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Big Budget Movies Partnering with Online Bingo Sites

February 22nd, 2010 | Comments Off | Posted in News

The movies have always been big business around the world at it comes as no big surprise that with the combination of a classic story like Lewis Carrol’s Alice and Wonderland and the artistic visionary filmmaker Tim Burton of Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas fame, a power house of media exposure would be built. In their efforts to raise the level of popularity that their sites have been experiencing in recent years, bingo sites will often put on promotions that are intended to delight fans and offer an alluring theme for gamers to enjoy while they get their games of bingo in. Developer St Minver has put together a new software package that incorporates the Alice in Wonderland movie theme for Littlewoods Bingo, a popular UK online bingo site that has become one of the stars of that nation. Slots and bingo will have players enjoying the look and feel of the new movie as they wager for large cash prizes.

While there are different contests being offered, one of the most interesting to the audience online has been a chance to win a pool prize of £1,500 that is awarded just for trying the game out. The homage to the classic characters such as the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter has proven to be a big draw for the casino and is definitely expected to pull in a new fan base for the operation. This is just one more move for the bingo industry that promises a tighter merger between popular entertainment and wagering sites worldwide.

Bingo Affiliate Programs Helping Players Increase Their Account Balances

January 16th, 2010 | Comments Off | Posted in News

One of the reasons that the bingo industry on the web has seen such a huge level of growth over the last decade and a half of its existence is owed to the fact that this is a market where customers are not just spending money, they stand to actually get money back in return simply by taking part in the games that are offered 24 hours a day. As the industry has expanded, many different providers have come up with various ways of helping expand the market, but analysts believe that a highly successful online promotion style that has worked for a huge number of web based businesses may end up working very well for bingo sites, too. This model is referred to as the affiliate model and it allows third party groups or individuals to sell what the parent company has to offer which, in this particular case, happens to be online bingo.

The provider of Buckingham Bingo has decided to create their own platform for an affiliate program and are taking it live immediately in an effort to expand their share of the market while rewarding those who are able to send them visitors. This use of the popular model is expected to work well for the company and as virtual affiliates work to promote their products, they stand to make back money which they can use to fund their gaming on the web. The network is just one of many that are now beginning to emerge as a premiere way to reward industrious players who want to be able to do more than simply enjoy the games they play.

Bingo Strategies

August 18th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

Get Some Practice In
Many new players in the online bingo world are not actually aware that they do not have to start wagering right off the bat. The fact is, nearly all bingo sites on the web that one might care to join will offer what are called either practice or sandbox games. These games allow players to get familiar with the particular style of the system that is being offered on the site and let them get comfortable with the way bingo is played on that particular site. This is a brilliant idea for new comers because it really helps them get down how the game works before there is even a cent at stake. It is far better to learn the ropes this way than any other method.

Choose a Game Size That Works
In terms of bingo games, one of the most important factors that will have a lot to do with how much prize money one can win is the size of the room in which the games are being played. While many people will say the bigger the better, just as many will argue that a small room gives a greater chance for winning. The choice really is up to the player, but it is smart to keep in mind that larger rooms with more players almost always offer a bigger jackpot. However, it needs to be said, as well, that a smaller room clearly has a greater chance for any of the players to win due to the lower population of competitors in the room. In the end, it is up to the player to decide what works best.

Card Selection Plays a Big Role
While there are many aspects that come into play during a bingo game, one of the most important is which strategy a player plans to make use of when they are purchasing the game cards that they will be playing with. If one chooses the more expensive cards then they can definitely expect to win more because that is what those cards are all about: bigger prizes. However, a fleet of cheaper cards can improve the chances that a player will win, too. This means that the goal should be to use one or the other system of card buying and not simply buy up a huge amount of expensive cards because that can lead to issues where there is more money spent on playing the game than could possibly be earned back as a result of a win. Careful card selection can make a big difference.

Keep Focused on the Game At Hand
With so many distractions in our homes, it can sometimes be easy to get carried away enjoying other things in the room around us and forget to keep close tabs on the game at hand. This is understandable, but those players who watch the proceedings like hawks in a game of online bingo are often going to be the ones who get the most benefit from playing because they do not miss chances to call bingo. Setting up the auto daubing feature and also the card highlighting feature is a smart idea, too. These tools help players keep careful track of the game as they play.

The Art of Bringing Strategies Together
In the end, no single strategy will be the ‘be all, end all’ strategy that consistently delivers wins. It is important to consider all of the factors that go into a solid game of bingo and make choices that will deliver the results we want if we are interested in winning as much as possible. Make the blend that suits the tastes of the player and the game will deliver the results.

