We all know there are plenty of online bingo websites running new games and promotions every month. But, we have to admit, we were transported back to our youth when we played the latest game offering from Mecca Bingo.

Mecca Bingo are giving away a free £5 to every player old and new in order to promote their new game Blockbuster Bingo which went live last week. The game which is based on the iconic 80′s game show even features the yellow grid, original music and instead of bingo numbers they are keeping in the original tradition and using letters.

Blockbuster Bingo will be running on the principle of 75 ball bingo with two prizes up for grabs:

• £5,000 for the first person to spell out BINGO in any order or a share of the prize money depending on the stake made.
• Once the main prize has been won any one who has 1tg will be entered into the gold run, where they could win cash prizes.

As they say at Mecca Bingo the games will be fast and furious making lots of winners every day, so if you want to win the gold run then take a shot at Blockbuster Bingo.

One thing to remember is that the £5 cash bonus is for a limited time and will run out on the 31st of July 2010.

As well as this special promotion going on, Mecca Bingo have much more to offer, as well as the usual 90, 80 and 75 ball bingo starting from just 1p they also have a massive progressive jackpot sitting at over two million pounds.

In less than five weeks we will be celebrating Christmas with all its good times and joys, family and friends getting together and looking forward to the following year. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have an extra few pounds to help with this expensive time, playing online bingo from your favourite online provider could just see you alright?

One lucky online bingo player is Bingolina1 a single mum who has been a member of Mecca Bingo since early last year, she was playing one of her favourite slot machines Cleopatra’s Chest when she won the progressive jackpot. She looked at the notification note for Mecca Bingo that she had won an amazing £30,000. She says that she immediately called her boyfriend then they both called Mecca Bingo to confirm the win.

If you would like to be as lucky as Bingolina1 and have some extra cash for Christmas then have a look at some of these special offers:

Wink Bingo are giving its members a chance to play some free bingo, they are placing £1000 in a free bingo pot which can be played at 9pm in the 90 ball, there are six tickets up for grabs and the lucky winners will get £200 per line and £500 for a full house.

Gone Bingo they have now stocked up their Christmas stockings with an impressive £50,000 worth of goodies. This promotion will be running from the 1st of November till the 24th of December and they have some great prizes up for grabs including:

• Holiday for two worth £1000, to win just collect the ‘Santa Points’.
• Progressive Jackpots worth £4200.
• Raffle tickets worth £350 every week.

Sign up to Gone Bingo and see all the Christmas specials that have to be won by Christmas Eve.

How does a cool £1million sound, well every Friday night at 8.30pm, an online bingo site is giving you the chance to win this money. The One Million Club can be found on Wink Bingo under the 75 ball jackpots, tickets for this game cost £1 and games are guaranteed to pay out at least £1000. To date no-one has won the cool million but with Christmas just around the corner wouldn’t it be great to log on and have 1 million pounds propping up your bank balance.

Mecca Bingo has just announced that their new online game Deal or no Deal is now ready for people to try and to celebrate; they are offering some fantastic prizes for their first week:

• Tickets to one of the actual Deal or no Deal shows
• Lunch with the contestants
• Tour of the studio (might even meet the banker)
• Take part in a small quiz, with small prizes on offer

Deal or no Deal has been a great success on our TV screens we are sure that it will be a great success on Mecca Bingo site. For your chance to win those fantastic prizes simply deposit £10 on the Deal or no Deal game between now and October the 16th, the draw will take place on the 19th and the bingo winners will be notified at a later date.

Brazilian football stars Gilberto Silva and Maicon were over an hour late for a press conference about their latest match against Italy in the Confederation Cup (Sunday 21st June). A spokesman for the team explained to scores of reporters that the team were at a team building exercise. The team had been on a safari during the day in which they saw lions, giraffes and zebras, at night the team building continued as they swapped their footballs for bingo balls. It was mentioned that the players have been together for 20 days locked in hotel rooms only being aloud out to eat, train and play football so the game of bingo was a way for them all to relax.

Silva commented on his team mate Robinho saying “for all his skill on the ball he has no luck at playing bingo” well that’s me and Robinho got something in common.

