May 2008 Archives
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When the clock strikes 7 p.m., they're expecting the fire bingo hall to fill up with plenty of eager bingo players. For the pro's this is like Super Bowl bingo. There's no joking around. So how do you win the big jackpot? Well, it takes some explaining. Rosemary Culley, a fire department volunteer says, "When you're playing any a regular bingo game, if you have the lucky ball number and you bingo on the next number there's a possibility you'll be eligible for the bingo jackpot."
The huge bingo jackpot is good news for the fire department, after all it takes money to maintain the fire trucks and gear. It's a win-win situation for both firefighters and bingo enthusiasts. Frost says, "Everyone can use a little more money." If no one wins the bingo jackpot Wednesday night, a bigger bingo jackpot will be up for grabs next week.
Written by Linda So
www.abc2news.com
ENGLAND -- As reported by The Guardian: "...Nearly 100 bingo clubs around Britain have shut their doors in the past three years - more than a dozen since the start of this year.
"...More than three million people across the country regularly play bingo, a pastime with its roots in the tombola fund-raisers of nearly a century ago. But the major commercial chains such as Gala bingo and Rank's Mecca bingo have seen their profits slashed by political and economic constraints - with little sign until recently that the bingo industry's cries for help are being heard in Whitehall.
"...the industry bosses' main gripe is that, alone among gaming businesses, bingo faces 'double taxation' - the gambling profits' levy as well as VAT. And under the government's new gambling legislation, bingo halls have also had to cut back drastically on the number of their profitable £500 jackpot machines.
"...A study by the Henley Centre research group, commissioned last year by the Bingo Association to chart the effects of the closure of bingo clubs in Scotland and the Midlands, found that particularly among older women whose small local clubs had closed there was a major 'social' effect..."
www.casinocitytimes.com
State legislation that would cut off the expansion of video bingo machines that resemble video poker or slot machines was approved Wednesday in Senate.
But it was first loaded up with amendments to the point that it would eventually ban video bingo machines altogether in parishes where video poker already is illegal.
Another amendment would regulate charitable organizations using video bingo machines similar to casinos under the purview of the Louisiana State Police.
State Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Kenner, who handled House Bill 280 in the Senate, argued that packing on amendments could kill the legislation. Martiny has sought to curtail video bingo machines resembling slot machines since they began spreading five years ago.
"I believe most of the amendments put on that bill were for that (video bingo) industry," Martiny said of the method of amending a bill to decrease its chance of passage.
Critics allege the legislation would hurt charities that rely on video bingo for fundraising.
Certain video bingo machines are simply a sneaky expansion of gambling without a public vote, Martiny said.
Video bingo machines resembling slot machines are an extension of the gambling industry that no one ever intended to exist, Martiny said.
HB280 says there can be no new video bingo machines after Aug. 15 with features that simulate slot reels or card games.
Martiny, who denied accusations that he is fighting video bingo to help support the opposing video poker industry, chided legislators who voted for the amendments.
State Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, a gambling critic, pushed the amendment to outlaw video bingo by 2010 in parishes where video poker is banned.
Noting that 80 percent of all video bingo in Louisiana exists in such parishes, Martiny said he is not trying to outlaw video bingo, just those machines posing as slot machines.
State Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, then added the amendment to put video bingo under the State Police.
LaFleur said it is common sense for all the machines to be regulated similarly.
Martiny complained that LaFleur was just trying to bog down the legislation so it would fail, which is just what the video bingo supporters want.
LaFleur's amendment passed 21-13.
Martiny said video bingo machines have grown from fewer than 300 in 2005 to more than 1,000 today. Because video bingo is not classified as gambling, people 18 and older can play, rather than the 21 age minimum for gambling.
Written by Jordan Blum
www.2theadvocate.com
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Written by John Witherspoonwww.bingostreet.com
The debate about the double taxation law placed on the bingo industry is still in full swing with Mark Formosa, who is a wannabe MP for the Conservatives getting in on the act and airing his views in favour of getting rid of the unfair taxation law that is grinding the bingo industry down!
This is still a hot subject that rifles many a feather as it affects millions of bingo players across the UK, plus all the people that work within the industry to. This year's budget may be over with no leeway coming the bingo industries way, but there are still many players and people out there that are behind the scarping of this truly unfair law and they are not about to lay down and forget all about it, so the fight to save our much loved bingo halls continues.
Mecca Bingo "Save our Bingo" petition that was set up on the 10 Downing Street web site attracted more than 2,000 signatures, but as yet their does not seem to be any change forth coming from the government on this very important issue. Gerry Sutcliffe who is the sports minister, recently hinted in a speech he made to the bingo association that an announcement was due to be made shortly on the bingo industries plight, although this is now thought to be about relaxing the laws slightly on the £500 jackpot gaming machines and not on the double taxation issue.
Mr Formosa recently visited a Mecca Bingo club in Tauton, where he also called out the numbers during the Sunday bingo session. It has been reported that he said, "Bingo clubs, unlike other forms of gambling pay 15% gaming duty as well as 17.5% VAT", he also went on to slam the way this hugely popular pastime is taxed. Unnervingly he also claimed that over half the country's bingo halls would have closed down within 20 years and shockingly he predicted that a further 100 bingo halls would close down within this year alone.
Every time one of our countries bingo halls closes down, the treasury are set to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost revenue, not to mention how this affects the bingo players, surrounding communities and the people that work in them, yet still nothing really seems to be done to help stop any more bingo halls from closing down.
Written by Hollie
www.unluckyforsome.co.uk
London, United Kingdom -- Both smoking and non smoking bingo players are fussing about the new UK law that prohibits smoking in public areas. Bingo and smoking have long gone hand in hand and the new laws are threatening to break up this relationship. Additionally, Land based bingo halls are being hurt badly by these laws as players are busy smoking outside instead of playing bingo inside.
The Bingorama at the Ritz hall, two bingo halls in Derbyshire and the Regal at Staveley, have recently been closed down. Bingo players would rather smoke outside then play bingo - causing loss of revenue for the bingo halls - eventually causing them to shut down.
With this said, the future of online bingo has never looked brighter, says Adam Knight, Marketing Director of Spectra Games, one of the leading Bingo operations online.
"Since the law passed we have been seeing spectacular growth throughout our business. We do not think it should be attributed only to the smoking ban, but to a number of reasons, like increased TV advertising and improved promotions and cash prizes". To illustrate the online bingo growth, Mr. Knight agreed to unveil some of the figures behind the booming industry: There are now over 4 Million Bingo players in the UK and Ireland alone, with an estimated yearly growth of 30%. Outside the UK there are an estimated 8 Million online Bingo players. Average age is constantly decreasing and now stands on 32. The average spend per Bingo player is around £500. Over 60% of the players' spend is attributed to games other than Bingo, like various Slot Games and Scratch Games. Both our Bingo brands- Spectra Bingo and Moon Bingo have shown over 125% growth in number of new players. Our estimation for 2008 is to have over 250,000 players play on our online Bingo platforms.
Smokers are able to play bingo online and smoke at the same time - a fact which will probably drive up the gross revenue of the online bingo industry. This is great news for online bingo halls as there will be more and more players coming through daily, and more cash flowing in the online bingo sector.
Land based bingo halls that own bingo sites will be trying to get their players to play online as well - making a swift transfer between the land based world to the online world.
The online bingo industry is expected to grow as more and more land based bingo halls will create online bingo sites.
In this process, land based bingo halls will have to evolve or disappear and make room for their online counterparts.
If you haven't already tried out one of the many online bingo rooms, they suggest you try out Spectra Bingo (SpectraBingo.com) or Moon Bingo (MoonBingo.com). Both feature free play options so you can enjoy the game for free before you move on to play for real money.
www.pr.com
Many local organizations, such as churches, fraternal organizations, schools and community groups, depend on charitable bingo as a primary source of fundraising.
