Bettys Online Bingo Blog: September 2008 Archives

This morning I logged into one of the Cozy Games bingo sites that launched only a little while ago and found that since the last time I logged in they have blocked chat to unfunded bingo players. This is something that is uniform to all sites on this platform bar one. This led to a discussion with a fellow bingo writer about bingo chat and the conclusion drawn was that bingo chat is an integral part of online bingo.

Well it's that time of week again; the time I'm beginning to dread each week because it seems "the boss" is whooping some Betty bottom when it comes to the online bingo top ten. The first week he beat me and then to add insult to injury the second week he beat me by a bigger margin; do I really want to take a look at the stats for the online bingo top ten this week? Sure I do, I can take it on the chin so to speak although this week I'm going to try scoring a little differently simply because it might work out in my favour!

When I logged into Foxy Bingo this morning I noticed that there is an addition to their side games, Top Trumps at Foxy Bingo! Do you remember playing the game as a child? I used to wile away many an hour playing Top Trumps with my brothers but was always a loser because it was a cars version of the game and what do I know about cars?

Vernons Bingo have some special offers available at their online bingo site this week and here I'll be bringing you details of the Vernons Bingo birthday celebrations. It wasn't that long ago that I reviewed Vernons Bingo and I can't believe they have been open a year, I only heard of them back in April of this year. Registering an account at Vernons Bingo will see you gain £1 free to try the games on the Virtue Fusion software platform.

I know it's not bingo related but it always amazes me when any online gambling adverts come under scrutiny by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and usually because just one complaint has been made. This time it's the PKR advert banned by the ASA for being irresponsible and portraying gambling as a way to gain admiration and recognition.

It would appear that many bingo sites are jumping on the guaranteed jackpot bandwagon and CyberBingo is the latest to do so. The CyberBingo guaranteed jackpot game is due to play on 27th September 2008 for £10,000 but where you pay £1 per ticket for a Foxy Bingo £10,000 coverall at CyberBingo you have to pay £2! The CyberBingo guaranteed jackpot game will be played in the Network VIP room at 11pm BST on 27/09/08.

Once a week at Sky Bingo there is a promotion called the Sky Bingo Friday feeling which aims to help bingo players beat the credit crunch that we are all feeling at the moment. This Friday at Sky Bingo it's the chance to win £30 cashback on your petrol costs. The offer is made to the first 30 players during the Sky Bingo Friday feeling promotional period to score bingo in 55 numbers or less.

Something I really like to see at any online bingo site is details about the chat hosts but what I would like to see more of in their profiles is how they got the job as an online bingo chat host. Where they previously a player at the site? Have they worked in the bingo industry previously? That sort of information would be really useful to read for those amongst us who ever wondered how people get in to the industry as a chat host.

Next week sees the launch of a week of free bingo at Mirror Bingo following on from the success of the free bingo games at Foxy Bingo. Free Bingo week starts on 22nd September and ends on the 29th September and every single day of that week there will be 13 free bingo games playing. The free bingo games at Mirror Bingo start at 10am daily and finish at 10pm.

Got a night at the pub planned tonight? Well give it a miss because tonight there are prizes galore at Foxy Bingo in their prize night special. All the prizes are electrical and vary in value from £99 right up until £600 and the fun starts at 7pm in the Sunnie Day room at Foxy Bingo. There are special games running from 7pm right up until 10pm, one every twenty minutes.

Big Heart Bingo were previously part of The Gaming Network (TGN) group of sites but a colleague informed me today that they have made a change in software providers. Big Heart Bingo have moved to the Cozy Games software platform, the platform that powers sites like Gone Bingo and Bingo Playground. Registering an account with Big Heart Bingo will see you get £10 free with no financial outlay.

When I first visited Blackpool Club Bingo when it launched into the world of online bingo I was really disappointed with the flash version of their game and made the choice to download their bingo software client. For many bingo players online today having to download a bingo client is not something they wish to do. Today I revisited the site and found that Blackpool Club Bingo have updated their flash game.

With more and more online bingo sites launching television marketing campaigns it made me question the ins and outs of online bingo marketing. I'm by no means an expert on this but what other channels are open as a way to market their bingo sites. We have seen recently many newspapers and magazines launching internet bingo sites and for them they have a ready made platform for advertising but what about the smaller sites?

Since the parting of ways of Tombola and Sun Bingo, not to mention News of the World Bingo as well, Tombola Bingo seems to be going from strength to strength. It was always going to be a battle between Tombola Bingo and Sun Bingo after the sun chose to move to GameSys and the most recent addition of cheaper games at Tombola Bingo seems to be helping.

