Microgaming and the Kentucky kerfuffle – Online Bingo News

Microgaming is one of the leading online gaming software providers  in the world for casino, poker and online bingo games, yet the recent crackdown in the US state of Kentucky means that their domain name, www.microgaming.com, is under threat, along with 140 other domains.

Many conflicting reports have appeared over the last few days, saying that the Microgaming domain has been seized, that Microgaming bingo sites are pulling out of the US, or simply not allowing any new bingo online player registrations from Kentucky. Players have also reported that access to Microgaming sites is now also restricted from neighbouring US states including Nevada, Tennessee and Georgia.

Speculation is rife over the Microgaming situation and as no clear statement has yet been issued by the company, many casino and online bingo players are increasingly worried about the safety of their deposited funds, especially if Microgaming decides to completely withdraw from the US market to avoid any further such problems.

Reports say that Microgaming will be issuing a statement sometime today which should hopefully bring some clarification to the issue.

Written by Charlene Grey for Bingostreet.com – the number one resource for the best UK bingo online and the latest bingo promotions.

Bingo Quite The Workout

The only time you’re ever really active is when you’re leaping to your feet, raising your arms in the air and yelling “Bingo!” when you win. The point is, when you think of playing bingo you don’t generally associate it with getting a workouts.

But evidently somebody down at Mecca Bingo, in Moor Lane, Bolton, has been thinking about how much sitting down their regular players do, because in a recent evening session all of the people present were put through an exercise routine, the aim apparently being to stimulate players bodies as well as their minds.

The Mecca general manager, Dave Barker, said: “We’ve always known playing bingo keeps minds active and now we can help to keep our players’ bodies active too.”

This was the scene on Wednesday night. Will Clarke, the Memberships Manager, took to the stage during the evening’s proceedings and asked for everyone’s attention. After a brief explanation, he led the assembled players through a short workout session before the bingo playing recommenced.

It was pretty spur of the moment, and nothing terribly strenuous. The players, mostly women, were asked to use their handbags as gym weights while Clarke led them through several exercises. They stretched, and raised the weights above their heads, and then to each side, all from the comfort of their seats.

Surprisingly, it went down a storm. Clarke said afterwards, “I think people were a bit nervous at first but then actually really enjoyed it.

In fact, the experiment was so successful that the management at Mecca Bingo are considering incorporating the improvised exercise routine into their regular schedule for the evening’s entertainment. Many of their players are elderly and play at Mecca Bingo at least twice a week, so the workout will ensure they get some health benefits to go along with the fun they’re having.

Feedback from those present on the night has been unanimously positive. 67 year old Rhona Raines, a regular at Mecca Bingo, is reported to have said, “You can get rid of your bingo wings while you play bingo, I think it’s a great idea.”

Bingo’s not just a game — it’s a community

A lot of numbers are floating around a packed, smoky Clovis Bingo Hall, and only some of them are coming from the bingo caller.

Shannon Witt, 42, a volunteer (they call themselves indentured parents) at this night’s Buchanan High School fundraiser, is concerned with these numbers: pep squad uniform (including hair ribbon and pom-poms), $447.45; cheer camp, $125; cheer sweats, $210; rhinestones on cheer sweats, $33; rhinestone T-shirt, $30; team backpack, six T-shirts and sweat shorts, $167.45. With tax, a grand total of $1,033.39.

Working the bingo games, Witt earns credits to offset her daughter’s school expenses. Witt’s been making the equivalent of about $20 a night, twice a week, for three years.

Bingo player Linda Schaeffer, 64, is keeping track of her monthly bingo budget – a $675 pension check. She says most of the people sitting at her table spend at least as much as she does. None of them disagree.

Then there’s the number that 1960s rock group Three Dog Night once dubbed the loneliest: One.

People pack the bingo hall to be with other people.

“I started coming after my mother died,” says volunteer Barbara Gibbs, 50. “I needed something to do with my time. I didn’t want to be alone.”

The hall doesn’t open until 6:15 on most bingo nights, which are Saturday through Tuesday. The crowd typically starts forming about 4 p.m. By 5 p.m., it’s hard to find a parking place in the aging shopping center on Bullard Avenue.

