The Bingo Lounge Blog

SBNGames CEO James Roberstson  announced that SBN is has rolled out its own Credit Card Processing Solution. Using SBN Processing, all players including those based in the US, will now be able to safely and easily deposit using their Visa MasterCard credit and debit cards.

“As a result of the continuing difficulties associated with the reliant and timely processing of those credit cards used by our players and more particularly those based in the US, we have taken the important decision to build and manage our own Credit Card Processing Solution. By taking this step we are now able to cut out unreliable third party processors who we have had no option but to work with in the past” he said.

Viability of the UIGEA

April 2, 2008 marked the Congressional hearings into the viability of the existing Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The hearing was entitled “Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden Without Benefit?” and was conducted by the House Committee on Financial Service’s and the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology.

A phenomenal amount of media coverage has been broadcast as delegates listened to all the reasons why the law has been daubed too ambiguous. This in effect, makes it very difficult to efficiently provide regulations for the UIGEA.

One of the points that emerged from Federal Reserve and Treasury officials is that federal law is unclear as to what type of gambling is illegal on the Internet (online).”One of the most common complaints is that the proposed rules fail to sufficiently define key terms, leaving financial institutions with significant compliance difficulties” said Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Congressman Luis Gutierrez. He explained by saying: “For example, the regulation fails to adequately define what constitutes ‘unlawful Internet gambling’ or a ‘restricted transaction’, yet requires the financial institutions to make a determination on their own about what is lawful or unlawful”.

According to the Congressman, this will place consumers at risk of having their lawful transactions blocked. He emphasizes that it is easy to see exactly how these regulations could cause chaos on electronic commerce in the United States if they are implemented in their current form.

UIGEA came into effect late 2006 and has seen many complaints from both banks and gaming companies. The hearing gave some hope, but the true outcome has still to be seen.

Happy Birthday Bingo Hall!!

March is the month of Bingo Hall’s 7th Anniversary and we are currently hosting a new monthly contest holding a total of $15,000 in prizes.

We are hosting weekly contests totaling $2500 in prizes each. All of them are completely FREE …. plus expect a final tournament with $5,000 in prizes, free as well!

All you need to do is win a total of 4 Bingo Hall  Play Bingo patterns, hosted in all our rooms and you will be entered into one or more of these magnificent bingo contests.

For more information, visit Bingo Hall

The 3rd Annual Online Bingo Summit is schduled to be held be held over two days in London on June 17 and 18, 2008 at the Royal Garden Hotel.

Last year over 180+ senior level online Bingo executives registered to attend the 2nd sell out event including market leading operators, affiliates, service and solution providers.

This summit is designed for senior level executives, MD’s, Bingo Managers, Product Managers, Chat Room Managers, VP Marketing and Heads of Affiliates Schemes, Partnerships, and Marketing executives.

MASHANTUCKET, CONNECTICUT: Foxwoods Resort and Casino

The world’s largest bingo hall recently installed a Sennheiser RF wireless system worthy of such an establishment, replacing an old system riddled with noise squelches and crossed frequencies. Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut got its start in 1986 with high-stakes bingo and has since grown to become the largest resort casino in the world, boasting 6,400 slot machines and 350 tables in a gaming space of 315,000 square feet. The resort itself covers 4.7 million square feet and hosts over 40,000 visitors every day, most from within the New York City-Boston-Hartford-Providence parallelogram.

The size of a football field, the bingo hall employs an elaborate system for calling “bingo!” Each of 36 Foxwoods-employed callers covers an appropriately sized zone of players, listening for any “bingo!” in his or her zone. When a player shouts “bingo!” the nearby caller uses a wireless microphone to relay “bingo!” to the entire hall. It is important that callers acknowledge each “bingo!” If they miss one, the casino has to pay out twice  - at a loss of thousands of dollars.

The grand final of the BWC 2008 will take place on Sunday 16th March and will start at 8pm EST.

The BWC platform allows for one participation per player at the night of the grand final.

There will be 3 qualifying rounds in all on each participating site, with the top 5 players from each qualifying round winning a seat at the Grand Final.

Those players that qualify either on the same site or on any of the Bingo Entertainment N.V. sites in the 1st round will not be able to qualify in the 2nd and/or 3rd rounds and the person next in line will receive their seat.

Bingo is a social game.  

Many bingo players choose where they are going to play online bingo based on where their nternet friends from are playing. This decision is based on the environment of the chat rooms. If they like the chat rooms and the chat masters, they are likely to keep coming back to that bingo room.

If you don’t already have friends playing at specific sites, try out several. Get the feel of the chat rooms with small deposits before settling in on a specific site. Not all chat rooms are equal, and the atmosphere in some will appeal to you more than others.   Once you have found one you like, stay with it. Loyalty points can add up quickly, and your “Bingo Buddies’ can become important friends.

The Bingo Lounge offers a wide variety of Bingo Rooms for you to try. All have great chat rooms. Pick the one that suits your temperament the best.

Let’s play

As of Monday January 14th, Bingomania.com has a new look.

Receive a 200% bonus on your first deposit up to $200 free. Want to try out the games before funding? They’ll put $5.00 in your account as soon as you register - no deposit required!
New features including: Bingo Bets, mini-slots, consolation prizes, e-cards, ability to upload pics to the gallery, loads of new games, more jackpots, and Keno will be back!

The following rooms will be available on the new system: High Roller, Super High Roller, Nicknacks, Money Pot, Loony Bin, Lucky Lane, Nuthouse, Fair & Square, and Second Chance. The Party Room will be open for special free rolls and tourneys. All rooms will have wacky new designs! 

Nickelbingo and Bonkers4Bingo will redirect existing players to www.bingomania.com as they’re combining all their partner sites into one.

Below are screen shots of the new home page and lobby: 

The World Championship of Online Bingo will take place on Thursday July 20, 2006 at 8:00pm (ET). Hosted by Bingohall.com.  With over $250,000 of guaranteed prize money, including $10,000 to the World Champion, this event is the biggest Online Bingo event of 2006. The event began with Round 1 qualification on Monday June 5, and culminates with the World Championship Freeroll event on July 20.

The World Championship Grand Final room will consist of two hours of 25c pay games followed by one hour of free games where the World Champion will be decided.

Between 8:00pm and 10:00pm there will be 20 games with cards costing 25 cents each, and guaranteed jackpots of $500 for every game.