The best online bingo site around today, Foxy Bingo has numerous rooms to choose from when you play at their site but today Wink Bingo launches more rooms in an effort to keep up with bingo giants Foxy Bingo. Previously there were only four 75 ball bingo rooms and four 90 ball bingo rooms at Wink Bingo but today saw the launch of an additional two for each game type.

The name of this bingo site speaks volumes and with a reputation to live up to Ann Summers Bingo doesn't fail to deliver promotions that are expected of the Ann Summers name. Take for instance the welcome gift from Ann Summers Bingo when you make your first deposit; a naughty games book which will "spice up any winters evening" according to Ann Summers Bingo.

Remember Christopher Biggins the winner of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and from our youth better known as Adam Painting from Rent a Ghost? Well he released a record yesterday called Biggins Bingo Wings! Can you believe that? The song itself is said to have been released to promote the idea that "big is best". How long before we see Biggins Bingo as a UK bingo site?

With so many online bingo sites to choose from around the world wide web today; over 243 at the last count, how do you know which is the best and most trustworthy to play at? Choosing an online bingo site is a minefield and it is easy to get sucked in by the free money offers and the huge cash match bonuses being offered by many bingo sites online today.

After last weeks white wash by "The Boss" I am a little nervous about how well I will do this week in the online bingo top ten. I was really disappointed in last week's results and have everything crossed that I am going to do better this week. I do have my suspicions on the validity of the analytics used to score this competition, maybe "The Boss" cooks the books a little to always come out on top after all he is very competitive.

As well as the £10 free at 32red Bingo there are many other bingo promotions available at this Microgaming online bingo site. The 32red bingo promotions don't end with the free welcome bonus offered to all new players; you can take advantage of lots of other special offers at 32red Bingo.

Watching Saturday night television I was surprised to see that Wink Bingo are now sponsoring All Star Family Fortunes. It's quite unusual to see an online bingo site sponsoring a Saturday night programme on ITV and my first thought was "that must have cost them quite a bit". I for one am getting used to seeing all the online bingo adverts on our screens but to see Wink Bingo sponsoring All Star Family Fortunes even caught me out.

I love Paddy Power Bingo as the whole site had a very individual feel about it. I know I can head over there and find something to do, not just the usual software with the same promotion I have seen a dozen times before.  Paddy Power Bingo has a superb array of games spread across all of the Paddy Power branded sites.

Isn't it weird how all the magazines are launching online bingo sites and most of them are choosing to use the JackpotJoy platform. One of the many to join the bandwagon is Pick Me Up Bingo and the only difference between all the other sites and even JackpotJoy itself is the front page. There is nothing different about Pick Me Up Bingo to any of the others on the JackpotJoy skin.

After Sun Bingo made the decision to part ways with Tombola I was always sure that this would prove to be bingo industry suicide. However maybe I need to eat my words because the new Sun Bingo seems to be proving quite popular. This however is definitely not because of the new games like Whack a Moley at Sun Bingo. Playing the game is a little addictive but it's more frustrating then anything else.

PlatinumPlay Bingo is one of the online bingo sites powered by Microgaming and a one of its latest promotions is the PlatinumPlay Bingo ball for life game. This promotion sees all bingo players having the opportunity to choose a number that will become their Bingo Ball for Life and offers them the chance to win some big cash prizes.

After covering Agony Ant at Bingo Night Live recently I was interested to read about the bingo agony aunt at 888ladies. There is a whole page at 888ladies dedicated to details of the newest gimmick to hit the 888ladies pages. Not only is there a whole page dedicated to the bingo agony aunt at 888ladies, namely Chica, but she has 5 dedicated chat room slots in which to you as an online bingo player can earn points for divulging all your secrets and dragging your skeletons kicking and screaming from the closet.

The face fronting Cheggers Bingo is none other than the man himself, Keith Chegwin and the Cheggers Bingo promotion sees all bingo players at this site in with a chance of having £500 personally delivered to their door by the man himself. Keith Chegwin reminds me very much of my younger days; many a Saturday morning watching Swap Shop or Cheggers Plays Pop during the week.

Having a little nose around You Tube for some funny stuff to show our readers I came across an ad for an online bingo site called BuckyBingo. BuckyBingo is a totally new name on me in the world of online bingo so of course I had to check it out. My first thought was that BuckyBingo was a new name for Buckingham Bingo and this may well be the case.