On a lighter note my other half decided to join our local Gala bingo hall, so on Saturday night my mother in law, sister in law and wife headed off all excited and sure they were all going to win. At 10:30pm my wife ran in the house and handed me an envelope with Gala Bingo written on the front, I have to admit my heart missed a beat as I opened it and thinking I was rich, £100, £200 or even £500 alas as the envelope opened and I pulled out £10 (to much laughing from the women), never-the-less she won!

Although it was only £10, she is now convinced she is going to win bigger and has clearly stated she is going again, who am I to stop her.

Why is Bingo so popular? It may be because its such an easy game to play, it has no age or gender limits, and by some its not even considered gambling. Recently I became a member of my local hall and it has to be said I love it. Even though I have very little luck it’s still a great night out. There are some pretty interesting facts about the game of bingo. Here are just a few of them…

1. An early form of Bingo was played by the Romans.

2. Bingo also called Beano was first recorded as a children’s game in 1778.

3. It was made popular by an American salesman Edwin S Lowe in 1929.

4. Today more that 3 million people play Bingo.

5. Bingo cards have 552,446,474,061,129,000,000,000,000 combinations (no wonder I have only won once).

6. The average speed of a Bingo caller is 23 numbers a minute.

7. The game that we call Bingo used to called ‘beano’ where beans were placed on the shouted numbers. They would then call out BEANO when a line was filled.

8. The UK largest Bingo win was in Sheffield on 22 December 2002, the lucky winner walked away with £950,000.

9. Today in the UK on average the ratio Bingo players of women to men is 80%-20%.

10. To-date 96% of all Bingo players have won at least once (that includes me!)

Traditional bingo halls are a part of everyday society, people go there to meet their friends and form new friendships. But for me the biggest attraction of Bingo – it’s great fun.

On Thursday, we decided that this Saturday night we would ditch the usual interactive games and head to the local bingo hall (which I became a member of the week previous). After last week and coming so close to winning £500, I was sure I could win at least 1 game, well I suppose the 400 people that go to the same bingo hall have the same thoughts as myself. Arriving at the bingo hall there is a buzz of excitement as people queue waiting to get in, I have to admit there are more younger people than the traditional ‘older’ bingo player.

As we get inside the membership card is taken and we pay for all the 22 games. I have to win at least 1 game. As we take our seats, get some drinks and take out the bingo dabbers and my ‘lucky’ pen, we are now ready to win!!

Eyes down for the first game ‘the preview’ 1 line for £10, as the numbers come out my pen is redundant, HOUSE, some one shouts, I am not that bothered as it was only for a ten pound. Next game 2 lines £20 I didn’t even get started BINGO some one has won £20.

£100 is the full house I wouldn’t mind winning this one, alas its not for me two people shout, share £50 each. Game after game fly by I am starting to think that this is not my lucky week again. HI 5 (link game, this game is connected to many bingo halls all over the country) the big 1, £2000 for a line, £3000 for 2 lines and £10,000 for a full house.

I can feel the butterflies in my stomach I want to win, eyes down, number after number, comes out I have 3 on the same line, my mouth is all dry, I am thinking what to shout HOUSE or BINGO, what if know one hears my shout? BINGO there’s a call, 2 people win, 2 lines are next £3000, eyes down here we go again, doing well have I have 8 numbers, once again all the same thoughts are come to mind, what if no one hears my shout, what do I shout, I am waiting on numbers 34 and number 66 for £3000 I can hear the caller all the sixes 66, one number to go all at the table are looking at me, just waiting on 34 come on, please let me win. Numbers are coming out, don’t really know what they are just waiting on that special three and four – “We have a winner”, comes over the loud speaker, someone in Wales won £3000.

Then it was time to go, jacket on and a slow walk home in the rain, thinking all the way, “It’ll be my turn next week – for sure!

After signing up at my local bingo hall, and playing my first night as a bingo virgin, I thought I would impress my friends and learn all the bingo lingo. After two days of studying I was all ready to put my new found knowledge to the test. I was quite disappointed to find that they don’t call out the traditional ‘two little ducks’ anymore. So we will write down the most common sayings and phrases used in traditional bingo. See how many you know?