Clovis, Calif., is a city that prides itself on a sense of old-fashioned community, family values and good schools that produce accomplished scholars and athletes. Clovis is like taking Garrison Keillor’s fictional Lake Woebegon, “where … all the children are above average,” and resettling it around rodeo grounds.

But all those letterman jackets for the above-average children can cost $400 to $500. That can leave parents scrambling. So, at bingo, community and cash cozy up.

Kim Smith, 48, a parent volunteer with two high school-aged children, watches Saturday night bingo players surrounded by ashtrays, half-filled Styrofoam coffee cups and good-luck charms; she invokes the city’s oft-quoted slogan:

“Clovis – a way of life.”

Charlotte MacDougall, 79, frequently described as a firecracker, has china-doll blue eyes, soft white curls and a self-described bingo addiction.

“I don’t know what I’d do if it wasn’t for bingo,” she says. “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. And I meet so many nice people here.

“And some not so nice,” she adds in a hand-shielded, whispered aside.

Even though MacDougall doesn’t smoke, she always sits on the smoker’s side of the hall. The divide between the smoking north side and the non-smoking south side goes deeper than the use of tobacco.

Those on the smokers’ side say folks in the north hall are a rowdy, hard-edged bunch.

The south hall-ers say the non-smoking section (where people really do shush talkers) is filled with people who can’t multi-task and don’t know how to have fun.

Tensions between the two sides heightened recently when Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a state bill to ban electronic bingo. The law goes into effect Jan. 1; charity bingo representatives say it could cut revenues by 40 percent.

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Players at the Clovis Bingo Hall still daub paper cards, and admire the prowess of those who can play a dozen at a time – colorfully marking numbers shouted out by a bingo caller. But they also have been playing bingo electronically, using small computers. Players decide how many electronic cards they want to play on the machines and then pay the bingo operators accordingly. The machines have a wireless connection to the bingo game and automatically mark electronic cards with each called number. Players also can enter numbers manually.

Indian tribes successfully contended that these electronic machines violate gaming compacts with the state.

The Clovis hall tried to get customers to sign a petition protecting the computers – saying that banning the machines would hurt fundraising. Different school organizations and charities pay a share of the rent for the hall and take turns running the bingo games, receiving the profits from their night. Profits can be designated for specific uses, such as helping parents pay for pep squad uniforms.

Those in the shushing, non-smoking side overwhelmingly rejected the petition. They want to return to traditional bingo, where those who can daub the most paper have better odds of winning.

The smoking, computer-favoring side almost unanimously signed, favoring conversation over concentration.

“I don’t want to think too much. Our beloved governor ruined that,” says MacDougall with a vigorous shake of her white curls.

She points to Schaeffer, a bingo buddy who always sits across the table from her.

“She can play six cards like nobody’s business and even get up and get coffee,” she says admiringly.

Schaeffer and her husband, both retired from the grocery business, moved in 2001 to Clovis from the San Francisco Bay area.

“We didn’t know anyone. I found myself a bingo hall, and that’s how I made all my friends,” Schaeffer says.

Now MacDougall and Schaeffer are fixtures in their specific seats at their specific table just about every night. Bingo players tend to be territorial. MacDougall plays three paper cards, Shaeffer six, and they both play electronic bingo machines. Electronic bingo costs between $41.50 and $61 to play 36 to 48 cards. Paper bingo costs $15 for a pack of six cards; there are discounts for bulk purchases.

Radios aren’t allowed in the hall, but MacDougall, a rabid Bulldog football fan, brings one anyway and listens to games with an earpiece.

“A few weeks ago, she screamed out ’Touchdown!’ and the caller thought she had a bingo,” says Schaeffer.

If MacDougall or Shaeffer aren’t coming to bingo, they call the hall so no one will worry. Even when they aren’t there, no one sits in their chairs.

“They wouldn’t dare,” says MacDougall.

She describes the excitement of winning – having a card where the drawn numbers form a specified pattern, usually a straight line.

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“Your heart starts pounding when you see your number. You get real disappointed if someone else says ’Bingo!’ too and you have to share the prize. But if you see the other ’Bingo’ isn’t good, they made a mistake or something, then you cheer, but really softly so no one hears.”

A regular bingo game, with a single winner, pays $250. “Hot” bingos – where a designated number must complete the pattern – can pay $1,000.