I always find it really interesting to look at the geeky behind the scenes stuff for onlinebingo.net and one of those things is the most popular articles here. It could be an ego thing but hey, who doesn't like to have their ego massaged occasionally. I thought the readers might like a top of the pops style run down on a weekly basis of the most popular pages here at onlinebingo.net. So each week I will be posting an Online Bingo Top Ten so you can see the movers and shakers here at onlinebingo.net.

Anthony Crank, presenter of Bingo Night Live has taken to being an agony aunt for the most amusing problems that had been sent in to the Bingo Night Live advice line. According to a clip available to view on the Bingo Night Live home page at ITV the presenters asked viewers to send in their most amusing problems.

The Wink Bingo welcome bonus for new players has been up and down like a trollop's draws over the last couple of months. It was only last month that the Wink Bingo welcome bonus was dropped from £15 down to £5; less that a month on and it's been bumped back up to £15. Talk about keep people busy in the industry!

Recently there have been some upgrades to the Virtue Fusion bingo software and part of the changes include the inclusion of 75 ball bingo variations at the online bingo sites using this software platform. To date there are three 75 ball bingo variations available online. The original 75 ball bingo game is the sort played at sites like Foxy Bingo; this 75 ball bingo variation is called the pattern game.

The Hull and East riding press yesterday reported about an online bingo player who stole to fund her habit from her employers, Eling Ltd. Sandra Preston worked at the Total garage in Driffield as a manageress and managed to skim £62,722 in total from here employers to deposit at two online bingo sites.

Although this ruling was bought in July 2007 I thought it was an interesting read and wanted to share it with you after the recent spate on UK bingo sites being complained about to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA). The Bingos.co.uk banner ad appeared on the NTL homepage.

Party Bingo offer a loyalty programme at their online bingo site and the system is all centred on what are called Party Points. Party Bingo have a very concise, if not very tedious, guide to earning Party Points at their online bingo site and there is a lot to read about them. There are three types of points that you can earn at Party Bingo and in this article I will take you through the system briefly.

One thing I really enjoy reading when I get some time is the testimonials at any online bingo site and after visiting the home page of Bingo Café I noticed they had a section dedicated to promoting what their online bingo players think of Bingo Café. Testimonials at any online bingo site are only ever going to be the good stuff about the site after all they wouldn't dedicate a section to complaints but it still a great way to find out the good points of any online bingo site.

Some on the online bingo sites that are on the St Minver network offer you the chance to download a programme called Bingo Alerts. Bingo Alerts is a programme that you need to install on your pc and the idea is that you will never miss a big game of online bingo again.I visited one of the sites that has Bingo Alerts and took a look at the benefits, installation and running of the programme; Butlins Bingo was the site I chose.

An online bingo site that plays on the LeapFrog Gaming platform has a player that is smiling more than ever after playing at Bingo Cabin - player "notasausage" is a regular player at Bingo Cabin and recently had an issue with the site which was resolved quickly and amicably by management of Bingo Cabin. Having spent the time talking to this wonderful lady over the last couple of days it is great to be able to write about an online bingo site that has truly looked after their bingo players.

It's back to the weird and wonderful in the world of eBay bingo for me as I haven't searched it for a while on the world's most famous auction site. It really does tickle me every time I take a look through the offerings on eBay for all things bingo.

Many an online bingo site will tell you why online bingo is better than land based bingo and yes I agree, online bingo is far superior to land based bingo but this You Tube video clip is a classic example of why online bingo rules! I'd like to say "only in America" about this clip but I can't because the whole thing from start to end could easily have happened at local bingo hall in the UK.

In my email inbox today was an email from BBN; for those of you don't know this is the Best Bingo Network behind sites like Gone Bingo and WOW Bingo. The email was offering me $6 free but what interested me more about this email was at the bottom it was advertising Taj Bingo. Of course Taj Bingo is not an online bingo site that I have ever heard of.

There was an article in the Sunday Telegraph recently with a title "Online bingo is a mecca for the middle classes" and I for one found it quite a strange title; online bingo isn't restricted to defined classes but a game that all classes can participate in surely? Although having said that in my time as an online bingo player I've yet to meet someone in a bingo chat room from the upper class.

I know it's not bingo but I love a good old game of Monopoly especially when I'm the banker; what I didn't know is that there is a UK Monopoly Championships at which you can win a trip to Las Vegas. If this sounds right up your street then it's not too late to register and entry is open to players from the age of 8! There are four venues for the UK Monopoly Championships; Bournemouth, Birmingham, Skegness and Blackpool.