Just a little notice to my regular online bingo industry readers – my computer needs a little maintenance which means I will not be posting any updates for two or three days.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with this little tidbit of info I picked up from the US. If there are any bingo online players out there who remember a certain Patrick Duffy of 80’s TV Dallas fame, you might be interested to know that he’s just picked up the job as Bingo America’s host. Bingo America is a GSN TV quiz show with a bingo game element to it created by National Bingo Night founder Andrew Glassman.

“Bingo is such a family pastime,” says Glassman, adding that: “Patrick embodies everything we whished for – not only is he TV’s marquee good-guy leading man, he is also playful and has a great sense of humour.”

My comment: So ‘Bingo is such a family pastime’ in the US is it? Then why does the US need UIGEA to protect it from UK online bingo halls and free online bingo operators? This smacks of hypocrisy – no matter how playful ol’ Patrick is.

See you in a two or three days…

Written by John Witherspoon – Need the best online bingo games? BingoStreet.com collected the best online bingo promotions and free bingo games online.

It came as a bit of a blow to me that Katie Price will no longer be the front person at Foxy Bingo though, as they say, all good things must come to an end.  Her smiling face, bubbly personality and other commendable attributes will be missed by at least this online bingo addict.

However, her departure does bring into focus the issue of whether or not celebrity endorsements are an effective way of selling online bingo games and membership to online bingo halls.  I have always been impressed by the professionalism at Foxy Bingo and consider it to be one of the best run sites in the UK online bingo industry.  I’m sure they know what they are doing in making a change away from celebrity endorsements as a way of marketing their games.

At the end of the day, any celebrity endorsement lives or dies on whether it is relevant or not to the product or service they front.  For example, would you use Katie Price to endorse a range of denture products?  I believe Ms Price did an excellent job in bringing bingo online to a more youthful market and the industry is better off for it.  But maybe it is time to move on…?

Written by John Witherspoon – How about playing bingo online? The best free online bingo games are just one click away.

Observers of the UK online bingo industry will have probably noticed that online bingo games operator The Rank Group has been under quite a bit of pressure lately with takeover talk, plunging profits and an underperforming land-based bingo network taking its toll on the company.

The most recent talk is of a bid by US financial giant Goldman Sachs possibly buying Rank’s pension scheme valued at £700 million. How this is developing is unclear at this time, but if the sale goes through it will mark the biggest of its kind.

However, things are not going so well for a former bidder for Rank’s operations. I refer to the US gaming and entertainment giant Hurrah’s Entertainment. To give you an idea of how bad things are out there in the macro world of high finance, the leveraged loan market is in “disarray” thanks to the failure of efforts to syndicate $14bn of the debt used to finance the $30bn buy-out of Harrah’s Entertainment – this is bad!

It seems the banks backing Hurrah’s potential have run into a bit of trouble selling on the leveraged buy-out debt to third parties. This is largely due to the current credit crunch playing havoc with the finance markets which has led to a virtual freeze in the debt market. Further, it means the banks are sitting on a sizeable loss.

Given these troubles, it makes sense that Rank may be looking to generate cash through the sale of its pension scheme, especially since Hurrah’s is facing so much trouble, though what the long-term effects are of such a sale is open to question. Is this a viable gamble by one of the UK’s top gaming companies to dig itself out of its current problems? Maybe there is an online bingo player out there with more insight than me into these matters. If so, let’s hear from you…

Written by John Witherspoon – Need the best online bingo games? BingoStreet.com collected the best online bingo promotions and free bingo games online.

With a change in the US administration to take place in 2009 it makes sense to have a look at the current US Presidential candidates to see if we can determine and changes in attitude that may lead to a relaxing of the UIGEA laws that have done so much damage to the international online bingo industry.