Bingo Software Providers

March 18th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

888 Holdings – Few companies in the world of online bingo have such an impressive track record as 888 Holdings. They were first founded in Gibraltar back in 1997 and since then they have built a veritable empire of gaming sites, even buying large companies at a cost of tens of millions of pounds. Companies like Globalcom Limited, acquired by 888 back in 2007, have fueled their rapid rise to total domination in the bingo industry and today their 888 Ladies site, launched the following year, is one of the biggest names on the market. Their brand is well respected as one of the strongest on the web for bingo players and they are definitely rising still.

Boss Media – Back in 1996, Boss Media decided to take a gamble and set up their very first online casino, Gold Club Casino. This was a big step for the company, based out of Vaxjo, a Swedish town. They had no idea what they were setting off and it wouldn’t]’t be long before investors and companies from around the world would come seeking them out to help design sites for them. This put Boss Media in a very good place to be able to become the software package designers for a wide number of white label gaming sites, a status they still enjoy today.

Chartwell Technology – With their primary base of operations being in Calgary, Canada and other branches in both the United Kingdom and Malta, Chartwell has become a big name in the casino and bingo software design field. They are experts at designing enticing environs for players and are responsible for not only Betfair, but also Bwin and a large number of other sites on the web where players love to wager. They know how to make a brand stand out in a visual way.

Gamesys – Few companies can boast the power that Gamesys wields when it comes to running a lucrative online bingo business. This software provider powers one of the most important sites in the UK bingo world: JackpotJoy. They are known for giving away at least one prize every minute of the day, on average, and have been recorded as giving away nearly 80 million pounds worth of prizes since they got started. They do a huge amount of business thanks to this reputation and offer an easy system for consumers who do not want to have to download a package since they have browser friendly casinos. In addition to their own sites, they design for white labels, also.

Microgaming – Many experts in the online bingo industry will say that Microgaming is one of the very first, if not the actual first, online casino ever launched. They began back in 1994 from their base on the Isle of Man and it appears as if they have not let their rapid success make them complacent. They are known for developing hundreds of different games for the sites that they create and they offer both web browser based casinos or downloadable packages depending upon a casino operator’s desires.

Parlay Entertainment – Having truly gotten themselves into position to rank very highly among bingo providers, Parlay is known for providing the gaming software that runs the bingo games of Yahoo, Virgin and a wide assortment of other sites.

Playtech – Since they started back in 1999, Playtech has gotten into the online bingo world in a big and innovative way. They are the founders of the Bingoland Network that runs a massive spread of bingo sites around the web. They also design packages for other companies.

History of Online Bingo

February 17th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

It is hard to imagine that bingo has been in the world since over six hundred years ago when it was first invented in Italy as a form of lottery. As simple as it is, it makes sense that bingo would find its way across the world and be loved by many different cultures, but there is no way to express the profound change that would take place when a native New Yorker found the game called ‘beano’ at a carnival and took it back to his beloved home of New York City as a way to make his family some extra cash. He saw that he had a great idea and it spread all across the United States fairly quickly because the Great Depression proved many wanted a low cost form of fun that they could learn quickly and easily in their effort to escape from the troubles of that time period. These early roots put bingo in a solid position for the next stage when it would come to be used in American schools as a way to teach children numbers and other small facts the same way it had been in Germany hundreds of years earlier. This, combined with the fact that charity groups loved to use the game to help raise funds, meant that a growing number of Americans would be very familiar with bingo. So by the time the TV changed the way that Americans socialized, bingo was already in a good position to become popular since it was a very communal type of game that brought people together and gave them a shot at great cash prizes. All of these factors positioned bingo quite well for the events that were to come next in its development into the form we know today.

The earth shaking event that would change the world of bingo forever was the arrival of the world wide web as a way that people could connect with one another and share information. Of course, they also wanted to have fun and early on, developers came to see that out of all the possible games to offer for those who wanted to wager for cash prizes, bingo was the one that most people already knew. This meant they did not need to struggle to learn anything and that made the sites quite popular right off the bat. This ease of use made bingo one of the hottest games on the net and created a large fan base right away, but even though it was impressive in those days, it is nothing compared to what happened once the UK developers got in on the act. In the UK bingo was already a big past time, so it makes sense that once it got taken online there would be tons of people who wanted to be able to play 24 hours a day. The craze caught on there and now there are more than a billion pounds earned in the industry each year in the UK alone.