It’s not your grandmother’s bingo – or maybe it is.

“When I was a teenager, my grandmother and mom use to play bingo in the trailer park,” says Ed Gibbs, 44, of Fresno, Calif. “I thought it was the craziest thing. Then I got older and realized why they liked it: You get to hang out with people. It’s a common thing.”

Gibbs started coming to the Clovis hall about a year ago as a player. He met Barbara – one of the volunteers who sell bingo cards and coffee and occasionally call out bingo numbers – and now they are newlyweds planning a honeymoon trip to Disneyland.

“A lot of couples meet at bingo,” says manager LuAnna Scott. “We have at least three married couples who met here.”

And then there’s a gentleman who shall remain unnamed. He dated so many bingo regulars that volunteers nicknamed him “Bingo-Ho.”

“Some volunteers were relieved when he finally got married,” says Scott.

The man and his wife and his many ex-girlfriends still all come to the bingo games.

MacDougall is single, but she says she never flirts.

“You get friendly with them and then something happens and they die and you feel so bad,” she says with a dismissive wave of her hand.

This starts people at her table to talking about the times people have died at bingo.

“I was calling the night the one lady died,” says J.P. Done, a volunteer who on this night gets to play a free game for his 30th birthday. “I stopped the game for five minutes. No one has sat in her chair since then.”

Death, courtship, politics, friendship, and the placing of coffee orders all play out as the caller shouts out numbers. Players mark their cards to see if a pattern will emerge from randomness and give them a pay-out.

LuAnna Scott, the hall manager, says the bingo hall is a hub of connection.

“It’s a community,” says Scott. “Everyone here, whether they’re working or spending money on bingo, is helping our schools.”

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Destrie Rathwick, 44, of Sanger, Calif., who plays four days a week, screams “Bingo!”

She has just won $1,000 on a “hot” bingo.

“I’ll go spend the money on bingo,” she says. “I’ll bring it right back here.”

Bikini Body Bingo

“Europeans know how to dress. No one knows how to take off their clothes like Brazil,” intoned the tape played before every show in Claro Rio Summer, summing up the obsession this nation, and its fashion industry, has with the body beautiful.

The action kicked off, or rather got pumped up, on Friday morning, the second day of the three-day season, with a book signing ceremony on Ipanema beach for the latest offering by Vanity Fair Fashion Editor Michael Roberts. Entitled “Saved” after a phrase from this city’s iconic song, La Garota de Ipanema, it’s a colorful reportage of Rio’s characters – life guards, models, street kids, beach soccer players, whose common denominator is their well buffed form.

“It’s about my time spent living right here on Ipanema, and the people one meet’s on the beach. In Rio they can look sensational,” said Roberts, as a score of foreign editors sipped on capirinhas and admired the afore-mentioned physiques.

Few of them were wearing much in the way of clothing other than swimsuits, shorts and oodles of veiled tops; which was pretty much the case on the runway too in the shows this weekend

At Iodice, whose program termed the clothes a “cruiser collection,” one saw a huge amount of silk and organza veils twisted and hung into almost soft furnishings for the human body. The clothes were not all that innovative, but they had a certain panache, and one could imagine lots of women wearing these looks anywhere from Marbella to Harbor Island. Iodice which retails in some 500 sales points and sells in Saks and Neiman Marcus, should be able to find consumers amongst the new bourgeoisie in emerging markets like Eastern Europe, whose idea of paradise is precisely to wear loose fitting colorful shrouded fashion in sunny resorts in the Med.

Friday’s best-presented show was by Rosa Cha, where a local singer crooned through a live “Nouvelle Vague” style reinterpretation of Boss Nova, the Brazilian musical movement that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Staged on a catwalk that was a very shallow pool, the models walked on water, attired in spider web strand bikinis, silk off-the-shoulder shrouds and some stunning floral patterned separates. But, by Rosa Cha’s snappy standards, this was not a stellar show and the all rose hued finale did not smack of luxury.

Also on display in the Forte Copacabana, a tent complex built on a beautiful promontory on the Atlantic Ocean where most shows were staged, was Cris Barros, whose frilly dresses and curvily cut cocktails were an impressive display of merchandise. Some local cynics dismissed Barros as more a socialite than designer, but this show made clear she has talent.

