Mecca Bingo has been praised for partnering with the UK Pension Service to spread the word of what is available for pensioners through the Pension Service.  Since many pensioners are not aware of the full range of services they can access, the service is giving presentations explaining all the benefits at various land-based bingo halls across the country.  With bingo halls often being the hub of the social scene in many villages, this has given the Pension Service an excellent way to reach those that it may not be able to otherwise reach.

Unfortunately, the goodwill and publicity generated by their public service is getting hammered by negative publicity over the banning of a pensioner couple by Mecca Bingo.  The actual ban took place over a year ago but now Rosalyn Clemson is threatening legal action and talking to the media over the problem.

It started last April when Rosalyn, a 76-year old retired nurse, arranged a day trip to a rival bingo hall for a group of friends that she knew from her local Mecca Bingo hall.  Management found out about this and say that her activities constitute a breach of membership rules and they banned her and her husband from all Mecca Bingo halls throughout the UK.  The club also claimed that Rosalyn and her friends became aggressive with the duty manager and that they had to be asked to leave the premises.

Now Rosalyn is saying that this action is causing her to suffer from depression as her local Mecca Bingo hall had been a mainstay of her life for more than half a century.  She says she was unaware of any rule prohibiting her activities and that the ban is unfair.  According to the report in the Daily Mail, she is considering pursuing legal action against the bingo company but no specifics were given.

An officer from the National Pensioners Convention has asked that Mecca Bingo reconsider the ban.  Neil Duncan-Jordan said in a statement that “it seems to be a clear case of over-reaction on the part of Mecca Bingo”.  A representative of another group representing the elderly, Philip Longworth of Age Concern, expressed the sentiment that he felt that Mecca Bingo “may have shot themselves in the foot with this ban” and he likened the action to that of using “a sledge hammer to crack a nut”.

To answer the question in the title, it’s when an online bingo site does a promotion that offers betting on who will win at Wimbledon.  Now that is combining gambling in a whole new way!  Bingo Fabulous is behind this unique promotion but we wouldn’t expect anything less of this site.

Play at Bingo Fabulous between June 3 and June 16 to get your chance of winning a free ￡25 bet on the tennis player you think will win.  You need to be one of the five players with the most bingoes on the special tennis racket pattern games.  If you are, the site will contact you on June 17 to ask you who you want to place your bet on.

It’s not surprising to see innovative promotions from Bingo Fabulous as they have many great promotions all the time and tons of great prizes every day.  They offer new players 20 free cards to start off with and a 100% match bonus on your first deposit, up to ￡100.  The bonuses don’t stop there, though.  You continue to get a 50% matching bonus on every deposit thereafter from ￡20 to
￡100.

This online bingo site has one of the highest jackpot games in bingo today with three ￡1 million coverall games.  Those games are offered each Wednesday and Friday at 10 pm and then on Saturday at 9:30.

Cashcade, the owner of several online bingo sites, is up for auction.  Cashcade is partially owned by International News & Media which is under a lot of pressure to divest itself of assets in order to raise funds to pay its debts.  The company hired the investment bank, Jefferies & Co., earlier this month to auction off part or all of Cashcade.    Cashcade is expected to sell for close to £100 million after attaining net profits of $19.6 million last year.

At least two big names in online gambling have expressed interest in acquiring Cashcade, with PartyGaming and 888 Holdings both expected to bid on the company.  Another company that analysts speculate may enter the race would be Paddy Power.  The Irish company has been in expansion mode recently and just purchased 51% of the Australian bookmaker, Sportsbet.  The bigger online gaming companies have long been interested in consolidating the industry, at least in part to reduce operating costs.

PartyGaming had announced last month that they were looking at a number of possible purchases.  They are currently exploring a possible merger or partnership with GigaMedia, the company behind Everest Poker.

888 Holdings has expressed similar interests and in a statement released earlier this month said that it was in a position to “exploit merger and acquisition opportunities when they become available”.  Analysts see the company as having an edge in the race for Cashcade because 888 provides the Globalcom software that most of Cashcade’s online bingo sites operate.

