New sites without player liquidity try and attract players by offering big bonuses, sometimes even reaching 1000% on initial deposit. Even though this is good for the players it’s not for the site. Just like all the new sites being launched an equal amount seem to be shutting their door. Lately we have seen sites like Bunny Bingo and all the Interactive Playnet sites closing. There are rumors floating around that another big online bingo network is also facing serious financial difficulties. This could affect more than 20 well known bingo sites.

The rush to quickly attract players to a site by offering huge bonuses seems not to pay off in the long term. We have seen sites like Jackpot City Bingo start off by offering £25 free with no deposit required. They soon removed that promotion. Along with many other sites, Wink Bingo also announced it will be stopping its no deposit bonus offer. So it does seem that bingo operators are finally realizing that offering big bonuses and no deposit offers doesn’t really pay off.

So where does this leave the bingo industry? It seems that unless a bingo site is backed by a very big investment or a big operator it stands no chance of survival in the ever increasing competitive bingo market.

The few companies that seem to dominate the industry are Playtech with its recent acquisition of Virtue Fusion, Dragonfish, Gamesys and Bingo Entertainment. Nearly all new bingo sites that are being launched are operating under one of those networks or using software licensed from them. Tasty Bingo and Bingo Hollywood are the latest additions to the Dragonfish family, Titan Bingo on Playtech, Heart FM Bingo and Caesars Bingo on Gamesys. Bingo Entertainment also announced it will soon be launching Gina Bingo targeting the UK bingo market.

However, we have also seen a steady move away from the network based bingo model. More and more sites are going it alone. Moon Bingo was the first major name to go standalone, Titan Bingo and now GameOn Bingo will be going it alone. This offers a much greater freedom for each site to set its games and special promotions. This increases competition between the sites and offers greater diversity for the players in choosing where to play. It must be noted however, that even though the games and promotions offered by independent sites may differ the software is more or less the same as there are much less software providers than there are operators.

The bottom line however is whether or not there is sufficient player liquidity to support all these independent site. Even though more and more internet users are discovering the joys of online bingo and more international markets are opening up, the increase in competition will mean the need for greater investment and funding. In the business world this usually has the effect of a few major brands dominating an industry and as far as the bingo world is concerned it does already seem apparent which these companies will be.

Running from March 10th – 17th when you Bingo on I17 you will win 17 BB’s.  Also a free clover pattern will play randomly throughout the day in the Main Hall with $17 Bonus Prize and $170 Jackpot!

On March 17th don’t miss out on their super 100% deposit bonus on all deposits over $20.

If that’s not enough, invite all your friends to play at Bingo Gala on St. Patricks Day.   Six games will play where the prizes of each will be determined by the number of players in the game with a jackpot of $3000.  In addition they will have 4 must go jackpot games each paying out $170 for only 25c per card.

A few International operators have high hopes for the Italian bingo market as Italy is Europe’s biggest egaming market, despite its tough and parochial regulatory regime.

The news will be welcomed by operators seeking to capitalise on investments in the Italian bingo market and some companies such as Playtech and Bingo Entertainment have already stated that they are gearing up to enter the Italian online bingo market later in the year.

Wink Bingo

The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford has become the double beneficiary of an online bingo win, after Wink Bingo.com, the UK’s fastest growing online bingo site, matched a donation made by one of its £25,000 winners to purchase vital equipment for the hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Myra Carbin, from Northampton, whose six year old daughter received urgent heart by-pass surgery when only four weeks old at John Radcliffe Hospital, used some of the £25,000 she won with Wink Bingo.com to purchase an infusion pump for the hospital that treated her daughter.

“It was such a surprise to win,” Myra told us. “The fact that it was so unexpected persuaded my husband and I that we should do enjoy it and do good things with it too. So we’ve had great experiences because of it and being able to help John Radcliffe Hospital is just the icing on the cake.”