"Charities run bingo games to financially support disabled children, the
blind, the homeless, those without food, substance-abuse prevention programs
and many other worthwhile and essential community programs," said
There has been a steady decline in the number of bingo players at bingo halls over the past six years and with a significant drop in proceeds to charities due to increased gaming opportunities in the state and the advancing age of bingo players. In order to continue as a viable source of charitable dollars, bingo games to support nonprofit missions must offer a competitive entertainment value to adult participants of all ages. Bingo aided by technology enables charitable groups to attract new, younger bingo players. Electronic bingo aids include special features and graphics which add to the entertainment value bingo players receive.
"
The CCA is working with regulators, charitable organizations and consumers
to ensure lawful forms of electronic bingo are permissible under
The alliance's work also centers on education. The CCA plans to provide information to charitable organizations, keeping them apprised of legitimate ways nonprofits can raise funds through bingo games. The new alliance is actively recruiting qualifying organizations for membership. Only charitable or nonprofit organizations are eligible for membership, although bingo industry vendors may join as associate members.
www.earthtimes.org
DENHAM SPRINGS -- The city's first video bingo operation opened at noon Tuesday.
Charitable groups began holding regular bingo games in one room at Sportsman's Paradise on Range Avenue, while bingo players played against brightly lit electronic bingo machines in an adjacent room.
Under rules the City Council approved, 20 percent of the net win from the video bingo machines goes to the city in tax revenues, 35 percent goes to the bingo operator of the facility and 45 percent goes to the charitable organization involved.
Denham Springs Green rented the bingo hall for the first session. Six other groups, which have also received licenses from the city, will alternate sessions. The charities get to divide their 45 percent share of the proceeds among themselves, said Maurice Durbin, who represented Denham Springs Green at the opening.
Rules require a representative of the charity to be in the building during bingo operations, she said.
Each charity takes a four- to six-hour turn renting the building and may have up to 15 sessions a month, said Chad Tate of TLCJ Bingo, the owner of the bingo machines.
The bingo operation, located on Range Avenue just south of Interstate 12, has 35 bingo machines, Tate said. It will normally open at 10 a.m. and close at 2 p.m., Tate said.
TLCJ Bingo also has video bingo operations in Tangipahoa and East Baton Rouge parishes, he said.
Last year, the Denham Springs City Council voted to allow up to two video bingo sites to open in the city and set up rules for their operations.
The ordinance allows a bingo prize payout of between 80 percent and 94 percent of the total amount wagered.
Written by Bob Andreson
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Written by Phixel
But according to the firefighters who rely on such games of chance to pay bills -- as well as a Carnegie Mellon University research team -- legislation proposed to more than double the allowable payouts at bingo games can't trump the power of real casinos.
"The bingo games are already dead," said Norris Pace Jr., a member of the Edinboro Volunteer Fire Department, which shut down its bingo operation after the nearby Presque Isle Downs & Casino opened in Erie last year.
Legalized, for-profit gambling is undercutting profits at bingo
games, a recent graduate study at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School of
Public Policy found. Bingo doesn't offer the fancy, glamorous appeal of
casinos, which now are closer to home, said CMU professor Robert P.
Strauss, who oversaw the study.
To help fire halls compete, state Rep. Don Walko, D-North Side, introduced a bill that would increase maximum daily bingo payouts from $4,000 to $10,000 and up the number of bingo games per week allowed from two to four. After passing 180-18, the legislation awaits Senate approval.
It's a nice gesture, said Alan DeSanzo, but the chief at Homewood Volunteer Fire Department in Beaver County said it's too little, too late. Casino gambling already has chipped away at his department's bingo game, and the changes won't bring back enough bingo players to justify increasing the jackpots or number of bingo game nights.
"You can't even get enough people to play more than one night a week," DeSanzo said.
He remembers when bingo night brought in gamblers from as far as Cleveland and West Virginia two nights a week. Today, they go to Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort instead, 29 miles from Homewood in Chester, W.Va., or to The Meadows Racetrack & Casino, 55 miles away in Washington County.
The bingo games once covered 100 percent of the fire company's $150,000 yearly operation by attracting 250 to 500 bingo players a night, DeSanzo said. Now, the bingo game is lucky to have 100 bingo players, and it pays for a third of the fire department's operation.
The borough this year stopped its police patrol to give the fire department $600 a month to pay off a fire engine loan.
Mary Savage runs the bingo games twice a week at the Houston American Legion Post 902, near The Meadows in North Strabane. She predicts 10 or maybe 20 more players would join the 111 she had Wednesday night if the payout could be increased to $10,000.
But it would take 200 to 250 players a night to cover such a payout, she said.
"You're not going to get 250 people at bingo at night," said Savage, who also manages two bingo nights at the Jessop Employees Club in Washington. "Remember, there is more than one bingo a night. So they have choices."
To support bigger pots, she said she'd have to increase the price per bingo card. A book of six cards costs $15 at Savage's games. The second book is $10. She said two books might cost up to $40 with the larger payouts.
"They can sit in front of the slot machines and put quarters in," DeSanzo said. "For 50 bucks, they could sit there for half a day."
Tana Lea figures players like her want to visit both the bingo halls and the slots parlors. "If you're a gambler, you're a gambler," said Lea, 50, of Washington. "You take the chance."
Yet she tries to make choices. She spent $60 recently at the American Legion, which she said she could spend in an hour at the Meadows.
"With the price of gas these days, you can't really afford it all," Lea said.
Volunteer fire departments would struggle to find members to work the games four nights a week, said Jim Bowden, who runs the games at South Franklin Volunteer Fire Department in Washington County.
"They're already putting in so much time at the station," Bowden said. "You don't want to come down and spend your evening at bingo and put in more time."
If smaller bingo games at churches and fire halls limited by space don't offer the bigger prizes, they will lose more players, Bowden said. With its large banquet hall, South Franklin's games could improve with other bingos closing, but Bowden doesn't want the other games to close.
"You want to take people from other places, but you don't want to destroy them," Bowden said.
Written by F.A. Krift
www.pittsburghlive.comThe bingo hall uses a swipe card system called Buzzcard which allows customers to load money onto a credit card-like device and store their bingo winnings.
Meechan took the money between July 2006 and August 2007 after discovering some of the cards had mistakenly been loaded with £167,000 because of a computer error.
Meechan's then manager at the bingo hall, Colin Ricalton, had also stolen £23,000 and had been sentenced at an earlier hearing, the court heard. An anomymous tip-off led to the thefts being found out.
"It was a computer glitch which the employee took advantage of, not something she engineered."
Jane Malcolm, defending, said the crime was "not a sophisticated one" and Meechan had used the money only to supplement her income of about £140 per week, not to live an extravagant lifestyle.
She said: "She realises she abused a position of trust and she knows that whatever happens here today was caused by her own greed.
"But she was miserable in the offence and is deeply ashamed and sorry about what she has done."
Tearful in the dock, Meechan was sentenced to eight months in prison by Recorder Harold Persaud and will serve half that term.
Ricalton, 54 and from Cirencester, was given 14 months in jail on one count of theft at an Oxford Crown Court hearing on March 31.
www.banburyguardian.co.uk
The developers from the Downland Housing Association, now have to rethink their plans for an Art Deco Bingo hall that is situated in Hove after more than 300 letters of objections were sent in by people who live in the surrounding community.
They have confirmed that proposals made by them to turn the Gala Bingo hall that has now been closed for three years, in Portland road into 38 flats and a GP's surgery are now being re looked at and that they are also in talks with the local council that are dealing with the planning application.