With Cashcade owning several major online bingo sites (Foxy Bingo, Think Bingo, Bingo Scotland and Cheeky Bingo) as well as other gaming sites, this would make an attractive package for the major players in the online gambling industry.  According to Cashcade’s website, they have more than 2 million registered users among all their gaming sites with over 60,000 members actively gaming each month.

Ladbrokes is hosting a bingo bash to celebrate the launch of their newest bingo room, The Ballroom, but they’re only letting in 500 special people to the party.  With more than ￡20,000 in cash prizes, it’s certainly a celebration that no online bingo enthusiast would want to miss.  Lucky for you, we’ve found out how to get an invitation and we’re willing to share the secret with all of you!

Each day from Friday, May 29 through Thursday, June 4, you need to be playing bingo in Ladbrokes lounge bingo room from noon to 1:50 pm and again from 7 pm to 8:54 pm.  All winners of one line, two line or full house games will receive an invitation to The Ballroom for the celebration on Saturday, June 6, from 8 pm to 10 pm.  If needed to get to the 500 participants, Ladbrokes may also select random non-winning players so the main thing is just to be in the lounge playing at the stated times.

This will be a life-changing party for at least one lucky attendee because there will be a huge ￡10,000 guaranteed bingo prize game during the evening!  Every other game during the two hour bash will be free so you could walk away with your share of the rest of the prize money and it may not cost you a thing.

I don’t know about you but I’m thinking that I’ll definitely be at Ladbrokes Bingo for the next week because that party sounds like the place to be if you like online bingo at all.  Don’t forget to play in the lounge bingo room at the right times so you can get your invitation.

The popular OK! Magazine has had a web presence for a long time.  Whether you pick up a copy at the new stand, subscribe or visit their website, you are sure to find the hottest celebrity gossip, the latest fashions and all the news about trends that we all want to know.  Now they have also entered the online bingo world with their brand new online bingo site called OK Mag Bingo.

The site is run by CyberBingo’s software and the games can either be played in a browser using flash or you can download the software to your computer.  They have rooms like the Fashionista which follows with the theme of the magazine, with rooms for 75 ball bingo and the popular 90 ball game.  OK Mag Bingo isn’t limited to just the bingo games, either.  They also feature some fun side games like video poker and slots machines for when you need a break from bingo.

By using the CyberBingo software, some of the games at OK Mag Bingo are part of a larger network with some larger pots than you often find.  Of course, they’re offering a great promotion to launch the site with.  Called “Want to be a Star”, the promotion is awarding prizes for players with the best video telling why they love OK Mag Bingo or a story related to the site.  Upload your video to YouTube and be sure to send them the link to be entered in the promotion.

Gala Bingo sponsored a very nice spring promotion in April where a lucky player would win a garden makeover by none other than gardening expert, Charlie Dimmick.  When Diane McNab, a Shirehampton homecare assistant, heard she had won the prize, she was extremely excited.  An avid gardener, Diane was looking forward to seeing the ideas that Charlie could come up with.

When Diane finally met with Charlie at her home, she was delighted with the ideas presented.  The £2000 provided by Gala Bingo for the makeover will cover the cost of the landscapers to carry out Charlie’s vision in the next few weeks.

As many of you will know, Charlie Dimmick is a well-known gardening expert in the UK.  She has written several books on gardening as well as having presented various shows on television.  Charlie described some of her ideas for Diane’s garden after their meeting.

“Diane has a lovely garden, which I think can be really enhanced by putting in a pergola to add some shade in the garden and some raised beds so that Diane can grow rhododendrons and camellias, which she’s been longing to do,” said Charlie.

Jackpot Joy Bingo is celebrating their seventh year of being in business with a birthday bash that lasts all month and lets you take home the presents! The site is giving out more prizes than ever with the unbelievable promotions throughout the month of June.

