The large band of loyal Bingoport members have cast their votes and there is little between numerous sites in all categories at this stage. It would appear that the sites who best promote their nominations to their players over the Christmas holiday period will have the greatest chance of being rewarded with a Bingoport.co.uk Players’ Choice Award in January.



The Best Overall Online Bingo Operator category is open to all sites listed in Bingoport’s site reviews, which currently include over 200 online bingo sites. With some larger operators’ promotion of their nomination being restricted by development delays and organisational red tape, it could be a newcomer that takes the award out this year and receives the valuable publicity and prestige that goes with receiving a Bingoport Players’ Choice Award.



Bingoport Operations Manager, Andrew Housego has reiterated that the awards will rightly go to the sites that have acquired the most votes. “Every brand has been given equal opportunity to promote their nomination to their players and the site that acquires the most votes in each category obviously has the most support of players. I can categorically say that the winner has not yet been decided and it is still very much anyone’s race.”

Other categories to be awarded include Best Online Bingo TV Advertisement, Best New Online Bingo Site, Best Chat Host Team and Best Online Bingo Promotion.

Voting on all 5 award categories is open now and will run until December 31, with the winners to be presented with their dazzling crystal trophies in January. For a full list of nominees and to cast your vote, visit bingoport.co.uk/bingo/awards/ today.



Bingo operators with queries about their nominations and how they can get behind the player vote should direct their enquiries to admin@bingoport.co.uk

Uptown bingo is attracting hordes of young, unemployed bingo players because of the large jackpots involved; and a couple of uptown bingo clubs in particular are using this latest trend to their advantage.

Sharon Brown, a 44-year-old bingo player who visits West Side Hall regularly, admits that she uses her bingo winnings to pay bills. Ever since she lost her job a couple of years back, Brown has been playing more bingo than ever, even going to the extent of renting a computer for $25 and playing late into the night hours in the hope of winning jackpots worth thousands of dollars. Brown has been successful to a certain extent; she won $2000 last month and used it to pay her rent and utility bills. While admitting that bingo isn’t the ideal way to deal with her financial problems, she says that she gets good money.

While older bingo players prefer playing in the basements of churches, the younger players flock to uptown bingo halls such as Washington Heights Arcade and West Side Hall, which are both state licensed. These uptown bingo facilities throw open their services at noon and close at 10:00 p.m.

Speaking about the latest trend of younger people getting attracted to bingo, Belle Fisch, the owner of West Side Hall, says that younger people began trickling into uptown bingo halls a few years back and that the Saturday night bingo games are extremely popular among young couples. Playing bingo is cheaper than playing at casinos, she adds.

Washington Heights Arcade is also witnessing a number of young people coming in to play bingo. Margaret Porfidio, a 69-year-old who regularly plays at Washington Heights, says that younger people are indeed getting attracted to uptown bingo, while simultaneously warning that it is a bad idea “to depend on bingo to pay rent or buy groceries.”

Maria Grurion, a 31-year-old school teacher who also plays at Washington Heights Arcade, is aware that hitting a bingo jackpot isn’t easy, but that does not prevent her from visiting the Arcade frequently in the hopes of winning some lucrative prizes. She says: “You play to win. And if you win you can pay back bills. It doesn’t happen often, but it makes playing often worth it.”

But it is so easy to get addicted to bingo, and player Porfidio warns that it is like playing at a casino; the only person who wins is the owner of the casino.

There is still much ambiguity regarding online bingo players looking to redeposit being prohibited from all Cassava moderated bingo sites. And till now, there has been no hint of an explanation for any of the players who are affected. The problem is the very fact that the players are being banned from a list of well-known online bingo websites and the one thing that these players have erred in is to want to take their winnings back, ideally, bigger amounts once they get the bonus, which they may want to deposit and play again.

Owned by the 888group, Cassava Enterprises functions under the license granted in Gibraltar. Almost 90 bingo sites operate under the Cassava banner and they are in different kinds such as, Sing Bingo, abcbingo, Wink Bingo, Shampoo Bingo, 888ladies Bingo, Bingo Giving, Moon Bingo, Foxy Bingo and more household names. This causes a rather big problem for a lot of bingo players who will be affected by this rule though unwritten, is still being implemented.

The reason why this is probably happening is because of the lot which has been branded as the “bonus abusers” because of withdrawal process at these websites being so longwinded. Hence, any player who has been fortunate to win in any one of the Cassava sites has to wait for over a week or more to get the winnings back.

Also, there is a maximum of two day time duration where in a reversal can be made to deposit the money back to play with. A lot of readers will be already informed that these websites will also provide a bonus on all re-deposits. Also, having a look at the terms and conditions on these sites, there are reasons aplenty as to why Cassava Enterprises can shut down a player’s account.

Having said that, bingo players should not shy away from playing in the bingo websites and withdrawing their winnings when they wish to do so. What is the reason behind an operator wanting to pull in bingo players with great welcome offers and offer a bingo site that players adore just to have them face problems, if they want to play again?

Since it is the reload bonuses that are causing all the conflicts, it is wiser to eliminate this feature completely and give them out as a onetime offer, so that there is not much to abuse. Also, it would be better if players had some kind of news from the company, so they are clued in as to what is happening.

Gala Coral, one of the most reputed bingo brands in the United Kingdom, recently announced that it had appointed Andy Hornby as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Rumor has it that the attempt to poach Hornby finally materialized after a year since Nick Rust moved out of the company to join Ladbrokes last year. According to a source, Hornby has joined the company to introduce a private equity buyout of the bookmaking vertical from what is left over in the Gala Coral group, which runs bingo and casino businesses as well.

According to a representative from Coral, “We are delighted that someone of Hornby’s caliber is taking the reins and will be chief executive of retail and remote gambling. Any breakup of the group is not planned or on the horizon.”

The representative also added that Hornby took position of his new role in the company on Monday and the company had proclaimed the appointment internally. Although, they were still unsure as to how they were going to announce the news outside the company. Hornby was the former head of HBOS and Alliance Boots, and was frustrated when the company had to be bailed out during the economic recession.
Stating that he needed to take a few steps back from the demands of a corporate life, Hornby left his position as the Chief Executive of healthcare retailer, Alliance Boots about four months back. He said, “After an intense last five years as CEO of two major companies, I have decided to take a few months’ break and, having discussed it with the board of Alliance Boots, to stand down from my post as group chief executive.”

The Executive Chairman of Alliance Boots, Stefano Pessina, also commented on the sudden departure of Andy, “Andy was stressed and decided to come back to a company where the workload is quite substantial, too early. Every day there are managers who are stressed and decide to take some time off.”

According to an annual report established by Alliance Boots, Hornby was paid off £2.4m, which had £842,000 in salary, £750,000 of bonuses£41,000 of benefits and £337,000 of supplements for his pension.

Hornby will be reporting to Carl Leaver, CEO of Coral and Ex-director of Marks and Spencer. Coral is headed by a group of its previous creditors which includes, Apollo Management, Cerberus, Park Square and York Capital, who took the reins of the company from a trio of private equity companies a year ago.