Early in May 2009 an American woman, Mrs Joanna Richardson shouted ‘BINGO’, so what was so different about that call? Mrs Richardson is totally blind, was allowed to use an electronic bingo card system that actually tells you when you have won. This ended a two year battle with the governing body in New York (Racing and Wagering Board) to overturn the decision to play with these digital audible cards.

Before these audible cards were banned from bingo halls due to the noise they made, other players complained. Mrs Richardson, who like many people love to play bingo used to get help from her family members to hit the numbers. Now with this system she can now play on her own.

Bingo is a crazed, fanatical and addicting game that can now be enjoyed by everyone no matter your disability.

All seated, now the rituals begin people bringing there lucky pens, dabbers and photos. Well it has to be said I have a pen I use all the time(my lucky pen) so we begin eyes down for the first game, 1 line, number after number couldn’t believe it someone shouted I only had 3 numbers. Next was 2 lines doing better all my numbers were coming out 10, 24, 43, 57 I was going to win. BINGO someone shouted my heart sunk I was sure I was going to win.

Full house next £500 this is mine, again all my numbers coming out I feel great, one number to go, I can feel my heart thumping faster and faster, come on number 7 come on hands are sweating I was going to be £500 richer. Number 6 HOUSE, some one beat me to it, as I sank into my chair it has to be said I was nearly crying, good luck to the person that has my £500. I will be back next week to claim my money.

That means that there will be no bingo halls in Cambridge from the end of May, people that want to play will have to travel to surrounding areas such as Peterborough and Harlow. Could anything have been done to prevent this from happening? Well in the respect of the taxes no, but what about the no smoking ban? Gala bingo hall in Fenton are to get a smoking shelter where smokers can sit and puff their brains out and play bingo at the same time. At the moment they can only play coin operated machines as there is no way of stopping the caller if they are outside, but with modern technology it wont be long till this happens. Until this happens some of the smaller bingo halls will close sooner rather than later.

It was not all bad news as the Gala bingo hall in Peterborough estimated that in the last year the numbers have soared in their Westfield Road bingo hall to over 400%. The manager of the Gala bingo hall says that some nights the hall is so busy that we have to turn people away. In my opinion if that many people are willing to go out to their bingo hall why are these halls still able to close down?

The Lucky Elephant, With its trunk up on its head for good luck, this is popular in Britain and Europe, believed to represent the British era in India.

Four leaf clover, the Druids held the 4 leaf clover in high esteem and considered them a sign of luck. The 4 leafs of the clover are for Faith, Hope, Love and the fourth is for Luck.

The Horseshoe, traditionally for the bride, it is said to have magical powers, this is one of the oldest symbols of luck in the world. Horseshoes represent keeping the devil out and good luck in.

The lucky Rabbit foot, (not for the rabbit) Before you start to chop off the foot of your favourite pet there is a few things you have to remember, not any foot will do it has to be the back left foot, and the rabbit has to have been shot or captured in a cemetery. The rabbit foot is know for its luck, monetary and sexual.

Lucky Wishbone, in times gone by people believed that fortune tellers had taken the souls of hens and cocks so it was considered good luck to snap the bone and make a wish.

A lucky charm is said to be an object that has been charged with magical powers for a certain purpose. People all over the world believe in there magic and place a lot of trust in them. Good Luck!!

With the recent Budget and the economy in the way it is, bingo halls have to do something special to keep members returning. Well do they? With bingo being a relatively cheap night out and accompanied by that community spirit it seems to be working. The online bingo sites are trying to achieve this by having their own chat sites and special offers such as at certain times of the day and night you can play for free and win anything from £5 to £1000. This seems to be a popular way of introducing yourself to the world of online bingo, and with more and more people playing this game it seems to be working. There
are many different ways to tease you to play, one of the big bingo sites is actually giving you the chance to win tickets to see pop stars such as Enrique Iglesias and Michael Jackson.