On the Democrat Party side the two leading contenders Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton share a common view that a study of internet gambling needs to be done with an aim to possibly regulating the online gaming industry. Of the two, Obama seems the most reticent regards legalizing online gambling commenting once that he worries that the Internet is ‘a Wild West of illegal activity.’ It’s unlikely that either Democrat contender has ever visited an online bingo hall or is likely to play online bingo anytime soon.

The current crop of Republican candidates are an entirely different crop when it comes to online gambling legislation. John McCain is viewed as sitting on the fence, Mike Huckabee is an evangelical Christian with the accompanying dark views on gambling in general, and Mitt Romney doesn’t hold a view (but then maybe he does?). Again, there is no information on whether any of these candidates has ever played even a single game of free online bingo.

Whoever is elected President one thing is certain: Both anti and pro-online gaming lobbies are going to place intense pressure on the new President to resolve the current sad state of affairs in US online gaming. One can only hope that whoever that may be, they get the chance to experience a bit of online bingo fun before they make their decision.

Written by John Witherspoon – Become a part of a great online bingo community. Play online bingo chat games at BingoStreet.com

The news that yet another takeover bid is in the works (this time for Swedish online bingo provider Boss Media) is proof that the consolidation we are seeing in the online bingo industry is not just a flash-in-the-pan event.

This new deal for Boss apparently first appeared at the end of 2007 and had the effect last weekend of increasing Boss’ share value by 25%.  The deal is still yet to be taken before Boss shareholders, but those shareholders must be delighted in the sudden jump in value their shares are now enjoying thanks to this deal.

In my opinion, Boss have quite rightly attracted such interest due to their farsighted vision in targeting the online bingo games industry for growth, a strategy that is obviously paying big dividends for them.  Swedish free online bingo players can look forward to a nicely progressive online bingo company of their own when, and if, the Swedish government finally sees sense and liberalizes its online gaming market to allow non-Swedish operators to set up shop.

Written by John Witherspoon – How about playing bingo online? The best free online bingo games are just one click away.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, heavy hitters in the world of high finance and accounting, have released a report that concludes the US could raise as much as $42.8 billion in tax revenues over the next ten years if they simply legalize online gambling.

Of course, that would mean the end of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in the US, but then who cares about making a paltry $42 billion when you can have UIGEA?

How much online bingo, and particularly UK online bingo halls would contribute to this number is not stated in the PricewaterhouseCoppers report, but it’s fair to say that the fastest growing niche in online gaming would contribute its fair share.

However, despite reports like the PricewaterhouseCoopers document, it’s unlikely free online bingo games operators will see a relaxing of US anti-online gaming laws anytime soon.  It’s a shame, but US policy seems to be here to stay for some time yet.

Written by John Witherspoon – How about playing bingo online? The best free online bingo games are just one click away.

PartyBingo is one of the Internet’s more popular online bingo games destinations and the company that operates this online bingo hall, PartyGaming, has just announced better-than-expected profits for the last quarter of 2007.

While this is something to be celebrated by the online bingo industry as a whole, especially in the wake of the horrendous financial losses incurred by UIGEA throughout 2007, there is also another side to the PartyGaming story that lends hope to a brighter future for the online gaming industry.

PartyGaming are currently talking to US authorities along with other major online operators like Sporingbet and 888.com in the hopes of avoiding action against them for accepting wagers from US customers prior UIGEA.  Apparently the talks are going well and this is prompting speculation that a re-entry into the US market could be on the cards.

I know – we’ve heard this all before and re-entry to the US market has become somewhat of a holy grail for free online bingo operators here in the UK.  But should this be the real deal this time, analysts are saying such a relaxing in US regulations would trigger a spat of consolidations within the online gaming industry.

Should this prove to be the case – and that is a mighty big ‘IF’ – then my own assessment at the beginning of this year that we would see a jump in mergers and takeover activity during 2008 may prove a bit understated.  Expect to see the sector go into mergers and acquisition hyperdrive!

Written by John Witherspoon – Come and play online bingo at its best! The best bingo games online are one click away.