But the coolest fashion moment of the day was the store presentation of Isabela Capeto, who took over a block in Leblon, Rio’s ritziest beachfront neighborhood, with bars, hot dog stands and peanut vendors. Capeto’s crazy pattern, hyper colorful, frilled and lacy frocks captured the energy of this great melting pot city better than any collection seen on a runway so far in the season.

The day’s event climaxed when four score of visiting editors, buyers, stylists and photographers partying with the wealthy elite of Rio in a magnificent villa of the Otero family. As the guests downed rivers of Moet, the brilliant samba Grande Rio dancers leapt and shimmied through the crowd that included Natalia Vodianova, Valentino and UK blue blood, and cousin of the Queen, Lady Gabriela Windsor – all of them getting down too.

Boasting splendid views of the city, a mature garden featuring frangipani trees and an impressive art collection, the villa was located right underneath Corcovado and the giant statue of Christ, who seemed to cast his improving arms over the fete and the leggy dancers bedecked in crystal bikinis, huge crowns and giant ostrich feathers, in a word, very little clothes. Brazilians do do undressing better than the rest of us.

William Hill Bingo Sponsor New ITV Gameshow

For the first time, online gaming site William Hill Bingo has stepped in to the world of television programme advertising with the announcement that they will be sponsoring the brand-new daily ITV gameshow Spin Star.

William Hill Bingo’s sponsorship deal will start on Monday 10th November, when the Spin Star show is launched, and it is a 6 week deal comprising of various length bumpers at the start and end of the show and in and out of advertisement breaks. The theme of the bumpers supports the bingo community feel that sits with bingo and the show encapsulates the slots games that sits within William Hill’s Bingo site.

The Las Vegas style show will appeal to a similar demographic to William Hills popular Bingo site and the excitement of the game reflects the William Hill Bingo Thrill catchline used in the programme bumpers. Following on from the success of their recent month long television advert campaign, the sponsorship of the daily Spin Star show is an excellent fit for William Hill Bingo.

“We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to sponsor Spin Star. It’s an incredibly lively and entertaining show with plenty of surprises and excitement, as we always offer on our website” said Hills’ spokesperson Lili Huang. “We are aiming to solidify our bingo image and increase national recognition, and sponsoring Spin Star is a perfect opportunity for us.”

Spin Star is a brand new game show hosted by popular former Coronation Street star Bradley Walsh. The main stage will be dominated by an enormous Las Vegas-style slot machine which contains questions and cash prizes and the contestants can build up a prize pot of hundreds of thousands of pounds to win at the end of the show.

During the game, contestants will experience the unpredictability and big cash gamble that only casinos can offer, and viewers will certainly feel the pain and joy as much as the contestants do.

The sponsorship is not the first mass marketing campaign that William Hill Bingo have been involved in. Following the national TV campaign in summer, William Hill have just finished another TV campaign which focused on their supports of Breast Cancer Care through the Pink Ribbon games. This activity was enhanced by the re-design of the website which saw increased functionality, new games and more visible promotions.

Spin Star will be showed at 3:30pm to 4:30pm every afternoon on ITV1. At 4:30 after the show, a free bingo game will be held on William Hill Bingo website.

Would the real Don Cherry please stand up?

Don Cherry would likely give Joy Osterhout a thumbs up.

The two share the same sense of style.

They also share a desire to help Ontario bingo halls, an incredible source of revenue for local youth organizations and service clubs.

Osterhout beat out five other women in a contest for who could dress most identical to the popular CBC hockey commentator during bingo at the Belleville Lions Hall Saturday night.

The contest was an effort to recruit new customers to bingo, in light of dwindling attendance levels across the province, spurred by a sluggish economy and more competition for gamblers’ dollars.

And it worked for Osterhout. She hopes the contest will be a yearly event to make people more aware of the proceeds bingo halls raise.

“I hope this is something that catches on,” said Osterhout, a regular at the Lions Hall. “We have a lot of (clubs) that are really worthy, especially in this area.”

Osterhout was a unanimous choice as the favourite. She wore a red and blue plaid blazer, nearly identical to one the real Don Cherry was wearing in a cardboard cutout picture inside the Lions Hall.

Her hair was also flattened with a coat of white paint to resemble Cherry’s buzz cut. She also made a goatee out of the fluff of one of her dog’s toys.

