How Bingo Games Have Evolved Over the Years

The game of bingo is thought to date back nearly 500 years, making it one of the oldest games still played today.

But early bingo games looked decidedly different from the ones we’re familiar with today. Whether you play virtual bingo at home, online, or with friends down the local bingo hall, you might be surprised to discover just how this game has evolved over the years.

Early Games of Bingo

The earliest forms of bingo are said to have originated in the United States, and we’ll get to that in a moment, but the game actually began in Europe up to 500 years ago.

Simple bingo-style games were used to raise funds for the state in Spain and Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries. These games were influenced by state lotteries that had taken place during Roman times and may have gotten their start during the Han Dynasty in China.

The game spread to France and took on a form that more closely resembled modern Bingo, and by the 18th century, it was being played in the United Kingdom.

The big change came after it was exported to the United States and became popular at fairs and carnivals. Players would mark their cards with beans and the game became known as “Beano”.

The Bingo Boom

After watching some of the aforementioned fairground games, toymaker and all-round entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe decided to manufacture and market a commercial version of the game. It’s said that he tested it on a group of his friends and after one of them misunderstood the rules and shouted “Bingo” instead of “Beano”, the name stuck.

In actual fact, the name seems to have been around for many years before that anecdote took place. In any case, the game took off and became popular all over the world. It experienced a massive boom during the First and Second World Wars and once the dust had settled on these catastrophic global wars, Bingo was a popular pastime on both sides of the Atlantic. [Read more…]

Effects of tax cuts on bingo

A long standing bone of contention between bingo halls and the British Government was the excessively high tax of 20% that was imposed on bingo halls. This is significantly lower than the tax of 15% that sport betting operations and other casino’s were liable to pay.

Almost 330,000 people had signed a petition which was sent to Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne to consider. Stating that while the smoking ban may have been essential, bingo halls were now facing massive drops in profits, barely able to break even at the month end. From over 600 bingo halls, the number had dropped to 380. After much persistent campaigning by Harlowe MP Robert Halfon, a Torie advocate of lowering of taxes and solving the daily living cost problem in UK Chancellor Osborne conceded.

bingo-hall

The announcement was made stating that the duty on bingo halls would now be 10%. This was also followed by an announcement that even online bingo operators would also enjoy a remote gambling tax cut.The Government estimates that the changes, which bring arrangements in bingo halls closer to those at the bookies, will cut the tax burden on the industry by around £35 million a year.

This news was received with great approval, as bingo is one of the oldest and most popular games in UK. The closure of a large number of bingo halls had caused increased fear in many people that the game of bingo had begun course to its gradual death. With this new respite, hope is once again restored that UK’s biggest leisure activity will continue to exist.

In their stead, bingo halls have vowed to pass on the benefits of this tax cut to players via a reduction in ticket fee, admission fee and an increase in jackpots. Both the size and frequency of handout would be increased. Go to this website to see the increased bonuses that bingo sites are handing out!

All over UK, bingo lovers rejoiced at this decision. With the number of bingo halls on a continuous decline, the avid players have been suffering. Often having had bingo halls in the same locality, the players now have to travel large distances just to get their fill of bingo. However, with the new batch of tax cuts and relaxation of rules regarding gambling houses, it seems like things are moving forward. The players were quoted saying that they welcome this move, but would like the government to ensure that the rewards of the tax cut are passed on to them.  With the number of bingo halls stabilising, and new innovative games being created, it signifies a positive future for the bingo world.

An introduction to online bingo games

Playing online bingo games can be fun and entertaining especially when you get to meet new people. The only concern however, is to find a genuine site to play at. There are plenty of bingo sites online with jackpots and other prizes that players can win anytime depending on how lucky they are.

It is quite possible for a player to get confused. Therefore, it makes sense to know which site has the biggest prizes and opt to play on those sites particularly. Here are the other benefits you should look at.

Joining bonus: It is offered by almost all the premier sites as a way to allure players to the site. Along with these usually a percentage of your first deposit is offered for free in addition to your first stake.

online-bingo-games

No deposit bonuses: This is free money that you will receive as a bonus once you have completed sign up process at a site and for which you do not need to make a deposit.

Promotional bonus: Grabbing a promotional bonus can really be out of the site, as these are usually limited and tend to come for a shorter time period. These are often cash bonuses, raffle prizes, free bingo tickets, prize draws etc.

Payment method bonuses: Just for opting a certain method of payment few sites will offer a discount or bonus amount added to your deposit. This charge is usually incurred by the bingo sites from various types of credit , debit cards. This encourages the players to use other forms of payments.

Coupons and codes: As the name suggests a coupon code is a special code that bingo sites offer to charm new players and also to reward the existing bingo players. These codes are generated usually in the process of registration or cash reloading to give free money to players.

