The UK Gambling Commission has announced plans to reform online gambling laws for all offshore casinos. Last year saw an increase of big gaming operators such as William Hill and Ladbrokes moving their operations to Gibraltar to take advantage of the lower tax conditions. Under the new reforms, offshore gaming operators must now apply for a licence from the UK Gambling Commission so thay can operate and promote their services in the UK.
Along with the new licence, gaming operators must also provide details of revenue information and report any irregular player activities and betting. These new regulations are being put into place to help protect the UK’s online gambling community and puts the UK in line with other European countries who already regulate their online gambling.
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It’s been snowing here in the UK for a number of weeks now and Wink Bingo has made the most of it by offering a new promotion called Bingo Under Snow. To enter simply take a picture of the snow where you are and email it to Wink Bingo, the top ten photos will all receive 10,000 bonus points.
Wink Bingo has set up a special page on its website so you can see the best snowy pictures and who knows, if yours is good enough you might see that on there too. Bingo Under Snow will end on the 12th of January so get outside and take some pictures.
As you would expect, Wink Bingo also has a range of other promotions including a £15 welcome bonus and 200% first deposit bonus as well as various daily promotions. So why not sit back and relax with a nice warm drink and play bingo while watching the snow come down.
The January sales have started and it seems Paddy Power have jumped on the band wagon and offering discounted games throughout January. Ticket prices have been lowered for a range of Paddy Power bingo games such as the Last Chance Saloon, where ticket prices have been slashed to 2p and 5p.
There are also a range of BOGOF bingo games throughout the day as well as various free bingo games every hour. With new customer bonuses and a variety of promotions throughout the month, now has never been a better time to join Paddy Power bingo.
Online slot machines have become very popular over the past few years, with virtually every online casino’s offering them. Online slots come in a range of different types including the classic reel slots and fruit slots and the modern megaspin and progressive jackpot slots.
Playing online slots is easy as it doesn’t take a lot of skill, but it must be noted that winning online slots is largely a matter of luck so choosing the right slot game is key. Because each slot game is different and the jackpots vary, it is essential that you check the rules before playing.
It is a good idea to start with the slots that take lower amounts to play (e.g. 25p per sin), this will make your money last longer and give you an idea of what the game is like without costing you a lot of money. Once you gain a bit of experience or are winning you can change to the higher denomination games; these often have bigger jackpots.
As with all forms of gambling it is important to decide how much money you want to bet during your playing session and stick to it. Choosing an online slot where the coin size is changeable is a good idea because if you are losing you can lower the coin size making your playing time longer, and if you are winning you can heighten the coin size to try and win bigger jackpots.
Online gaming giant 888 is set to strengthen its online bingo presence by announcing that it plans to buy online bingo rival Wink Bingo for an estimated £60 million. Pacific Poker, who owns 888 said that the deal would pay an initial £11 million to the current Wink Bingo owners, as well as a sum based on yearly earnings till March 2011; the total will be capped at £59.7 million.
888 Holdings chief executive Gigi Levy said that the deal would help the company increase its online bingo department “in the lucrative UK market”.
Wink was launched in 2008 and now runs Wink Bingo, Bingo Fabulous and Posh Bingo and has generated over £15 million of revenues and £1.3 million of pre-tax profits this year alone.
888 Holdings said that the completion of the deal would depend on obtaining the required consents, but hoped to be adding Wink Bingo to its bingo division which already features the hugely popular 888Ladies bingo.
US investment firm Apollo has joined the bid to take control of Gala Coral, the bingo and bookmaker giant. Apollo joins Blackstone and a group of Gala Coral’s lenders in the bidding war to gain control of the heavily-indebted gaming group.
Gala Coral are said to be in debt by a massive £2.6 billion and has been struggling for some time to refinance it. The new bid from Apollo will include a £250 million cash injection, which would be used to pay Gala’s senior lenders in return for 50% share in the company. The consortium of junior lenders would take the remaining 50% of the company in a debt for equity deal.
Gala Coral’s shareholders are likely to oppose the deal, which would see them left with nothing, and the junior lenders are also unlikely to accept the proposal as they are working on their own takeover bid.
Like many land based gaming companies Gala Coral has been struggling from a combination of the 22% bingo duty, the recession, online bingo sites and the smoking ban, which has seen players numbers dwindle over the past few years.
Bingo linx games are becoming popular from a number of online bingo sites and consist of all the different bingo rooms being joined for one huge jackpot game. Virgin Bingo’s Christmas linx game has a guaranteed £20,000 jackpot and takes place on the 27th of December.
To play this Virgin Bingo linx game you must be in the Marrakesh or Necker Island bingo rooms at 10:30pm on the 27th December. Tickets cost 50p each and the first line winner will receive £2,000, the two line winner gets an impressive £4,000 and the jackpot winner will walk away with a cool £14,000.
Tickets can be pre purchased now with a maximum of 36 tickets per player, so why not be in with a shout of starting the year £14,000 richer by pre-ordering your tickets today!
Bingo.com is brining the Christmas cheer early this year with a range of slot tournaments and an £18 welcome bonus with no deposit required. Between the 15th and 17th of December Bingo.com will be giving away £1,500 on their All Slots Tournament.
The prizes will be given to the 5 players who played the most on any one slot machine, with the winner receiving £250, second place £200, third place gets £150 and forth and fifth wins £100 each. But thats not all, every player who participates in the slot tournament will be entered into a prize draw where 15 luck people will share a massive £750 jackpot.
New members to the Bingo.com website can also take advantage of the £18 welcome bonus with no purchase necessary, so you can try out all of the fantastic bingo and slot games for free! There is also a 200% deposit bonus for your first deposit.
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In a bid to help Britain’s gaming industry, which has been hit by the recession, the government has decided to cut bingo duty from 22% to 20% in its pre-budget report. It has been a tough couple of years for land based bingo halls as falling sales because of the recession and the smoking ban in 2007 have hit them hard.
Ian Burke, the chief executive of the Rank Group told press that the drop in duty could boost profits by up to £2.5 million a year, but also stated that the duty cut should have been bigger. He said, “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction. However, it is still not clear why Britain’s bingo clubs should be subject to a higher tax rate than that applied to other forms of gaming and betting.”
The Bingo Association, which was against the initial duty rise to 22% said, “the fight continues to get bingo back to the 15% rate”.