When introduced by a judge, she drew a wild applause from a larger-than-normal crowd at the event.

Dan Collins, manager of the hall, estimated the crowd at about 225. A typical Saturday night crowd, he said, would be 140.

There are many new bingo sites that offer online gamers free play

Bingo is also known as a popular family game. It is common to see families playing together while visiting their loved ones. The grandpa fills the card and the grandson yells “bingo” in his little voice.

In some parts of the world, bingo has become more adaptive to the different needs of various generations. For example, to make bingo games easier for the younger players, the numbers are being replaced with recognizable pictures of dogs, cats, chairs, bags and other common items. These pictures can be understood even by a four-year-old.

Bingo is played until someone wins the game so that every game produces at least one winner. Regular Bingo games can sometimes produce more than one winner if more than one player achieves Bingo on the same call. The prize that can be won in a Bingo game is displayed besides the name of the Bingo game pattern that must be matched to win ,the only thing is you must follow the strategy of bingo carefully.

Just as there are many online casinos competing for new players, there are many bingo rooms doing the same – and using many of the same tactics, such as welcome bonuses and loyalty incentives. Although it would be unrealistic to say the following uk bingo rooms are the only good one’s out there. the bingo news is also flashed in this site.

Crown Bingo CMs take the Crown in CM of the Year Vote

Crown Bingo has been awarded the CM of the Month title for October. The poll, conducted by the CM of the Year website, collected votes from online bingo players from all over the UK, with Crown Bingo receiving the most votes from UK bingo players to be awarded the accolade.

With an incredible journey to the top spot, Crown Bingo began the race in 4th place after the first week. After slipping down to 11th place in week two, they bounced back to hold onto the top spot for the final two weeks! CM Star polled the most individual votes to help the 15-strong Chat Team to the top spot.

Talking about the team’s win, CM manager Andy Osman said: “I am very happy and so proud of the CMs. We have a fantastic team who do a great job in creating and maintaining such a welcoming and fun environment for our players.”

Chat and community are vital parts of Crown Bingo who host a dedicated community section of the site as well as a blog, Facebook page and numerous community based promotions. There are now six bingo rooms available at Crown Bingo, each with a dedicated chat room where team bingo, tournament bingo, chat games and quizzes take place on a regular basis.

Managing Director Dan Smyth said: “We have a fantastic chat team at Crown Bingo and it’s great that this has been recognised in the CM of the Month awards.”

Crown Bingo have a full schedule of promotions planned for November and December, including a Thanksgiving themed bingo promotion at the end of the month and the launch of a big new feature next week. With a big Christmas Special planned for December, Crown is set to see out the year with a series of great promotions!

Don Cherry to host province-wide bingo night

Don Cherry will be doing double duty Saturday night.

As well as his usual stint on “Hockey Night In Canada”, Cherry will be the video host at bingos across the province,  billed as “Bingo Night In Ontario”.

The Umbrella Group for bingos came up with the idea to promote the game and raise money for charities.

At the 61 bingos taking part, players will be competing to win a $200,000 full-card jackpot, a $20,000 outside square prize and a $1000 in-hall consolation prize.

The head of the Ontario charitable gaming association says bingos have raised more than 80 million dollars over the years, supporting women’s shelters, food banks, children and youth programs, health and cultural organizations.

More than 60,000 Ontarians volunteer at bingos across the province.

Senator changes view on gambling, bingo

A state senator who blocked legislation to change the rules for bingo in Greene County and had spoken out against gambling’s influence in Alabama, is now the attorney for a group planning to open a gambling hall that would compete with nearby Greenetrack.

Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, is the legal counsel for the Eatman School Alumni Association, which announced in September that it had obtained a bingo license from the Greene County sheriff.

Alumni association president James Morrow said the group hopes other non-profit groups will join them to establish a new Greene County bingo parlor.

Morrow said he’s most interested in opening on the site adjacent to the Cotton Patch restaurant, where construction has begun on a new building on the 30-plus acres of land now owned by Sidetrack, LLC.

‘The last thing I heard from Sen. Sanders was that Sidetrack was going to provide that facility for us,’ Morrow said. ‘I imagine the building will be going up in the next week or so. I’m just waiting on word to go ahead with the organization.’