And Wink Bingo took Myra and her daughter back to the hospital to present the cheque to hospital staff.

“We were very touched when we heard about Myra’s story and were keen to do what we could to help,” explains Wink Bingo’s Marketing Director, Maurice Karpes. “It’s a reminder that not only is bingo a lot of fun and you can win some fantastic prizes, it also presents an opportunity to put something back into the community and use what we have to do something good. We were delighted to be able to match Myra’s donation and buy more equipment for this amazing unit.”

Penny Hambridge, Children’s Development Officer at John Radcliffe Hospital, commented:

“We are extremely grateful to both Myra and Wink Bingo for their amazing donations to the Children’s Intensive Care Unit. Donations such as these enable us to buy equipment beyond what the NHS alone can fund and this is a wonderful example of how people in the Community can support the Hospital.”

Besides online bingo, Wink also offers gamers popular and classic entertainment like Instant Cash Scratch Cards, Hi-lo, Video Poker, and a large variety of daily cash prizes. Huge jackpots are included in each of the site’s bingo games and are handed out every day. Wink’s unmatched sign on bonuses include an immediate free £15 in your account in addition to a 200% bonus on your first deposit and a 50% bonus for any subsequent £10 deposit.

The advert highlights an unrivalled offer for each and every new player, *£20 FREE when they deposit and spend £5. This great bonus is available to all new players, giving them even more chance to win big at Ladbrokes Bingo.

Rupert Thacker, Ladbrokes’ Head of Marketing, Bingo and Games said, “We are delighted to be offering new customers such a fantastic offer. Just like Ladbrokes Bingo, the advert is fun and entertaining!”

The media for the campaign was booked through Walker Media with creative by M&C Saatchi and is part of a heavyweight marketing campaign which is supported online and with promotions on site.

Ladbrokes Bingo

Ladbrokes Bingo is today celebrating after one of its customers won £16,888! xxVERYxNICExx has been playing bingo for years, but only started with Ladbrokes recently. She was blown away after finding out she had won £16,888, even though she was playing in another room at the time!

She said: ‘I wasn’t even in the room at the time as I was multi rooming. I saw someone had two to go, then I realised it was me! I was so excited! I just couldn’t believe it. I am going to give something to the kids’ then plan a great holiday’

Rupert Thacker, Ladbrokes Head of Marketing for Games and Bingo said, “Wins like these are why Bingo is such an exciting game. We are delighted for xxVERYxNICExx and wish her a happy holiday.”

The company said that initial consideration of £29 million or €33.4 million, subject to agreed working capital adjustments, will be funded from Playtech’s existing cash resources.

Playtech said it expected the deal, which sees it gain new licensees to add to its own bingo offering, to be earnings accretive in 2010. It said that bingo was one of the fastest growing segments in online gaming in 2009 and that the deal would provide it with cross-selling opportunities.

Playtech Chief Executive Mor Weizer said: “We see this acquisition as not only furthering what is already Playtech’s competitive advantage in the growing online gaming market as a whole, but as having the potential to generate meaningful opportunities in newly regulated markets,” Weizer said.

Virtue Fusion, which has more than 20 licensees including well known brands such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, had a turnover of £12.3 million and adjusted earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation of £3.8 million in 2009.

Shares in Playtech were up 2.1 percent to 477 pence, valuing the company at about £1.15 billion.

Bingo Entertainment

After its recent takeover of the Interactive Playnet Network and the signing up of two new licensees, Bingo Entertainment today announced that it is preparing to enter the UK online bingo market.

For 10 years Bingo Entertainment has focused on the worldwide bingo market and never sought to offer a localised bingo game. Now it has stated that with the acquisition of a Maltese gaming license it will be launching new sites aimed solely at the UK market.