Online sites have some of the biggest pay outs in bingo history. Just last month 1 lucky punter from Bristol won over £240,000 playing the slots with a £2 stake. This person had only been a member for 1 week, this just goes to prove its all about luck and chance. Bingo online sites not only play bingo you can also play a number of different games such as slots, poker and roulette.

Melinda says it was all good clean fun and best of all the bingo was free. On its launch night it started its Golden jackpot of £25,000, in its 99 shows it had 330 games and created more than 20,000
winners.

Bingo Night Live played 4 games of bingo, which prizes were given for 1line, 2 lines and on the 2nd of October 2008 one lucky man from Margate won the Golden Jackpot and walked away with £60,500. That night saw the largest number of online players in a bingo game, Guinness Book of World Records said it would issue every person with a certificate. Astrologer Russell Grant would give the usual predictions according to your star signs again all adding to the tension. It was all good fun. In the 6 months it ran, it gave away more than £500,000 in prize money. Wonder if we will ever see Bingo back on the main channels ever again?

The main difference between on-line bingo and the conventional bingo hall is that you can do this from the comfort of your own home, unlike the bingo hall you have no physical contact with the other players. This can be overcome as many of the good bingo sites operate a chat service, some have ‘chat rooms’ where you can go and talk to a select few if you require. Don’t worry about ‘bad chat’ as these sites are monitored by chat moderators (CM) who are there to help create a welcoming atmosphere and help you with all your online Bingo needs.

Looking for a site that will be good for you can be a daunting task. Some sites will require you to download their software you will find the download button on their home page, these sites are very secure and 100% trustworthy. There are sites that you don’t have to download or install anything, Flash by Macromedia Inc will only require small plug-in, which from time to time might have to be updated free of charge.

Now I am all ready to play how much will it cost me and how much can I win? Many sites have great offers on at the moment from free play up to £150, you will usually get a bonus in most sites again this may vary from site to site £10 to 200% of what you put in initially. It is worth remembering that most of these sites don’t only do bingo they also have many different games, slots, poker and blackjack.

Never the less more and more of us are signing up to the online bingo sites, over 145,000 of us play regularly and this number is growing every day, more and more men are starting to participate although its still mainly a female game around 80% to 20% male, what’s the attraction? From 18 to 80 you can play, you don’t actually sit next to anyone although you could be playing against thousands of people from the comfort of your own home, often playing for thousands and thousands of pounds, you can smoke and have no one telling you to get outside and if want to chat to other people, well this is possible through the internet bingo, quite often from different parts of the world.

Another advantage is that most of the sites will give first time players an incentive to sign up, it might be for your £100 they will give you £100 so you have £200 to play bingo with. The greatest advantage over the bingo halls is the convenience, if you are an insomniac you can find a site and play bingo at 2am, just in from work and have a spare 15mins before the kids are home again you will find a site to accommodate you.

People sitting in halls with their lucky charms and trinkets, one thing remains the same its still a game of chance.

In 2006 the relaxation of the gambling advertising laws in the UK saw some of the biggest companies allowed to advertise there on-line bingo sites. In 2007 an estimated 250,000 people had tried playing bingo online, with an estimated 85% of them being female and in the 20-45 age group, this has taken the OAP look away from this fast growing industry.

Now, eyes down …

Newspapers seem to be the biggest culprits so far, just about every major online newspaper now has its own unique online bingo site (apart from the broadsheets). Historically, the tabloids have always been better at this market, and it is easy to see why The Sun Bingo has a decent marketshare of online newspaper bingo sites.

So, how do you choose which site to become part of? We’ll you can always use the recommended bingo sites that we offer here at Online Free Bingo. Don’t always be glossy eyed by sign-up bonuses, read the terms and conditions first before you commit yourself. Ask around the various blogs, forums and social media groups that participate in bingo, see what players recommend. Sure, the selection of which online bingo site to become part of its community is getting harder to choose but remember, enjoy the experience, online bingo can be a whole lot of fun.