Bingo to account for 25% of gambling market by 2012

Just spotted these interesting figures published by Warwick Bartlett, chairman of Global Betting and Gambling Consultants.

Whilst speaking at the Bingo Summit which was recently held in London, Barlett said that he expects online bingo to account for as much as 25% of the online betting sector by the year 2012. He went on to suggest that profits for bingo companies could be as high as $2 billion.

Online bingo is certainly booming at the moment following huge advertising campaigns from all of the big bingo businesses. Player number shot up in 2007 and it looks certain to have followed with even bigger rises this year.

Have you noticed an increased number of players at your regular site? I certainly know I have.

Bingo teaming up with Nectar

One of the biggest online bingo sites in the UK has teamed up with the nectar reward card scheme to offer it’s bingo players the opportunity to earn points as they play.

People playing bingo online at Gala will earn two nectar points everytime they spend a £1 at the bingo site. Gala already have a deal with nectar involving their offline bingo halls but this move to the online market will be great news to many.

A spokeperson for Gala, Clive Cottrell, said…

“Gala Bingo’s clubs joined Nectar in June 2007, so we are building on an already strong partnership and extending the benefits. We are always looking for new ways to reward our customers and improve their Gala experience.”

Free bingo bear! Wooo

Who can resist a free cuddly bingo bear? I know I can’t!

In Littlewoods Bingo latest promotion the site is going to be handing out 1000’s of cuddly bears. They will be free to anyone who makes a £20 deposit by April 30. One bear per customer is the deal - so don’t go trying to claim more… you’ll just end up getting your account banned!

The following is from Littlewoods’ own site.

Just continue doing what you love - playing online bingo that is - and we’ll send you this adorable little bear. Simply deposit and play £20 by 30th April and you’ll be cuddling and snuggling until your heart’s content. He makes the perfect little bingo companion and who knows, he could just bring you that extra bit of luck.

A new way to play - Chat Games!

This emergence of new technologies sure is moving fast. The fact a forty-something year old can start their own blog proves that! Nothing usually surprises me these days, but the other day something really caught my attention.

The chat host announced that there would be a game of Battleships starting in 5 minutes - huh!? Battleships and bingo, I thought… how on earth does that work. Well, I did a little research and it would seem chat games are becoming ever popular in the world of bingo, especially online bingo UK sites.

The most enjoyable chat game which I managed to stumble accross is called Family Feud. What it involves is players guessing the most popular answer to a question the CM asks. The first player to guess correctly wins! Pretty cool stuff!

Have you had the chance to play in any of these chat games? How did you find them?