Online Bingo

February 13th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

Since the earliest days of bingo on the web, players have been regularly enjoying a whole host of different sites that cater to either the bingo fans or a casino type atmosphere. Bothe styles of games are now available to anyone who would like to get started and the best part about bingo online is that it is usually quite familiar to anyone that grew up in an English speaking nation because in these countries this is generally a national tradition. There are so many different ways to get involved in online bingo that one would be hard pressed to not find a site that fit their tastes. Signing up is very easy and once a player as their e wallet account set up they will be able to get involved right away and actually get started not just playing, but winning, too. In some areas there are prizes given away literally every few minutes and this has lead the online bingo industry to a very rapid rise to popularity. Since it is easy to win, many people believe that is the main reason that people play bingo, but this is not actually the case. Unlike many other games out there, bingo is actually a very social affair and one of the big parts of why people play is to chat with other like minded souls who are also into having fun and making friends on the web. Since the games are open 24 hours a day, any time that one has access to the web and something to play on, it can be as simple as logging in to get started playing and pulling down a jackpot win of one’s own.

Thanks to heavy efforts by companies in the UK, the online bingo world is huge and growing on a constant basis. It is already achieving more than 1 billion pounds in business a year and is expected to double that very soon, according to those who keep an eye on this industry so it is definitely the right time to get involved. A lot sites out there are quite savvy in the bonuses they provide so players should really keep an eye out for the kind of bonus that can help them save money and have a good time playing by adding some extra money to their account when they get started with a site. No matter whether a site is big or small, there are always chances to get started and make some new friends while playing. Most bingo players are actually girls that are between the age of 20 and 25 so there is always social action going down on bingo web sites and plenty of new friends to be had. Now that the bingo industry is partnering with the entertainment industry, there are new themed sites coming online almost every day and a lot of great things are brewing for those who are into playing for big prizes on the web in a fun and very convenient type of environment that always lets them have a shot at the jackpot.

Bingo Networks

January 14th, 2009 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

Most players who are familiar with the world of bingo on the web will also have a strong familiarity with the idea of bingo networks, although they may not be aware of knowing that. The fact is, as the bingo world has changed and evolved down through the years, many different innovations were needed in order for the market to remain stable and growing to the billion dollar mark where it is today. In order to captivate a large and very diverse audience, the sites have needed to specialize and clearly it would be tough for any one company to attract all of the different segments of the bingo player fan base. This meant that there needed to be a solution and the bingo networks were the answer to this issue, arising to offer a variety of different styles of play through a selection of smaller portal sites that all linked up with major name brand bingo parlors on the web which were well known for providing a lot of great opportunities for players. This changed the way that the games were played and it also made it much easier for smaller sites to compete because now instead of having to use their money to fund massive jackpots, they could pay in towards much larger network jackpots and offer these to their players while still being able to have a very specific theme that they wanted and that their players wanted. Now, instead of players having to settle for smaller games and, as a result, smaller prizes, they could choose the site they liked the most and enjoy the full effect of it without having to worry about having too small of a crowd of players to game and chat with during their sessions.

As a result of this innovation, bingo sites began to look a lot more attractive in terms of their design because even small companies could afford to set them up and really cater to a specific fan base. This was a big change that was truly amazing and had a ripple effect across the industry as long time bingo mammoth providers began to get serious competition from the networks of smaller sites. It is certainly possible for players to get very picky about the games they want to play and where they would like to play them thanks to this way of doing things and the so called white label gaming companies can now provide just about any business with a complete online bingo solution that will let them host very large scale games from the network without sacrificing their brand image in the process. It is definitely a great time in the billion dollar industry of bingo for any company to come online and give players yet another option when they want to get their game on. There are so many different ways to find a bonus at these sites that many players will try out several to find a place they want to end up calling home.

History of Bingo

December 13th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

Games of chance have been a big favorite all over the globe for some time now, but very few have achieved quite the level of fame that has come to bingo. Surprisingly, it is a very recent game compared with many others out there today and another thing that is unusual is that while many games have quite unclear histories to them, bingo is a game that has a very solid and defined past. History scholars have shown that the game first originated over six hundred years ago in Italy as a national lottery called Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia which is Italian for clearing of Italy’s lots. This means that the game is similar to any other lottery and in this early form, the game was very popular among Italians and it is, in fact, still played there the same way today. However, it was not just Italy that would prove to be the perfect place for early bingo because once it headed north up into France, it became popular there, as well. Then the game found its way into Germany and was adopted by the Germans as a great way to teach children about various subjects they needed to memorize such as their numbers, popular animals and also the alphabet. Being able to get into the game easily made it quite popular for kids and it is no surprise that it was just as appealing to adults when Edwin Lowe discovered it out side of the United States city of Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. Lowe was a traveling salesman with a good eye for a business opportunity and when he spied how much fun people were having playing a game called beano, he knew that he wanted to bring it back to his own home town, New York City. That is exactly what he did.