Morrow also said he had yet to speak to anyone from Sidetrack himself. Rather, Sanders has been his liaison with Sidetrack.

Morrow also said Sanders was providing the legal work at no cost.

‘He’s doing it pro bono because, you know, right now we don’t have the necessary funding,’ Morrow said. ‘If we can get the operation

going, then his fees will be paid at that point.’

Sanders did not return several calls to his home and law office on Thursday and Friday seeking comment.

Sanders broke with Senate protocol earlier this year by blocking a bill that would have changed the rules for bingo in Greene County. Ordinarily, legislators do not interfere with local bills outside their district if the local legislative delegation is united.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Bobby Singleton, would have removed authority over bingo from Sheriff Ison Thomas and given it to the Greene County Racing Commission.

Under the constitutional amendment that legalized electronic bingo in Greene County in 2003, only charitable organizations can be licensed to operate bingo.

Yet questions have arisen over the legality of bingo operations at Greenetrack, a private company. Greenetrack officials have said that it serves only as the host site of the games and does not operate them. They maintain that the actual bingo operators are the more than 80 Greene County charities and non-profit groups that have licenses for that purpose.

Sanders, too, has previously questioned the legality of bingo, noting that its profits are unknown because Alabama does not require public disclosure of gambling profits.

In April, he voiced concerns over bingo operations in Alabama in one of the regular columns that he has published in several newspapers in his nine-county district for the past 20 years.

‘Electronics have made bingo parlors into low-scale casinos,’ Sanders wrote in April in the weekly column titled ‘Senate Sketches.’

He went on to write that bingo’s power influences everyone from lawmakers to the news media, which ‘does not aggressively raise how gambling is unregulated, that it does not benefit the state and that it ties up the Legislature.

‘Bingo is so powerful it has friends distrusting friends, allies turning against allies, and members of both the Republican and Democratic caucuses threatening to bolt …,’ Sanders wrote. ‘I hope it’s not too powerful for Alabama.’

Sanders also described in that entry why he stood in the way of another senator’s bill during this year’s Legislative session.

Sanders cited the Greene County sheriff’s objection to relinquishing oversight of Greenetrack, West Alabama’s only legalized gambling facility, to a three-member gaming commission. This was one element of Singleton’s sweeping bill that would have changed many of the rules regarding Greenetrack’s operation.

‘Sheriff Thomas contacted me when he heard that local legislation had been filed to transfer his authority to regulate bingo,’ Sanders wrote on April. ‘He said that no one had talked to him about it. I agreed to help. I just could not contribute to the injustice.’

But a document obtained by The Tuscaloosa News shows otherwise.

Thomas did not return calls seeking comment, but his signature is on a March 19, 2007, document that says he has no concerns about the racing commission assuming oversight duties of Greenetrack.

‘I, Ison Thomas, Sheriff of Greene County,’ the document says, ‘do not oppose current legislative efforts to change the regulating of bingo in Greene County to the Greene County Racing Commission.’

It’s not clear why Thomas changed his mind, and the reversal also confused Singleton.

Singleton, D-Greensboro, described in September the drama that unfolded in the Senate once he and a Macon County senator introduced similar bills regarding bingo operations in their respective counties.

Once Singleton and Sen. Myron Penn, D-Union Springs, learned of Sanders’ opposition, they spoke with him, Singleton said.

‘At that time, [Sanders] said he was not in support of the bill because the sheriff of Greene County had contacted him and stated he was not aware of the bill and, therefore, wanted Sen. Sanders to represent him in that manner,’ Singleton said. ‘We knew that not to be true, because the sheriff of Greene County had already signed a letter saying he was in support of the bill removing him from the regulator of bingo and moving the oversight to a three-member commission.’

Sanders, in his ‘Senate Sketches,’ said he attempted to compromise with Singleton to allow Thomas to appoint the racing commissioners.

‘The powers that be would not agree,’ Sanders said. ‘I held on to my vote.’

At the end of his ‘Senate Sketches No. 1090,’ Sanders reflected on his acquired understanding of what bingo means to the state.

‘Sometimes,’ he wrote, ‘we think we know about something but we don’t. When we face it in struggle, we know it differently. I have known about gambling in Alabama for years but did not perceive its dimensions clearly.

‘Now, my eyes are opened wide.’