The chairman for the local residents Association had this to say on the matter: "He was disappointed the developers would not be consulting with neighbours before a new application is submitted. Local democracy has just disappeared - I am talking to residents who didn't even know this was being planned. We are very, very concerned about it and at least 330 letters of objection have been sent in. This is an overdevelopment and we want a local and open consultation."
There seems to be mixed feelings going on with the local community, where some people don't really know what all the fuss is about and others having some quite strong views on the subject.
Whenever there is change being made within a community there will always be people who agree with it and people who strongly disagree with proposals, but with this Art Deco Building that used to be home to the Gala Bingo club being empty for more than three years now, it would be good to see something being done with the building that will be beneficial to the local community and something that the majority of people agree with.
Written by Hollie
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www.prweb.com
The House has approved a revamp of the state's bingo law -- a plan that supporters say is needed to help nonprofits compete with the state's glitzy new casinos.
Rep. Don Walko, D-Pittsburgh, sponsored the bill that would allow more nights of bingo per week, permit bigger bingo payouts, lift advertising restrictions and legalize hand-held electronic bingo devices.
"This will help our volunteer fire companies deal with the challenges they have raising money, as well as help other charitable organizations," Walko said.
His bingo bill cleared the House last week on a vote of 180-18 and now moves to the Senate.
Critics questioned whether the changes are needed and whether it's wise to allow more gambling opportunities in Pennsylvania.
Rep. Todd Rock, R-Franklin, who voted against the bill, said he supports nonprofits that offer bingo but hadn't heard from any in his district seeking changes to the law.
Walko's bill would allow organizations to have bingo up to four days a week, up from two under current law.
The bill would permit a maximum daily payout of $10,000, up from $4,000. It would also allow progressive bingo jackpots that could increase by $10,000 per day to a maximum of $50,000.
Randy Rauhauser, a York firefighter, helps run
bingo for both the Vigilant Fire Company of York, and the Vigilance
Fire Company of West York.
He said that bingo isn't exactly a windfall for either fire company,
simply because you need to bring in enough people to break even for the
$4,000 bingo prize. But it certainly helps.
When the state legislature first legalized bingo slot machines, Rauhauser
said, many firefighters throughout the state worried that it would cut
into the bingo revenue that helps them maintain their companies. As it
turned out, the bingo slots didn't have as big an impact as firefighters
feared, Rauhauser said.
Still, he said he believes the proposed legislation would help. The
bigger payouts, in particular, would likely bring more bingo players
in, he said.
"People like to go to bingo where the money's at," Rauhauser said.
The bill would also lift a restriction in current law that prohibits
groups from advertising most bingo prizes or dollar values, and allow
professionals to be hired to operate bingo games.
While electronic bingo devices are used by bingo players in at least 38
other states, supporters of Walko's bill say Pennsylvania law is vague
on their use. His bill makes it clear they are permitted.
The electronic bingo devices allow bingo players to punch numbers into the machine
as they are called, and the machines have a tracking mechanism to
ensure bingo players don't miss a bingo.
Supporters say the devices make it easier for seniors and the disabled to play.
Written by Tom Joyce
ydr.inyork.com
 |
| Mark Formosa with Monika, Mecca's Taunton duty manager, during a bingo session. |
IT was eyes down for Mark Formosa, who hopes to stand for the Conservatives in the next General Election in Taunton, when he visited Taunton's Mecca Bingo.
Mr Formosa called the bingo numbers during a Sunday session - and then slammed the way the popular bingo game is double taxed'.
He said bingo clubs - unlike other forms of gambling - pay 15% gaming duty as well as 17.5% VAT.
He claims more than half the country's bingo clubs have closed over 20 years, with another 100 predicted to go this year.
Mr Formosa said: "I had an enjoyable evening, although it was quite nerve-wracking to call out the bingo numbers in front of hundreds of bingo players and try not to get any wrong.
"I was struck by how the people who were playing bingo came from all walks of life and were there as much for a social evening out with their friends as they were to try and win bingo prizes.
"Bingo is an important social amenity for more than three million bingo players, especially women, the elderly, and those who live alone.
"As an industry, it also contributes substantial revenues to the economy through duties, Income Tax, National Insurance contributions, business rates, and capital investment, as well as supporting many other businesses which supply services.
"The cost to the Treasury of ending VAT on bingo revenues would be far outweighed by the cost to the economy of further bingo club closures."
Mecca Bingo has set up a petition on the 10 Downing Street website which has attracted 2,000 signatures calling on the Prime Minister to scrap VAT on clubs.
Written by Phil Hill
www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk'Two and four, twenty-four ... Seven and nine, seventy-nine ... All the sevens, seventy-seven!'
The voice belongs to Dawn Milton, 'caller' for the past eight years at the Harlow Bingo Club in Essex. Blonde and boisterous, these days she is also agitated and apprehensive. Nearly 100 bingo clubs around Britain have shut their doors in the past three years - more than a dozen since the start of this year. Milton can't help worrying how the trend will affect even Harlow, one of the most successful bingo clubs. It is not just a business, she insists, but provides a 'safe, sociable night out' for its thousands of bingo members.
More than three million people across the country regularly play bingo, a pastime with its roots in the tombola fund-raisers of nearly a century ago. But the major commercial chains such as Gala Bingo and Rank's Mecca bingo have seen their profits slashed by political and economic constraints - with little sign until recently that the bingo industry's cries for help are being heard in Whitehall.
'The smoking ban hit us badly,' says Milton, 'particularly when the cold weather set in last winter.' But the bingo industry bosses' main gripe is that, alone among gaming businesses, bingo faces 'double taxation' - the gambling profits' levy as well as VAT. And under the government's new gambling legislation, bingo halls have also had to cut back drastically on the number of their profitable £500 jackpot machines.
While small crowds clustered around the few remaining bingo machines last Sunday evening, the key attraction was still in the main hall, as Milton called out the bingo numbers, the nearly 900 bingo players hunched over their booklets ticked off hits with felt-tip markers, winners shouted in excitement and near-winners gasped as she moved on to the next line. 'Yes, it's partly about winning money,' Milton said. 'But it's more than that. We're the only club for miles around, and for some of our regular bingo members it is also being part of a community.'
A study by the Henley Centre research group, commissioned last year by the Bingo Association to chart the effects of the closure of bingo clubs in Scotland and the Midlands, found that particularly among older women whose small local bingo clubs had closed there was a major 'social' effect. 'For regular bingo members, going out to bingo is the primary, and sometimes only, leisure activity out of the house,' it concluded. 'While money is a key trigger to begin playing and remains an important motivation, the drive to play bingo regularly is largely orientated around a need for social interaction and belonging.'
The leading academic expert on bingo, Dr Carolyn Downs of Manchester Metropolitan University, is sceptical about 'overstating' its social role. But she agrees that as a 'regular' activity, particularly among older women, 'it is a place where they can meet their friends, and in those settings bingo perhaps plays a very different role'.
Sustaining that social lifeline amid the club closures has suddenly landed the government with a new headache after the backbench rebellion over abolition of the 10p tax rate - underscored by the Conservative capture of Harlow amid the Labour meltdown in local elections. Though pundits called the Tory victory a shock result, anyone who had taken the political temperature at the previous Sunday's bingo night in Harlow would have seen it coming. The 10p tax 'betrayal' was the main complaint, but for many members - in a town whose council the Tories failed to win even under Thatcher- it was seen as part of a pattern of assaults alongside the smoking ban and the perceived lack of support for their bingo club.
On the eve of the elections, the Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, hinted in a speech to the Bingo Association's annual meeting at a possible loosening on the number of £500 jackpot machines to shore up bingo clubs' finances.