1. Kelly’s Eye/Nelsons column
2. One little duck/ me and you.
3. Cup of tea/One little flea.
4. Knock on the door.
5. Man alive.
6. Toms trick’s
7. Lucky seven.
8. Golden gate.
9. Doctors orders.
10 Gordon’s den.
11. Legs eleven.
12. One dozen.
13. Unlucky for some.
14. Valentines day.
15 Young and keen/rugby team.
16. Sweet sixteen.
17. Dancing queen/the age to catch em.
18. Key to the door/coming of age.
19. Goodbye teens.
20. Blind 20/a score.
21. Key to the door
22. Two little ducks.
23.Thee and me.
24.Two dozen.
25.Duck and dive.
26. Pick and mix/bed and breakfast.
27. Gateway to heaven.
28. Overweight/in a state.
29. Your doing fine/rise and shine.
30.Dirty Gerty/blind 30.
31. Get up and run.
32. Buckle my shoe.
33. Dirty knee/all the 3s.
34. Ask for more.
35.Jump and jive.
36. 3 dozen.
37. A flea in heaven/more than eleven.
38. Christmas cake.
39. Famous steps/steps.
40. Naughty 40/ blind40.
41. Time for fun.
42. Whinny the pooh.
43. Down on your knees.
44. Droopy drawers/all the 4s.
45. Halfway there.
46. Up to tricks.
47. Four and seven.
48. 4 dozen.
49. PC/copper/nick nick.
50. Blind 50/ half a century.
51. Tweak of the thumb.
52. Weeks of the year/Danny la Rue.
53. Stuck in a tree.
54. Clean the floor.
55. All the 5s.
56. Was she worth it?
57. Heinz varieties.
58. Make them wait.
59. Brighton line.
60. 5 dozen.
61. Bakers bun.
62. Tickety boo/turn the screw.
63. Tickle me.
64. Red raw/the Beatles number.
65. Old age pension.
66. All the 6s.
67. Made in heaven.
68. Saving grace.
69. The same both ways.
70. Blind 70.
71. Bang on the drum.
72. 6 dozen.
73. Queen b.
74. Candy store.
75. Strive and strive.
76. Trombones.
77. All the sevens/sunset strip.
78. Heavens gate.
79. One more time.
80. Blind 80.
81. Stop and run.
82. Straight on through/fat lady with a duck.
83. Time for tea.
84. 7 dozen.
85. Staying alive.
86. Between the sticks.
87. Torquay in Devon.
88. 2 fat ladies.
89. All but 1/nearly there
90. Top of the shop./ Blind 90.

I’ll keep you posted next week, on how well my new found knowledge improves my bingo game.

What a fantastic offer from Foxy Bingo – you and a partner can win or buy tickets for the Bingo cruise of a lifetime. That’s right, Foxy Bingo are putting on their own cruise ship, for a 4 night cruise to Bilbao. On board there will be entertainment including bingo nights with cash jackpots up to £1,000, karaoke, gameshows and much more.

The cruise leaves Portsmouth on Wednesday May 13th and returns on Saturday May 16th. You van either try and win yourself and a partner a ticket by win tickets on the Foxy Radio show in the coming weeks, or to simply make sure your on the bingo cruise ship book your tickets with P & O Ferries from here.

We all love Foxy and his majestic moves as he shows off his stellar dance moves. We hear Foxy has signed up with Kristina Rihanoff from Strictly Come Dancing for a Comic Relief special Strictly Come Dancing. Now Foxy Bingo are hoping to raise £150,000 for Red Nose Day 2009 by matching every penny spent on the special bingo games in February and March.

The special Red Nose Games on foxy Bingo will be played in these dates…

If your interested in viewing Foxy’s progress as he puts himself through the paces with dance partner Kristina Rihanoff then view the video below, I’m sure Foxy will behave himself on the day

In what seems like a massive overplay, Ladbrokes have seen their latest ‘thrill seeker’ TV ads banned by the ASA after receiving a complaint from just 1 person. The ads which were used to depict thrill-seekers jumping from planes with crisp packets as parachutes and divers dressing as seals with raw sausages strapped to their bodies before diving with great white sharks were supposed to be seen as humourous. Except 1 person never saw the funny side and the adverts, which cost £1.5 million to make were banned. Ladbrokes has even posted about the banning on the casino / bingo site that the adverts were promoting. Where they, jokingly, claim they are looking for the one person who got the Ladbrokes advert banned.

Ladbrokes are requesting a review of the ruling and stating that ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) actions are, “an example of political correctness going too far”.

If you want to see the banned adverts in full then click the play button below.