Smoking Ban Already Claiming Victims & Gala Gets A Red Nose

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Mecca Closes Nine Bingo Halls

Well, the smoking ban in England and Wales is still a short while away, but that's not stopped it claiming its first victims. On Valentine's Day, Mecca Bingo announced the closure of nine Bingo halls around the UK in a preemptive reorganisation. The clubs at Fulham, Islington, Kingston-upon-Hull, Liverpool, Reading, Sheffield, Swansea, Welling and Wolverhampton are set to close in coming months.

It's going to be a tough year in the bricks an mortar Bingo industry. But it's not all doom and gloom, in amongst the closures and fears, there's new clubs opening up around the country as well. The move away from the old style small hall to big, modern, purpose-built can be seen with new clubs opening alongside the closures. Clubs like the new 1000 seater Buckingham Club in Preston and the new Gala Club in Cheltenham show there is still a big audience for the game.

Play Bingo And Help Comic Relief

If you haven't already spotted, the 16th of March is Red Nose Day. For this year's event Gala Bingo are doing their bit and are exclusive partners with Comic Relief.

They'll be raising money at their clubs around the UK and with their interactive channel and online Bingo arm. With percentages of the profits from special games going to Comic Relief, the chain has already raised in excess of £24,000 for the charity.

If you'd like to do your bit, then taking part in the special Bingo games in both the clubs and online is a great way to help out and have a bit of fun whilst doing so. March the 9th will see an extra special event for Comic Relief, The Big One.

Gala have a good offer for all new players if you fancy joining the fun. Sign up as a new player you get a free £10 sign-up bonus when you deposit your first £10. With Gala's 5p games, you could buy as many as 200 tickets with your bonus! Full terms and conditions can be read at their site.

Woolworths And William Hill Get Their Own Bingo Brand

One of my predictions for 2007 was we'd be seeing an increased number of UK brands getting their own Bingo offerings. Well, as if to prove the point, Woolworths has stepped outside its traditional market and is now offering an online Bingo service, as a part of the St Minver network. William Hill has also joined the online Bingo world with the launch of its own Bingo offering. Expect to see a lot more of this during the year.

Playing Bingo New Sections

There's a lot of changes afoot here at Playing Bingo - over coming weeks new sections will be appearing at the site. The first is already there in the form of a new Articles and Interviews section. There's an article there already about the online Bingo networks, and as time goes on I will be adding more articles on areas that interest and enrage me about Bingo. We have some interesting interviews lined up also, but more on them when they're done.

This will be followed by more new pages - firstly there'll be the Bingo store where you can get Bingo games and books from our selected partners, as well as other specially selected deals for Playing Bingo readers. There'll also be a new online Bingo offers section with codes and discounts for players online. As well as this the site is getting a few improvements in it's layout and navigation. All the changes will be happening over the next month or so. Don't forget to drop in and see what's new.

Threads Of Note From The Bingo Forums

• Give 50p to Comic Relief for FREE - FreeBingoUK tells us of the special Comic Relief games at freebingo.co.uk.
• If you won a Million Dollars? - tater03 asks what you'd do with a big pile of winnings?
• Crying because of bingo - sweet_mayhem wants to know if you've ever felt the need to shed a tear because of the game that got away?

And Finally

May the Bingo Gods smile on you the next time you play, and until the next time, all the best.

David 'Dio Bach' Lloyd
February 25th 2007

New players get up to £50 of free games at Mecca Bingo