There will be awesome daily prizes with a different prize each week. The first week will offer entertainment centers daily, week two will offer a family holiday travel package to Florida, the third week will give out a brand new Fiat 500 car each day and the fourth week will see seven people win £1,000 each and every day.

Besides the daily prize draws, there will also be 7 jackpot games of £7,777.77 each. Andy the cost of a card for those huge jackpot games? Only 77p each! To have a shot at one of those fantastic pots, you must be playing in the Full House Bingo Sapphire room at certain times on certain days as follows:

Friday, June 5 at 9pm

Friday, June 12 at 9pm

Friday, June 19 at 9pm

Thursday, June 25 at 9pm

Friday, June 26 at 9pm and again at 11pm

Saturday, June 27 at 9pm

One lucky gentleman from Bristol got a lovely surprise earlier this month when he won MeccaBingo’s largest jackpot thus far. He bet two pounds on the Lucky Ladies 88 video slot machine and hit for a remarkable £240,561! The winner, Glen Johnson, said that with both he and his wife being disabled and having multiple medical issues, the money was going to come in very handy in paying medical expenses and making their lives easier in general.

In a statement, MeccaBingo said they were thrilled to be paying their largest payout since their founding three years ago to such a deserving couple. The CEO of Virtue Fusion (which powers MeccaBingo), Bob McCulloch, said he hoped the prize money would make things easier for the couple.

MeccaBingo currently offers a 200% bonus on sign up and is running some great promotions for the month of May that includes prizes such as a laptop theater system, a holiday travel package and even a new car. There’s still lots of cash to be won in their other games, as well. Another winner hit £111,967 on the same video slot machine as Glen Johnson not too long after his big win.

The Fourth Annual Online Bingo Summit will be held June 16-17 at the Millennium Gloucester London. This is the must attend conference for anyone connected to the online bingo industry as discussions and presentations include The Future of the Online Bingo Industry, European Bingo Markets and Partnerships, Retention: How Can You Increase It and Product Innovations.

The two day conference has a long list of expert speakers and moderators:

Peter Trinz, VP of Parlay Entertainment, will speak of the needs that must be addressed in order to market online bingo products in Europe, including language and currency differences.

William Scott, Senior VP of Business Development for GTECH New Media/Boss Media, will be speaking first at the Convergence of Platforms session. Neill Whyte of Microgaming and Bob McCulloch, CEO of Virtue Fusion will also be adding their thoughts to the session.

Angus Nisbet of Rank/Mecca will be speaking about how the offline bingo halls are positioning themselves in relationship to the online bingo industry. He will speak of branding, database conversion and using traditional marketing channels for the online bingo arena.

The first day of the summit will features the Forecasts and Business Intelligence: 2009-2012 where discussions will center on the immediate future of online bingo, market growth in Europe and how online bingo is being affected by the recession.

The online bingo sites are going all out this month, offering some fantastic travel prizes. The operators know that they need to offer great promotions to entice you to play with them but this month they seem to have outdone themselves. Pretty cool to be seeing far off places with all expenses paid and there will be a number of winners in May.

Paddy Power Bingo is one of the sites offering a nice travel package this month. A few of their luckiest players will be winning a weekend getaway with a guest at their choice of destination.

You can win holiday vouchers valued at £500 at Crown Bingo and that’s without even playing a game! What they want is for you to tell them what your dream holiday would be and send it to them via their convenient online form. Wow – just think what that would feel like to win!

One of the UK’s most popular online bingo sites is featuring an Island Giveaway promotion. Simply playing your favorite game at Jackpot Joy Bingo could win you a lush trip to Barbado for you and your choice of guests. There are three of these prizes available so don’t forget to stop in.

Sun Bingo has added a very nice travel related bonus to their Sunday Snap! Games promotion. They are giving out four pairs of airline tickets to Las Vegas along with £500 for spending cash. See the Vegas strip and have all that money to gamble with – you could come home an even bigger winner.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for the wonderful travel promotions this month so be sure to check in with your favorite sites for more ways to see the world.