"The bingo players love them...these players are having a good time," says Doug Pringle.
Pringle runs a nonprofit called Disabled Sports USA with the proceeds of the North Watt Bingo Center. Its main attraction is 100 electronic Bingo games that use a traditional board, but embellish it with casino style lights and colors. The machines saved bingo supported charities when traditional bingo play leveled off.
But Pringle recently received a letter from the attorney general demanding that he remove the bingo machines because they are considered slot machines.
"These are not slot machines." Pringle says the bingo machines are linked together so that bingo players are actually playing against each other, not the house.
Sacramento county agreed when it gave charities permission to install them.
Bingo parlors still have paper bingo games, but they don't bring in as much money since many bingo players consider them too slow. With the machines, a player can get multiple draws in just seconds.
Bingo Player Tony Crolla says "I know if they close the bingo machines down, I know me and my friends won't come no more."
Pringle says a number of good causes will lose out because of the state's order. "Youth, disadvantaged youth, people who are hungry, homeless, people with disabilities ...all of them are going to be negatively impacted by this."
Many feel the ruling is driven by Indian gaming politics. Bingo generates $42 million in Sacramento County. Thunder Valley Casino Spokesman Doug Elmets says "less than nine percent of the revenue that's generated by these slot bingo machines go to charity."
Sacramento County is still in court over the matter, and local bingo charities say they hope a compromise can be worked out.
fox40.trb.com
HAMMOND -- The city's third video bingo parlor, Bingo Alley, opened Friday, owner Brian Depaula said.
Bingo Alley, which shares a building with Tangi Lanes Bowling on Thomas Street, had a quiet bingo opening Friday, Depaula said.
Video bingo is much like video poker in that users insert money into machines to play the bingo games.
However, video bingo machines are used by sponsoring charities for fundraising purposes and are regulated under laws other than those controlling video poker.
There are six charities that have signed up to use Bingo Alley, Depaula said. Those charities are the Hammond Fraternal Order of Police, Hammond Strawberry Fields, Louisiana Bowling Association, Hammond High School Football Boosters, and Kappa Alpha Fraternity Alumni Association, Depaula said.
The sixth charity he listed, the Hammond Association of Firefighters, has been licensed by the state but won't start using Bingo Alley until completing training through the Louisiana Office of Charitable Gaming, Depaula said.
Depaula said that he understands some Hammond residents are concerned about children using the bowling alley being exposed to video bingo. However, Depaula said, his video bingo parlor is in a room separate from the bowling alley, and users of the bowling alley cannot see inside the video bingo hall even when a door connecting the two rooms is open.
For the most part, bingo patrons will enter and leave the video bingo hall by its street entrance, Depaula said.
The advent of a third parlor in Hammond has been an unwelcome development in the view of some residents, who are now collecting signatures in an attempt to place a proposition banning video bingo before city voters in the Nov. 4 general election.
Organized as the Citizens for a Better Community, the group is about 160 signatures short of the 1,604 needed to place the matter on the ballot, according to a written statement from Hammond lawyer Douglas Brown, a member of the group.
The citizens group has until May 22 to collect enough signatures to meet the 15 percent threshold.
Brown says in his statement that the group would hold its final drive for signatures today, and added that the outcome of today's drive could determine the success of the petition drive.
Written by Debra Lemoine
www.2theadvocate.comThe game's UK operating body has announced a pair of lucky nans, including a Riddrie woman and a great-grandmother from Sandy, Bedfordshire.
Her £15,000 UK bingo jackpot victory was not the only success for the latter of the two, as she proved popular with the male players on the same day.
She explains to National Bingo: "People were clapping me and one man even asked if he could take me home."
The punter adds that she was "shaky" after being told she had won - and still finds it hard to believe how much the prize was worth.
Meanwhile, the other winner's £76,000 is to benefit a number of people, including one friend who is to gain an equal share of the funds.
Treats are also planned for the player's four children and one grandchild, National Bingo asserts.
Written by Bob Bardsley.
www.onlinebingo.co.uk
Rep. Don Walko, D-Pittsburgh, sponsored the bill that would allow more nights of bingo per week, permit bigger bingo payouts, lift advertising restrictions and legalize handheld electronic bingo devices.
"This will help our volunteer fire companies deal with the challenges they have raising money, as well as help other charitable organizations," Walko said.
Critics questioned the bingo bill whether the changes are needed and whether it's wise to allow more gambling opportunities in Pennsylvania.
Seven casinos have opened so far under the 2004 slots law, and the state eventually will have 14.
Rock said he supports nonprofits that offer bingo but hadn't heard from any in his district seeking changes to the law.
Walko's bill would allow organizations to have bingo up to four days a week, up from two under current law.
The bill would permit a maximum daily payout of $10,000, up from
$4,000. It would also allow progressive bingo jackpots that could increase by
$10,000 per day to a maximum of $50,000. The bill would also lift a
restriction in current law that prohibits groups from advertising most
bingo prizes or dollar values, and allow professionals to be hired to operate
bingo games. While electronic bingo devices are used by bingo
players in at least 38 other states, supporters of Walko's bill say
Pennsylvania law is vague on their use. His bill makes it clear they
are permitted. The electronic bingo devices allow bingo players to punch
numbers into the bingo machine as they are called, and the bingo machines have a
tracking mechanism to ensure bingo players don't miss a bingo. Supporters say the devices make it easier for seniors and the disabled to play. Written by Richard Fellinger www.publicopiniononline.com
Legion Post 457 in downtown North Branch is getting ahead of the smoke-ban curve in Michigan this month as it tests out its new "Smoke Free Bingo" nights.
Sue Collinge of North Branch said she appreciated her husband's thoughtfulness when he would leave his smoky clothes in the garage after Bingo night at the post, where he is commander.
She attended for the first time Sunday, on the first nonsmoking Bingo night.
Organizer Diane Mills said they sought four special Bingo licenses from the state, good for each Sunday in May, but if things go well they will purchase a year-long license."We need at least 40 people to break even, and we had 42 bingo players the first night," Mills said. "On an average night we have 70 to 90 bingo players, and when the pot is big, as many as 120."
The next nonsmoking Bingo is 4-7 p.m. Sunday, and again on May 18 and May 25. Doors open at 3 p.m.
Regular Bingo, with smoking permitted, will continue on Wednesday nights. Minimum admission is a $1 yellow card and you must be at least 18 to play.
Written by Shena Abercrombiewww.mlive.com
At least three of the seven bingo operations in Sacramento County have received the letters, warning them they have 30 days to get rid of the popular bingo machines. Doug Pringle of the North Watt Bingo Parlor said he was devastated when he got the letter Thursday afternoon.
"Part of the equation, the frustration is Sacramento County says it's legal. The Department of Justice says it's illegal. And we're caught in the middle," said Pringle.
Representatives of the Sacramento Bingo Center on Arden Way and Freelancers Bingo in South Sacramento said they also received the letters.
Pringle, who is also president of the California Charity Alliance, said the North Watt Bingo Parlor nets about $500,000 a year for Disabled Sports USA.
Pringle said his bingo organization as well as the Society for the Blind, United Cerebral Palsy and some 1,600 charities around the state could suffer serious losses, assuming all bingo parlors around the state are receiving similar letters. Under state law, bingo can only be run by charities or for the benefit of charities.
The State Attorney General's opinion is that bingo involves paper, markers and bingo players calling the numbers. The electronic bingo machines look similar to video slots, but according to bingo operators, are simply a faster bingo game using electronic technology.
"It's quicker. Better variety," said Amber Thornton of Sacramento, playing one of the bingo machines. She said she sometimes plays the paper bingo but it costs more and takes longer.
