- Author: Ed
- Filed under: News
- Date: Jul 8,2008
It seems that the national lottery has just "unfairly advertised its opinion of Bingo halls" by implying that the industry is dead according to a national watchdog.
The reason for this is due to their newest Television advert advertising their scratch cards. This advert shows an elderly disabled woman on a ‘mobility scooter’ beeping her horn as she drives past a now derelict and closed bingo hall. This add then goes to "erase" the scene and replace it with the film of the old lady driving past a beach scene, advertising their new "Flaming Hot Bingo" scratchcard.
Following complaints from the Bingo association, the Advertising Standards Authority have quite rightfully said that the advert does have a negative impact on bingo halls, and the advert denigrates the Bingo Hall in general.
As a result, the ASA have ruled against the National Lottery and banned the advert from appearing again on TV. The Camelot group who are behind the national lottery, refuse to apologise about the incident, however they do accept the fact that their Ad has been removed.
Our thoughts on the matter are that the advert may be a hard look at a very real situation, but the truth of the matter is that this does nothing to help the Bingo industry. Offline bingo does not attract the numbers it used to, but it is still a viable and enjoyable occasion for many people. Adverts such as this merely serve to stop people that are new to bingo from taking up the activity.
What is your thought on the situation? Do you agree with Camelot, or the Bingo Association. Drop us a comment and let us know!
- Author: Ed
- Filed under: News
- Date: Jun 30,2008
It looks like there is a new bill to be passed by the British Government that will see a rise to the number of slot machines allowed in Bingo halls.
After the Smoking ban hit, the majority consensus is that UK bingo halls have suffered drastically, and now Bingo is apparently in big trouble.
According to one bingo hall in the UK they have seen profits cut by a remarkable 80% due in no small cause to the Gambling Act of 2005 which meant they had to reduce the number of gaming machines in operation at their bingo hall.
As a result; the UK Government looks set to relax its Gambling Act to raise the number of slot machines that can be placed in a bingo hall.
The major victim of this seems to be the $500 jackpot slot machines as they are now capped at a limit of four machines per bingo hall. This limit was set in place to safeguard players, but now it is being lifted to favour bingo-hall owners.
In our opinion - we have to ask the question; is it a bingo hall or a games arcade? These slot machines are remarkably profitable for their owners, not the people that tend to use them.
So with this bill set to increase the limit to eight machines; will it save bingo halls? It’s a sad shame and a great disappointment to see the famous bingo hall finally being almost ‘retired’ but we feel that with modern technology and the expense of playing bingo offline, Online bingo is the way of the future.
It’s cheap
It’s always available
It’s easy to use.
Why go to a bingo-hall to pay for expensive food, drinks and bingo when you can relax in the comfortable surroundings of your own home? If you have not yet given online bingo a try; join one of our sponsors today and have a go.
- Author: Ed
- Filed under: News
- Date: Jun 28,2008
The United Kingdom is apparently the most developed online bingo market in the World, with approximately 250 web sites, which is more than ten times the number back in 2004.
Surprisingly enough however, one may think that the US gambling community is sorely missed. Gambling laws in the United States make things very difficult for the majority of online gamers who like a bingo flutter. This is not the case however; as it seems online bingo is becoming very popular to a more global, international demographic all over the world, including many Asian regions.
This just goes to show how enveloping the game is, and obviously how effective the conversion to the digital format has been, as well as the governments smoking bans and other various enforcements, have forced bingo into a kind of virtual underground where those that want to play can finally play and drink their beer or smoke their cigarette!
Also, thanks in no small part to the online Internet boom; online bingo growth rates are set to increase at an exponential rate in the years to come.
Perhaps, this just goes to show how strong this very simple game is. Who would of thought 200 years ago that such a simple game could have such a staggering impact on the worldwide gambling community?
We continue to look at and monitor the worldwide bingo scene on a daily-basis and whilst there are huge benefits for online gambling companies; some players find the global player-base slightly overpowering.
One older gentleman from Harrow in specific that he appreciates the game, but feels it gets rather spoiled due to too much cyber chatting and not enough playing. He also continued to mention the fact he does appreciate bingo-halls but online bingo lets him play at any time of the day; - even if he has to endure the cyber-chat.
