angles but the best part for me personally was being able to shake hands with some of the big players in the industry and some of the up and coming names to watch out for.

Although I don't often write about the online bingo sites that play in dollars one site caught my eye recently and that was 123Bingo. It caught my eye because of its name initially but then when I took a look at the site its home page looked quite busy and they seemed to have quite a few special offers available for their online bingo members.

All Bingo Club is one of about four online bingo sites that use the Microgaming software for their bingo games and is becoming more and more popular with many online bingo players. Today I received the All Bingo Club bulletin and was interested to see a section entitled "3 ways to earn a fiver at All Bingo Club". As with many people in life, bingo players or just Joe Ordinary, I'm all for earning some free money so I had to check it.

It's been a while since I looked at You Tube for anything bingo related and like eBay there really are some weird things on there for "bingo" but I did come across a clip of an advert for the National Bingo Game whilst I was trawling through all the clips. I haven't seen this advert on the telly, maybe it's and old one but it did make me giggle.

Time constraints have meant that it's been a little while since I checked for anything bingo on eBay so this morning I logged in, entered the search term "online bingo" and had a look at the offerings of eBay. The only thing listed under "online bingo" is a CD ROM Online Bingo Guide. Why anyone would buy this item I have no idea as many of the bingo portals online will give you the same information for free.

Feeling a bit sorry for myself this morning with a sore tummy I thought I'd treat myself to a lay in with a magazine and a cup of coffee. Flicking through my Take A Break magazine I came across another of the online bingo site adverts for Wink Bingo with their slogan "Find the appropriate moment".

As readers of this blog about online bingo or anything bingo related what makes interesting reading for you? As you are all aware I spend hours upon hours looking for all things bingo related and try and bring the weird and wonderful to this blog as well as the usual industry news. Ultimately I want to be to bingo blogs what Carrie Bradshaw is to sex and sometimes writing about bingo promotions or bingo news becomes boring and yawn inducing.

ChitChat Bingo are offering all their bingo players the chance to win an adventure holiday of a lifetime in June just by playing bingo at their online bingo site. There are no special patterns you need to bingo on all you need to do is play bingo or any of the other games hosted at Chit Chat Bingo from 5th June until 30th June 2008 to be in with a chance of winning this superb prize.

To ensure that the ladies aren't left out in the cold during Euro 2008 SkyBingo have laid on some free bingo games at their online bingo site. Whilst the old man is sat glued to the box why not check out the free games as well as the special offers at SkyBingo.

PrimeTime Bingo is a little known bingo site that is part of The Gaming Network, their online bingo site uses the Parlay software and I think it's not very well known simply because it doesn't offer the free no deposit welcome bonus that many online bingo sites advertise nowadays. That's not to say they don't offer a welcome bonus, they do, but it's only activated when you make a deposit.

It wasn't so long ago that I was sent an email asking if I knew of any online bingo sites for gay men and I was a little disappointed that I couldn't offer the chap any advice or point him in the right direction and today it made me question "are their any online bingo sites called Gay Bingo?" Unfortunately not but I did find a venue that will be holding a Gay Bingo night on 12th July 2008 at 6pm - the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London will holding a Gay Bingo night hosted by Jonny Woo.

I can't remember what it was I was looking for on Google at the time but I stumbled upon an online bingo site called GNUF Bingo. I had to go and take a look because GNUF is a rather strange name. So what does it mean? What is a GNUF? A Gnu with an F on it maybe. GNUF Bingo offers only 75 ball bingo at the moment but the site does state that 90 ball bingo is coming soon.

The first thing I noticed when I visited the Shipleys Bingo home page was the scrolling menu at the top. There are a multitude of other sites advertised here including Shipleys Casino, ShipleysBet, BJ's Bingo (had a really giggle at that name!), World Tourist Attractions, ShipleysPoker, Shipley Luxury Bingo Clubs and Shipleys Amusements.

It's 12.01 pm, Friday 6th June 2008 and I'm sat at my PC with the TV tuned into ITV1 waiting for the next game of Bingo Night Live. At last I've managed to actually get some tickets for the game and am currently waiting for Police, Camera, Action to finish to take a look at the actual game that has been receiving so much coverage online.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really love the name of this online bingo site. Bingo Friends really does make you think of one of the best aspects of online bingo, or even land bingo, the chance to chat and have a laugh with friends.

Finally ITV have got their act together and there is a page available explaining exactly how to participate in this new free bingo on TV, Bingo Night Live. I didn't manage to find this information until 12.20am, half way through the game so couldn't tell you how well the first night went but I'll try and be on the ball tonight to play along from the comfort of my sofa.

Today I received my Party Bingo newsletter and was amazed to see how many fabulous promotions they are running throughout June. One of their promotions is based around Wimbledon, something that I have seen at a couple of online bingo sites but many of the others are just great promotions.

Bingo Night Live launches onto our screens tonight at just gone midnight and is to be fronted by former model, Melinda Messenger. The show will be aired 5 nights a week from tonight, Tuesdays through to Saturday and it won't cost you anything to join in. Melinda won't be on her own when presenting the show, her co hosts included Michael Underwood from GMTV and a former news reporter, Nichola Dixon.

Mecca Bingo seem to be pulling out all the stops at their online bingo site when it comes to their promotion schedule for June. The launch of the new rooms, bringing the total number of rooms at Mecca Bingo to ten, seems to be the main theme of their promotions with one lucky winner guaranteed to take home an extra £10,000. Let's take a look at what is on offer.

Harry's Bingo is one of the new online bingo sites that use the Cozy Games software and they offer the most variations of the online bingo game. As well as 75 ball bingo and 90 ball bingo they host 80 ball bingo and the latest addition is 30 ball bingo. All their bingo rooms are hosted and they offer a wide variety of chat games which offer all their depositing players that chance to win some free cash.

It's that time of the month again, bingo promotions generally change at all the online bingo sites to welcome the new month and Game Village Bingo is no different. There is plenty on offer at this online bingo site including a favourite of mine, 1 penny bingo where all tickets at certain times cost just one penny. So let's take a quick look at what is on offer at Game Village Bingo for June.

Oops! Missed the first day of the Full House Giveaway promotion at Gala Bingo, it was last night but don't worry there is still today and tomorrow to be in with a chance of winning a Wii Fit or a Nintendo DS and Brain Trainer.  All you have to do is win a full house in the City Club Bingo room at the times shown...

Jackpot Joy offer all their bingo players a chance to enter prize draws every time they earn 10 points whilst playing at their online bingo site. The more points you earn the more entries you can purchase in the draws and there are some great prizes up for grabs. All the current prize draws take place on 20th June 2008 and from what I can gather the prizes change monthly.

As you all know I spend a lot of time searching the web for all things bingo, keeping an eye on the TV for the next ads and love to play bingo. Whilst having a look around You Tube I stumbled upon a trailer for a Trisha show with the three sisters who went to court over the big bingo win that one sister was originally refusing to share.

Unfortunately I didn't see the whole program but it did make me question why after a court battle would they then continue to air their grievances on national television?