Richard Chambers, CEO of Bingo Entertainment said: “the performance of our games and network has gone from strength to strength and having established ourselves as clear leaders in the worldwide online bingo market, we have decided to invest in offering country specific games. We will be starting with the launch of our new standalone brand, Gina Bingo to the UK market in late March followed by the launch of our network to the UK market in early April. We are also working on our Spanish and Italian specific games which should go live later in the year.”

This comes amid news of the financial difficulties faced by another large bingo network operator. When asked about why when other bingo networks are going bust and closing their doors Bingo Entertainment is expanding, Richard said: “unlike many other operators who have recently closed their doors, we never attempted to attract players by offering ridiculous amounts of bonuses and never used underground processing companies to minimize costs and maximize short term profits. Our focus has always been on the quality, safety and security of our games and our reputation is built around those factors. In fact our main marketing tool has always been our good reputation. Our reputation is one of our most important assets. ”

He went on to add: “Players trust Bingo Entertainment and online bingo being a community game word does spread around, whether it be in chat rooms or forums, the Bingo Entertainment name has become synonymous with safe and secure gaming.”

Bingo Entertainment Ltd. is one of the longest running companies in the online bingo industry first established in 1999 and operates both standalone bingo games and a bingo network featuring games such as BingoMega.com, GlamourBingo.com, BingoEmpire.com and BingoPlex.com

Gina Bingo

Word has it that Bingo Entertainment is gearing up to enter the UK Bingo market.

Even though the majority of UK based bingo players may not have heard of Bingo Entertainment, they are one of the oldest and most established online bingo operators, operating both free and pay online bingo games since 1999, mainly to a US based audience.

One of the advantages Bingo Entertainment will bring with it to the UK online bingo market is its far superior bingo software developed by Byworth Entertainment. This software is generally considered to be the best currently available in the industry having been continuously developed over years in the US online bingo market.

Bingo Entertainment is also considered to be the pioneer of many of the features found today on many UK based sites such as the bingo chat games, multi-currency option, in game side games, pre book/buy of cards, auto sorting of cards, social networking within the game and many more. No wonder much excitement is building up across the entire online bingo industry to see what Bingo Entertainment will have to offer the UK market.

Our sources tell us that Bingo Entertainment have chosen Malta as their Licensing Jurisdiction and that their first new site to hit the UK shores will be Gina Bingo. We have checked the site out and it does look cool!

Gina Bingo will offer generous welcome bonuses in the form of £10 free no deposit bonus for new accounts, a massive 200% bonus up to £500 on the first deposit and up to 100% on all reloads! Bingo bonuses can’t get better than that.

The exact launch date is not yet clear but the site does mention March. Rest assured though that once Gina Bingo goes live, you will hear it from us first!

Wink Bingo

Wink Bingo.com, one of the fastest growing online bingo sites in the UK, has started the New Year the way it hopes to continue – by writing prize cheques for nearly £150,000 in January as well as giving away a brand new car.

Joanne Abrahams from Bradford, West Yorkshire and another Wink player each scooped a £50,000 jackpot in an online instant game at Wink Bingo.com; a third has picked up a £25,000 cheque on the site’s Big O £25k game, whilst 30 year old Katarzyna Kochan, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, is collecting a brand new Mini Cooper. In addition, Carol Summerwill from West Glamorgan, has won the Wink Pays You £12k game to have her mortgage paid for the year.

“We are determined to give our members the best online gaming experience possible,” explains Wink’s Maurice Karpes. “Our motto for this year is ‘make more time for yourself’. We’re helping to do that with fun-filled games, daily promotions and lots of prize giveaways.”

Besides online bingo, Wink also offers gamers popular and classic entertainment like Instant Cash Scratch Cards, Hi-lo, Video Poker, and a large variety of daily cash prizes. Huge jackpots are included in each of the site’s bingo games and are handed out every day. Wink’s unmatched sign on bonuses include an immediate free £15 in your account in addition to a 200% bonus on your first deposit and a 50% bonus for any subsequent £10 deposit.

For more information, click here.