Paul Sanchez said he wouldn't even be here but for the bingo machines. "Its more like slots. It's bingo. But they operate like slots," he said. "I can't stand (paper) bingo. My wife does bingo."
Besides being allowed by Sacramento County, Pringle said the the bingo machines are also allowed under federal law in Indian casinos, and are not counted as slot machines in the gaming compacts negotiated with tribes.
Since the proliferation of Indian casinos, Pringle said traditional paper bingo became less attractive to customers. He said when he put in the electronic bingo machines 18 months ago, business started to come back.
Many of those playing Thursday evening said if the bingo machines are taken out, they won't come back, or at least not as often as they play now.
"(Paper) bingo is too slow," said one bingo player. "The bingo machines are more fun."
Worse, the charities who benefit could lose millions.
"This is charity bingo. I don't understand why these charity people, they can't get their share ya know," said Sanchez.
"It's gonna be tragic for the charities," Pringle laments. "We serve people with disabilities, people that are hungry, homeless, disadvantaged children. And our services are gonna be cut back.
It's not fair."
A call for comment from the Attorney General's office was not returned.
Written by Mark Hedlund
www.news10.net
A pensioner from Clacton has won more than £41,000 at bingo.
The 61-year-old, who wants to remain anonymous, is also sticking by an agreement to give half of her winnings to the friend she plays the bingo game with.
The woman won the cash at the Gala Bingo Club in Pier Avenue, Clacton, on Monday.
She won the national bingo game prize of £39,535, the regional bingo prize of £1,999 and the house bingo prize of £100.
"I'm gobsmacked," said the pensioner. "I don't want to make any rash decisions while I'm still so shocked so I'll wait until I get the cheque before I decide what I'm going to so with the money."
The woman, who is married and has two children and a grandchild, has been playing bingo for 32 years and plays the bingo game at the Clacton club once or twice each week with her friend.
Written by James Dwan
www.gazette-news.co.uk
HARRISBURG -- The state House is moving to help nonprofit groups that raise funds by holding bingos, which have slipped in attendance as more casinos have opened around Pennsylvania and in neighboring states.
The House voted 180-18 yesterday for a bill introduced by Rep. Don Walko, D-North Side. It would permit nonprofits and charities like volunteer fire companies and church groups to conduct as many as four bingo events per week, instead of the current limit of two bingo events. The nightly limit on bingo prizes would rise to $10,000 from the current $4,000.
The trend toward lower bingo attendance was first noticed in northeastern Pennsylvania, where the Mohegan Sun casino opened near Wilkes-Barre in November 2006, and where another casino opened in the Poconos last year, Mr. Walko said.
"Bingo attendance fell about 40 percent in some areas, according to testimony we took at a hearing in January," he said. He added that a North Strabane volunteer fire department bingo event has closed, due to many customers going to casinos in West Virginia.
John Elliott, who sits on the Chartiers Township volunteer fire company's bingo committee in Washington County, said his Thursday night bingo has dropped to 85 to 90 players, compared with 130 or more before The Meadows slots casino opened just down the road in June.
He said the money raised at bingo is crucial to the department's operation because it goes for equipment, utilities, building maintenance and cleaning supplies.
The bill still needs Senate approval. Besides increasing the nightly payout and the number of bingo games permitted per week, the bill would:
• Allow charities, for the first time, to hold one progressive bingo jackpot per day, with a payout of no more than $50,000.
• Allow bingo players to use hand-held electronic bingo cards as well as traditional paper bingo cards.
• Remove certain bans on advertising; currently, nonprofits may not advertise their bingo jackpot amounts or the entrance fee to the bingo games, which is usually $15 or $20.
• Allow groups to compensate professional bingo callers who run the bingo games.
Written by Tom Barnes
www.post-gazette.com
Mecca Bingo shares have been given a slight boast after it was announced by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe at a recent AGM meeting, that the government was expected to announce new measures to aid the falling bingo industry in the next couple of weeks.
The Rank Group, who also operates the Blue Square Betting business and Grosvenor Casinos, have stated that they were encouraged by their performance, in the face of adversity. It has been reported that they told their shareholders, "We have achieved a degree of success in adjusting to the smoking ban and the new bingo gaming regulations and have taken timely action to protect profits. Nevertheless we are conscious that the difficult consumer climate is likely to make 2008 a challenging year for the bingo gaming sector."
We all know that the double taxation law in the UK, coupled with the smoking ban has hit the bingo industry hard. Sectors of the bingo industry have been lobbing the government to try and get the double taxation law changed, but instead of coming to their aid in the recent budget, they gave them a slap in the face once more. Restrictions were also placed on how many bingo gaming machines they were allowed to have on their premises last year, which has just added to this crisis.
The game of bingo has been around for many years and has truly stood the test of time, with millions of people still enjoying the game today, but for how much longer I ask myself? After seeing so many bingo halls close down in the past year and with more reported closures on the way.
Paul Talboys, is the Chief Executive of the Bingo Association, he has a very level head on his shoulders and had this to say about the recent announcement by our Sports Minister: "The bingo industry is encouraged to see that the minister clearly has a genuine interest in the plight of bingo. But the bingo industry is operating under extremely difficult circumstances and the Government's failure to address that double taxation issue in the Budget places great emphasis on any positive statement the minister may make. Any celebration at this time may be premature."
Exactly what the Governments plans to do is still unknown, but it is thought by experts in the bingo industry, that some restrictions may be lifted regarding the £500 gaming machines. We will just have to sit back and wait to see once again, but they really do need to sit up now and take action. I hope this is not a case of giving in one hand and taking back in the other.
Written by Hollie
www.unluckyforsome.co.uk
Wink Bingo is giving away a free £15 bonus to every new online bingo player signing with the popular new online bingo hall. Already a favorite with the Bingo Street faithful, Wink Bingo latest Welcome Bonus offer is backed up by a 200% bonus on your first deposit between £5 and £100.
And don't forget, Wink Bingo runs its famous £10,000 Guaranteed Monthly Bingo Jackpot played every 10th of the month at exactly 10pm. They were the first to do it, and they're still the best at it.
Written by John Witherspoonwww.bingostreet.com
Play Wink Bingo here!
Rank opened sheltered outdoor bingo gaming areas and installed electronic gear that permits remote play at its bingo halls to counter a fall in sales after England barred indoor smoking in public places in July. The company is vulnerable to prohibitions on tobacco use because about half of bingo players smoke, twice the rate of the general populace, according to executives.
``We have achieved a degree of success in adjusting to the smoking ban and the new bingo gaming regulations and have taken timely action to protect profits,'' Rank said. ``Nevertheless we are conscious that the difficult consumer climate is likely to make 2008 a challenging year for the bingo gaming sector.''
Rank fell 1.25 pence, or 1.3 percent, to 93 pence at 8:02 a.m. in London trading. The stock has gained 1.9 percent this year after dropping 59 percent in 2007, giving the company a market value of 363 million pounds ($712 million).
Government Statement?
The owner of Mecca bingo halls and Grosvenor Casinos had to remove some higher-jackpot electronic gaming bingo machines because of changes to gambling laws. The company also owns Spanish bingo clubs, Belgian casinos and the Blue Square betting Web site.
The government plans to make a statement containing ``good news'' for bingo companies, Investec Securities said May 1. Changes probably will include a relaxation of limits on bingo prize amounts, Investec said. Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe was to make an announcement to Parliament ``shortly,'' a spokeswoman said at the time, without being more specific.
Bingo revenue at sites open at least a year declined 14 percent in the 17 weeks, the same pace as the drop in the eight weeks through Feb. 24, the statement shows. Sales on that basis at casinos fell 8 percent.
Profit doubled to 311.5 million pounds in Rank's last
fiscal year on a gain from selling the Hard Rock restaurant,
hotel and casino unit. The disposal capped asset sales that
sharpened the company's focus on gaming.