Once he arrived home, Lowe started right out developing the game into a form that he could entertain others with, designing it as a party game and then as a way to raise money. This was the Great Depression, after all, and any great business idea needed to be followed up on. The basic concept became a huge hit and it wouldn’t be long before Lowe started selling the cards that players would need. Not only did various venues want to offer the games to the public, they were largely embraced by charity groups such as churches that wanted to raise money for different causes, too. By leveraging the popularity of the game Lowe was able to get it spread all across the US in a very short amount of time. The timing could not have been better because the TV was changing the fact that people used to go to the movies for fun and social times. With bingo, they could get together and have fun while still being around others instead of camped out in their living rooms and not interacting beyond their own home. Once the game hit the UK, it really took off in a whole new form and a new fan base was built rapidly.

Glossary

October 30th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

After Game – This is the last game played during a session of bingo, usually reserved as a finisher experience for the players and a wind down game.

Ball Lifter – This is a part of the bingo ball machine that is designed to lift the ball up into the shooting area so that it can be fired into the field of plays.

Blower – This is a system that uses compressed air blown through a system of tubing that will launch a ball up into the area of play where it can be selected and have its number called for the players.

Caller – This professional is the person hired by a land based bingo hall or casino that will select the numbered balls and announce to the players what the number is.

Cash-In-Prize – This is a style of prize that allows the players to win a prize that has been bought or, if in cash, created by all those who have paid in on the game.

Face – This is the gaming sheet used to play bingo and it generally has 24 different spaces, each numbered so that they can be checked off during play.

Four Corners – This pattern is created by covering the numbers in the corner of a bingo card. All four of the corners must be covered before bingo can be called.

Free Space – At the center of most bingo cards, in amongst all the numbers on the card, there is normally a blank space that players are allowed to fill automatically. This acts as a wild card would in a card game.

Game Board – This is the read out unit that is normally attached to a wall or held on a portable stand. It shows out the numbers as they are called, generally making use of either a digital number read out or a system of electronic lights. It will sometimes also show the specific pattern players are looking for as they play.

Game Room – In an online setting, this is what the specific games are called in the areas that they are being hosted.

G.T.I. or T.E.D. – This is the electronic dauber system that will help players in a game of online bingo. It will organize multiple cards for them and help keep track of how close they are to achieving bingo.

Hard Card – This is a bingo card that has been printed on a heavy type of paper such as card board and it has shutters on it to act as markers when the numbers are called.

House – A slang term in bingo lingo that refers to the venue in which bingo games are played. These are the land based operators but can also be online.

Inlaid Card – These pre-printed cards are generally in a format that contains a 4 by 4 grid and they are laid out on a table. Black discs are used to cover the numbers that are being called out.

Jackpot - This is the prize, generally in cash, that bingo players are gaming for a chance to win during a session. It is usually added to by each of the players with their admissions fee.

RNG – Stands for Random Number Generator and comes up with the numbers in the same way a bingo ball machine would.

UK Bingo

October 13th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in Guides

As stoic as the British people as a whole are considered to be, it certainly can’t be said that they would avoid a chance to have some fun and take a few wagers to win a great cash prize. This is probably the biggest reason that bingo is now one of the most popular forms of entertainment in all of the United Kingdom today. One of the big reasons it is so popular here is due to the huge number of clubs, halls and casinos that offer the games almost all day long. This and the fact that it is quite a social game have led many to partake in the wagering fun and create something of a grand tradition in this country when it comes to bingo. It is therefore no real surprise that a huge and growing number of the world’s online bingo web sites are based in the UK and that industry pulls in millions and millions of pounds each year, providing a lot of jobs to those in the country and even in other nations where the bingo companies have begun to expand. It is the 90 ball system of bingo that is most popular in the UK and that is why the online sites tend to cater to this form of bingo, as well. Since there is such a massive audience here, it is only natural that the sites would begin to take the British into account when they are designing out their games that they offer. This is also a place that is known for exporting culture and while no one is quite sure what made bingo such a smash hit here, it is definitely true that bingo is alive, well and really doing a number on the world of gaming as we know it today.

There are a vast array of different companies which offer games over the web these days which hail from the UK and a growing majority of them now belong to various bingo networks and have their software coming from UK sources. This means that there are massive companies such as MSN, AOL and Yahoo which rely on the UK bingo software industry to provide the gaming platforms they serve up. In addition, one of the most shocking things about the gaming audience in the UK is the fact that they are primarily girls between twenty and twenty five years old. This is a very savvy segment of the populace and they are very much up on all of the latest trends so the marketers of bingo in this part of the world have had to make sure that their offerings are always quite attractive to this group first and foremost. The fact that bingo is such a social game has led to the big level of popularity it enjoys today and since the industry is expected to bring in more than two billion pounds in the coming years there is no reason to doubt that it will keep growing at its current pace.