Written by Louisa Nesbitt and Loveday Morris
www.bloomberg.com
The well known game of Bingo is today being played online by large numbers of bingo players across the globe. It has by all accounts turned into a multi billion dollar business, considering the vast subscriber base. The bingo game is rendered all the more interesting with variations in the rules of the game or patterns to be made, all of which are easily followed by bingo players.
Playing Bingo Online
Online bingo sites use a random number generator which 'calls out' the
numbers in quick succession. Bingo players keep pace by crossing out the
numbers on their bingo cards. One of the patterns in bingo is called
blackout or coverall. All it means is that players have to cover the
whole card in order to win the bingo game. Since Bingo is an inherently
social pursuit, a chat feature is offered by most of the bingo sites
enabling players to make new friends. They are also able to pick up new
tips for enhancing their game and to improve the odds of winning, or
they can simply engage in casual chit chat to pass the time. Some of
the more talented bingo chat room hosts are artful in fostering a sense of
community and interaction amongst chat room members.
90 Ball Bingo
90 ball bingo is fast emerging as the most popular version of the bingo
game, as opposed to the 75 ball variant that was previously in vogue.
The bingo cards are somewhat different in the 75 ball game when compared with
90 ball bingo. In the 90 ball game, the numbers on the bingo cards are
arranged in three rows with each row having 5 numbered squares. Numbers
range from 1 to 90. The remaining squares are blank and there is no
free square. In the 75 ball game, the grid is composed of 5×5 squares,
all of which are numbered save the one at the centre.
Different Bingo Patterns
There are hundreds of different patterns being played out in bingo
games in the different sites! One of the major advantages of using
internet technology is that the costs and overheads involved in
printing bingo cards are absent. This frees the site providers to be as
creative as they wish and has resulted in some innovative patterns.
The Blackout or Cover-All Jackpot Game
The Coverall game requires bingo players to cross out every single number on
the bingo card. There's a fixed payout for the prize winner, that generally
decreases after the 48th number is called.
Static Patterns
The static pattern is the most common of all bingo patterns: these
cannot be rotated or shifted on the Bingo card. Players get to win only
when every cell that is highlighted in the game pattern image is marked
on their Bingo card.
Crazy or Dynamic Patterns
Games where the pattern is permitted to be rotated in 90 degree
increments are designated as 'Crazy' games. Unlike static patterns that
do not allow the pattern to be shifted or rotated, Crazy games can be
rotated by 90º, 180º or 270º for a winning pattern match. These can
prove to be very interesting indeed yet can be more than a little
confusing to the uninitiated. However, there's no need to worry:
everyone can participate because most of the bingo sites have an 'auto daub'
system that takes care of bingo card marking (as well as calling out 'bingo'
when a bingo player has won). Some static patterns also have a 'Crazy'
variation.
Conclusion
Coverall games may potentially carry big bingo prizes with the coverall
jackpots being even more attractive. Bingo is of course a form of
gambling and should be treated as such: set yourself strict limits and
stick to them. That said, a coverall 90 ball bingo game or even a
jackpot game offers the excitement of a potentially large prize. A
progressive jackpot is perhaps the most exciting of them all as the
prize money increases every day or every week until it is won.
Accepting that this is a game of chance and that winning is a bonus
(albeit a nice one!), whiling away a few hours and chatting to fellow
bingo players in a well moderated chat room can prove to be a pleasant
experience.
Written by Jason Tynan
www.bet123.net
But just as they were finishing their last bingo game, two masked men burst through the front doors, struck a 78-year-old security guard to the floor, held a handful of bingo gamers at gunpoint before fleeing with thousands in cash.
Belinda Frangoulis, 58, said she was saying her goodbyes to the bingo hall's guard, Bill Vogel, at about 1:20 a.m. when the gunmen approached.
"They were dressed in all black, like ninjas," Frangoulis said. "Just their eyes were showing. One dragged me back inside the bingo hall, and I was screaming at the top of my lungs. And the other one dragged Bill in and pushed him to the floor and held the gun to his head."
According to Lee County sheriff's Deputy Richard Russo, another bingo patron, Diane Carroll, 60, was seated at a bingo table nearby. One of the suspects grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the floor, gun in hand, saying, "I told you to get down!"
They then made their way to the office, where manager Anna Wunder, 61, had fled for cover.
"Anna stated that one suspect came into the office by breaking down the door, and pointed a gun at her and threw the phone across the office," Russo reported. Anna stated that she broke free, then (the robber) ran out of the office yelling, 'Take all the money!'"
She was able to run out the back door to a nearby automated laundry and called 911.
But the gunmen didn't stay much longer. It is believed they got away with $10,000 to $20,000 in bingo cash.
A third patron, Susan Morvan, also 60, kept quiet and hoped it would all be OK. She was not harmed.
"I thought they were going to kill us," Morvan said. "It all happened so fast, and I was just sort of in shock. I thought I was OK, but then when I was driving home, I was getting really nervous. Then I couldn't sleep that night or the night after."
Morvan works at a Naples bingo hall, and said the whole experience was unsettling.
Management at Pondella Bingo, located at 959 Pondella Road, declined to comment.
Written by Rachel Myers
www.news-press.com
Hamilton says town's legal briefs missed mark on issues
A Madison County circuit court judge has denied and dismissed a complaint filed by the Town of Triana seeking validity of its bingo ordinance and protection from raids by Sheriff Blake Dorning on bingo establishments in the town limits.
Triana officials requested a judge in March to declare they
have a right under the state constitution to permit bingo
for charity without interference from Dorning.
The complaint stemmed from the seizure of hundreds of bingo machines that were operating inside the town limits. In court papers, the county maintained the sheriff has the authority to act anywhere in the county when he believes a state law is being violated.
Circuit Judge Laura W. Hamilton ruled April 30 that no actual controversy exists between Triana and Dorning. The sheriff did not challenge the town's right to create its bingo ordinance, she said. If Triana had challenged the constitutionality of the state's bingo laws, the laws under which Dorning was operating, an arguable actual controversy would have existed, she ruled.
"None of the cases cited involved an action filed by a municipality against a state agency or entity seeking to determine if its local bingo ordinance superseded the state law," she wrote. "Rather, in each of those cases, a resident of the municipality filed an action specifically challenging the validity of the municipal law. Such is not the case here."
Hamilton dismissed the complaint without prejudice, which means Triana will be able to sue the county again on the issues in state court.
Written by David Holden
www.al.com
One of these nonprofits -- Family Service of El Paso -- grossed $1.1 million in bingo sales and fees last year.
After paying prize money, fees and other expenses, the agency was able to keep $96,886 from its 154 bingo games.
"We couldn't do it without bingo," said Richard Salcido, director of Family Service of El Paso, which also participates in the state's charitable bingo program. "The proceeds help us to provide services, buy equipment and maintain the staff we need."
Family Service of El Paso provides mental-health services to people regardless of their ability to pay. Last year, it served 1,647 people with 8,986 sessions. Salcido got in early on the charitable bingo bandwagon. "We opened the first bingo game at the Bingo Plus center in 1985," he said. "I ran the organization's bingo games for 11 years and I know three-fourths of the bingo players who come out and play."
The Texas Lottery Commission regulates charitable bingo, which has undergone a genesis that includes various rule changes and a series of oversight agencies. Statewide, 1,241 nonprofits rely on charitable bingo to beef up their budgets. In 2006, $489 million in bingo prize money was awarded to bingo players and $31.7 million was raised for charities.
Salcido said Speaking Rock's casino operations and the city's no-smoking ordinance devastated more than half of El Paso's charitable bingo operations. "But, the day after Speaking Rock closed, we had one of out best days ever," he said. Still, "the bingo players are aging and there is no one to replace them. The young people today prefer video and other electronic games."
According to the commission, El Paso County has 13 nonprofits with a current bingo license. They include the Horizon City Kiwanis, which also uses the Bingo Plus facility for its bingo games, St. Paul Catholic Church and St. Anthony Seminary. Last year, El Paso's charitable bingo operations reported $7.1 million in gross receipts combined, and $543,133 total in charitable distributions.
"Our charitable budget is about $100,000 a year, and bingo accounts for $85,000 of that," said Pat Landleel, secretary of the Horizon City Kiwanis. "Bingo will survive as long as we can appeal to that segment of the population that has limited disposable income than those who might go to Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino. "We're doing better these days, not just because Speaking Rock closed, but also because we have fewer bingo operators than before."
Gone are the days of smoke-filled bingo halls taken over by players who ran on caffeine while watching their paper card and listening intently for the next bingo number. Today, the bingo halls are smoke-free, and charitable bingo players can choose from pull-up tabs and electronic cards for their bingo game session.
Given that religious organizations are involved in bingo, it is ironic the state commission describes charitable bingo on its Web site as "the oldest form of legalized gambling in Texas." The Rev. Jaime Yañez at St. Anthony Seminary said he doesn't think anyone has gotten addicted to the bingo games at the seminary. "We hold bingo for only three days in the year, during our annual fundraising bazaar that takes place over the Labor Day weekend," he said. "Our bingo games are modest compared to others, but bingo is very popular with the people who come to the bazaar."
Last year, bingo helped raise $2,802 for the seminary. St. Paul Catholic Church conducted 141 bingo games in 2007 and Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd had 156 games. Local communities, among them El Paso, receive bingo allocations from the state stemming from prize fees charged to bingo winners. El Paso received $18,387 from its 2.5 percent in prize fees collected over the last three months of 2007. The state keeps another 2.5 percent of the prize winnings for its general fund. San Antonio, with a hot charitable bingo market, received $188,226, the highest allocation for a city, followed by Fort Worth ($86,999) and Corpus Christi ($67,644).
The state says 1,241 organizations use bingo to raise money. Under the state's formula, at least 35 percent of a group's adjusted gross receipts (after fees and bingo prizes) must be distributed to the charitable organization. Phil Sanderson, who administers charitable bingo for the state in Austin, said the lottery commission monitors bingo operations, does background checks on license applicants and conducts audits.
He said there were no enforcement actions for bingo-related violations in El Paso last year. Salcido views bingo as a precarious fundraising tool. "If Speaking Rock reopens, we may have to close down," he said.
Written by Diana Washington Valdez
www.elpasotimes.com
The anti-Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) bill introduced last April 10 by US Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul has already garnered the support of ten co-sponsors.
The Frank/Paul bill seeks to stop implementation of the notorious UIGEA which saw many non-US gaming companies, including bingo, forced out of the US market. The progress being made by the new bill signals a promising turn of events for online bingo games operators and online bingo halls hoping for a return to the lucrative US online gaming market.
Frank and Paul put the new bill before Congress after a hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology that demonstrated the pitfalls and problems with implementing UIGEA.
Written by John Witherspoonwww.bingostreet.com
Bingo revenue has been slashed by as much as 30% since gambling joints were forced to adhere to the city's smoking ban in the new year, one Calgary bingo community association says.
Lil Rose, who is in charge of financial resources at the Acadia Community Association, said attendance for the bingo games they host at the city's bingo halls has dropped significantly since Jan 1.
Last year, the community association was raking in almost $5,000 a month through bingos across the city. That figure has now dropped to about $3,400, said Rose.
Yet bingo attendance has remained steady at the West Hillhurst Community Association, said executive-director Rod Popowich.
"I think bingo players are coming to terms with the fact that there is no smoking," said Popowich. "We're ... the same as we were a year ago."
At Jackpot Junction, bingo attendance has dipped about 10%, said manager Chris Sheridan.
"They're definitely happy it wasn't as big a drop as we anticipated," Sheridan said of the charities that benefit.Written by Tarina White
calsun.canoe.ca
The Maryland Attorney's General Office declared many of the bingo machines that were being used in restaurants, bars, and other devices violates the state's law. Most of the establishments using the bingo machines have unplugged or removed the bingo machines from their facilities.
The ADF Bingo Hall, however, had not bothered with acknowledging the warning, and kept on using the bingo machines. By Thursday, their bingo machines, over sixty of them, had been confiscated by the police.
The owner of ADF had hoped that the Sheriffs Office would show up, this way, she could show them that the particular bingo machines she was using were legal. She never received that opportunity.
Police did come to her bingo hall, but it was not to see whether the bingo machines were legal or not. It was simply to confiscate the bingo machines. Diamond Game manufactures the bingo machines that the bingo hall was using.
Their President, James A. Breslo, had this to say, "She(bingo hall owner) was waiting for them to come by so she could demonstrate how these bingo machines were legal. That never happened, and without notice, they(authorities) just showed up and hauled these bingo machines away."
Written by Larry Rutherford
www.casinogamblingweb.com
GRAND RAPIDS -- Imagine a bingo game with 75 balls. You can play bingo sitting in a chair with a drink in your hand. And if you black out, you win.
Bingo!
For almost 80 years, the game of chance has been filling
American Legion bingo halls, church basements and carnival tents.
Now, a musical version is filling theaters, too.
And what better place for the Michigan debut of "Bingo, the Musical" than Grand Rapids, which was dubbed the Bingo Capital of the U.S.A. by BingoLingo.com earlier this year.
According to the Web site's unscientific study, Grand Rapids has more bingo halls and bingo games per capita than any other metropolitan area.
But it's the show's hilarious cast of characters -- not bingo's local popularity-- that led Circle Theatre to schedule "Bingo, the Musical" as its season opener.
"It has very silly characters and ridiculous situations," director Todd Avery said. "I don't know if you're going to walk away learning anything about bingo, but it's a real gut-buster."
Avery discovered the bingo show last year in Chicago's Apollo Theatre, where his sister-in-law, professional actress Cheryl Avery, played the leading role of Vern.
The musical got its start in 2000 when playwrights Michael
Heitzman and Ilene Reid were in Denver workshopping another
play, "Vices." Someone suggested taking a break at
a local bingo hall.
"I won $200 -- not that it swayed me or anything," Reid said recently in a phone interview from New York. "It was the bingo culture that got me. Here were these lovable and zany characters, so driven that they wouldn't talk to you while a bingo game was being called."
Reid said she sat next to a woman who spent 30 minutes setting up her display of lucky charms.
On the plane home from Denver, Reid and Heitzman began
outlining the bingo story. The final piece fell into place when
they invited their friend David Holcenberg to write music
and lyrics. He had been on tour as musical director of
"Phantom of the Opera," and at each tour stop, he
said, the cast would look for the local bingo hall.
"We discovered he's a bingo groupie," Reid said.
Holcenberg -- who also directed "Mamma Mia!"-- gets the credit for adding much of the authentic bingo lingo to the show, such as players singing "I am 16, going on 17" for the call of I-16 or responding to a call of B-12 with "Give me a shot of B-12." Bingo fans who saw the show in California also stayed afterward to help the writers correct any bingo faux pas, Reid said.
The story centers on three bingo-obsessed friends, played by Lisa Whitley-Butler, Noddea Moore and Aubry Talbott, who brave a storm to get to their bingo game.
Others in the cast include Kyle Burton Black as the handsome caller, Ruth Anne Molenaar as the bingo hall's proprietor and Christine Amon and Colleen Weibel as other bingo players.
The score features such songs as "Girls Night Out," "Anyone Can Play Bingo," "Gentleman Caller" and "B4."
"When you're as passionate about something as these bingo players are, it's just a natural progression to start singing about it," Reid said.
The object of the bingo show is to pay homage to the bingo
culture, rather than poke fun, Reid said. Her research
uncovered a study of people's heart rates in various
extreme situations. The highest jolt, according to the
study, was when a bingo player was one number away in bingo, Reid
said.
"No matter how jaded you are, when you're close to winning, it's a high."
Audience gets involved
Here's how watching "Bingo, The Musical" at
Circle Theatre works:
Every person gets a bingo card and plays along on three bingo games for cash prizes during the production. Circle Theatre's set will include a lighted bingo board, purchased on eBay, and a lighted bingo card on the stage floor to teach newbies various pattern games, such as arrow and diamond.
Written by Sue Merrell
www.mlive.com
They helped run a non-profit bingo for the Women's Auxiliary of a Covington VFW post.
The current president of the post's Women's Auxiliary pulled the plug on the bingo and says more than $170,000 is missing.
Current
says she's been waiting three years to tell what she calls a sad story
of greed. It's simple, she's the current president of the Women's
Auxiliary at the VFW Montague post in Covington. Three years ago the
group began hosting bingo to raise money for sick veterans.
No one could believe the amount of money that starting flowing in by bingo games.
"The
ladies seemed to be making money. At the meetings it would be something
about 43, 54 thousand, and we're going, 'Wow, this is just great!'"
Current
says those staggering profits would be counted in a back room at Pike
Place Bingo. And when $54,000 in the group's bingo fund suddenly
dropped to $20,000, members started asking questions and monthly
meetings went from bingo fun to tense.
Two
former auxiliary bingo members, Anna Ruff and Deborah Bartlett , Anna Ruff's
brother, Billy "Butch" Daniels, along with former VFW member in charge
of book keeping, Jeffery Franklin, are now under indictment for
allegedly pocketing bingo profits.
More than $170,000 is missing
from just one year of bingo,Current says investigators are just now
looking for missing money from year's two and three.
"It's
sad! When you got people out there dying and you've got these men
coming over here that you can really treat well and take care of their
families for them, with a $170,000 what do you think we could have
done?"
Local 12 was still trying Friday night to get in touch with the four people charged for their side of the story.
Meantime, the Kenton Commonwealth's Attorney's Office says no one at the VFW or with Pike Place Bingo have done anything wrong.
www.local12.com
But owner Stephen Bartle, from Hay-a-Park, Knaresborough, claims the bingo business is no longer viable and he has submitted a planning application to demolish the building and build eight one-bedroom apartments.
In their application to the council, developers said: "No operator could be found to continue running the bingo hall in last 11 months. It is not considered to be of heritage or aesthetic value."
The proposed redevelopment will result in the loss of 13 jobs - four full-time and nine part-time.
Christopher Bateson, who lives in Roker Road next to the bingo hall, said the loss of the bingo hall would be felt by the club members, the majority of who are pensioners and live locally.
He said: "Surely the loss of a significant community facility which enhances cultural diversity in the town generally and the east side of the town in particular is to not to be tolerated?"
The bingo hall originally opened as The Palace in 1914 as a variety theatre and by the end of the second World War was devoted largely to showing films.
The cinema closed in 1962 with another coup, a double feature showing of The Prisoner in the Iron Mask and Journey to the Seventh Planet. The Lucky Numbers bingo hall opened two weeks later.
Written by Ashley Marshall
www.harrogateadvertiser.net
Also, people now have the option to pre-purchase tickets up to a week
in advance for selected games. For the new £25,000 jackpot game, you
can book your ticket a whole month in advance.
If that wasn't enough, Foxy Bingo are also offering you the chance to win a 37" Panasonic television every single week. Foxy Bingo offer a wide range of promotions, including a £10 no deposit bonus and hundreds of bingo bonuses.
www.onlinecasinonews.com
Shares in Rank, which owns the UK's second-largest bingo chain, jumped 6.5 per cent yesterday after hints that the Government may be about to throw the floundering bingo industry a lifeline.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the UK Bingo Association, Gerry Sutcliffe, the sports minister, said that both he and the Prime Minister were sympathetic to bingo's problems, and that he expected to announce measures to help address these difficulties in the next few weeks.
There is no doubt that bingo operators are suffering. Some 13 clubs have closed this year. The private equity owners of Gala Coral Bingo, the largest bingo chain, have had to put up an extra £125m to ease the group's financial stress. And Rank issued a profit warning last October that wiped more than 20 per cent off its value.
Part of the problem is the smoking ban, with slowing consumer spending adding further woes. But the bingo industry mostly blames the Government. The main gripe is the "double taxation" that levies VAT on bingo's participation fee, a charge not imposed on any other form of gambling. The other bone of contention is last year's Gambling Act, which re-classified bingo slot machines and imposed limits on the number of high-prize games in different types of venue, taking a huge bite out of bingo halls' incomes.
Despite the boost in investor confidence after the minister's speech, the bingo industry is more cautious. Paul Talboys, the chief executive of the Bingo Association, said: "The bingo industry is encouraged to see that the minister clearly has a genuine interest in the plight of bingo. But the bingo industry is operating under extremely difficult circumstances and the Government's failure to address that double taxation issue in the Budget places great emphasis on any positive statement the minister may make. Any celebration at this time may be premature."
Written by Sarah Arnott
www.independent.co.uk
Law enforcement officials seized more than 60 instant bingo machines from a St. Mary's County bingo parlor yesterday, removing the last of hundreds of such bingo devices that began to appear in the county late last year.
Bars, restaurants and other facilities removed or unplugged the bingo machines after the Maryland attorney general's office said in March that many of the bingo devices, which resemble slot bingo machines, violated state law.
ADF Bingo Hall in Mechanicsville was the only establishment where the bingo devices had continued to operate, Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said. But by 1 p.m. yesterday, officials with the St. Mary's County Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the FBI had confiscated the bingo machines and loaded them onto a tractor-trailer.
Cameron said after the opinion was issued that a mass seizure of the bingo devices was possible. He declined to provide details yesterday about why he considers the bingo hall's machines illegal.
"There's a bigger picture here," he said. "The point is, the law is more than about the bingo machines."
Cameron declined to say whether he was referring to the portion of the opinion that limited the number of bingo machines at a single location.
"She was waiting for them to come by so she could demonstrate how these bingo machines were legal," Breslo said. "That never happened, and without notice, they just showed up and hauled these bingo machines away."
Cameron denied that the woman had called his office.
The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, held in 2001 that
instant bingo devices could be legal if their mechanism of operation
does not include the element of chance, separating them from bingo slot
machines, which many are designed to resemble.
Rowe wrote that instant bingo machines loaded with preprinted tickets displaying winning or losing combinations are legal under some circumstances. Theoretically, she wrote, the preprinted tickets could be removed from the bingo machine and sold manually.
Breslo said yesterday that all the machines at the bingo hall used preprinted cards.
Although state law says a nonprofit organization can operate no more than five bingo gaming devices on a daily basis, Breslo said he considers the number at the bingo hall within the law. "I am confident that on the number of bingo machines issue, we are compliant," he said.
In some situations, St. Mary's has long permitted bingo gaming devices if the proceeds go to a nonprofit organization. Since last year, when the bingo devices began to appear in large numbers, some local volunteer fire departments, churches and other groups were buoyed by the funding. The bingo hall is rented mainly to local Catholic schools and churches for fundraisers.
In this year's legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that would ban all instant bingo machines. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has said he will sign the bill, which would take effect July 1.
Written by Matt Zapotosky and Jenna Johnsonwww.washingtonpost.com