Chat room games and prizes: Chat while you play, which is one of the significant factors that tempt the players of online bingo games. In addition to this, you can participate in chat room games which can reward you with extra bingo cash or tickets to play with.

One of the site that gives out the best of these bonuses is GameVillage Bingo. You can go to this bingo website by clicking on this link. These bonuses can only be availed after registering as a player. So, fill in your details and begin gaming on the site immediately.

All about New Look Bingo

New Look Bingo opened its virtual doors in April 2013 and is powered by Cozy Games Software on the Live Bingo Network. Despite of its name the site has no connection with the popular clothes store with the similar name.

Since its inception New Look Bingo had white, and blue colors with a cartoon girl as the logo. However, all this changed in December 2014 when the site underwent a major makeover. Now the site looks much classy with the dark shade of green and a cool shade of chocolate brown. Apart from this the cartoon girl character logo has been removed and the current logo is just the name of the site in a linear style making it look stylish stunning.

New Look Bingo

Moving on to what the site offers to the new players is a no deposit bonus worth £5 for simply registering on the site.All they have to make a initial deposit of £10 and can play with a massive £65. This is because just for signing up New Look Bingo gives a £5. So the first deposit offers a 500% bonus. But the bonus treats in this site don’t end here. When a player deposits for the 2nd and the 3rd time then too there are bonus amounts which amounts to a massive 350% and 300% respectively.

There’s much more that the site offers like 50-ball, 75-ball,80-ball and 90-ball bingo games. At New Look they also offer a huge number of side games like slots, casino, scratch card games, freebets etc. They recently collaborated with Microgaming and Eyecon games and are able to provide a whole new set of slots games.

New Look Bingo also has an amazing loyalty scheme where when you play bingo and spend £1 you get 1 loyalty point. So all you need to do is keep playing and collecting the points. So folks keep playing and keep moving up the loyalty levels which is Silver, Gold, VIP right upto Super VIP.

To gain extras in here you must refer your friends or simply follow them on Twitter and Facebook to get extra bonuses and gift vouchers from Amazon.

The rise of Online Bingo

The 20th century has been the century of technological advancements and humans have always applied the technology in many modified ways to suit their needs. The same thing happened with gambling. Gambling has been the monopoly of land based casinos in US, Europe and Asia but with the advent of the internet and the easy penetration of broadband services in the common mans house, gambling has a new home. Online casinos are the flavour of the day and more people are members of online casinos than there are regulars at even the world famous land based casinos.

Bingo was among the first games in the gambling world to shift to its online format. It was first available as Bingo Zone way back in 1996. Individuals had to give their location details to access this game and depending on the respective locations the players would get to see advertisements. Another major online bingo website was launched by Bingo Blitz named Uproar in the year 1998. Initially, operators required the players to load software on to their computers in order to play the game. This software passed information to the company over the net and that is how the game continued. In more recent times however, it has been replaced with a new system.

Online Bingo

Now the games are either Flash or Java based and do not need any downloading of software onto the players computer. These can be played online by just visiting the site and signing up for its membership. The only necessity is a Flash and/or Java enabled browser which can run these games. Some sites are for fun play where you can play bingo games for free without the risk of losing money and are thus perfect for the regular amateur player. Others are proper gambling websites with bigger pots and stakes.

These websites accept payments in the form of major debit and credit cards. Some even accept PayPal account transfers to facilitate most of the players. They even accept online funding options through the wallet like Neteller and Skrill. The bonuses that these websites offer at the start in the form of joining/deposit bonuses or in between games as loyalty bonuses are also routed through these methods of payment.

These days, online bingo rooms are more than just gambling joints in the virtual world. They have become places of socialising among common friends and also to forge new friendships. Thus, though in the original version talking is not encouraged, in the online version the chat option is one of the biggest draws. The hope of winning money is definitely the biggest attractive element of this game for most players but with time the socialising aspect is becoming an important part as well.

The internet world is loaded with casinos which are offering the latest games in the market. Traditional games are also present to please every type of player. The innumerous advantages of playing online have led to the transition of many players from land to online casinos. Not only do online casinos allow you to play from the comfort of your home, but it also makes playing an endless popularity. Online gambling has led to the survival of any forms of gambling which were very popular in the earlier days but have now been almost forgotten in the social circuit. Bingo is one such game. This game was so popular in the earlier days that it was played in every social and happy gathering.

Bingo is the game that can be played by all, by the young and the aged. The game was a huge hit among the women as playing and winning this game needed no skill and strategy and it allowed them to play freely while engaging in endless conversation and gossip. With the progress of time, this game did lose its favor in social gatherings; but ardent players wanted to play the game, not only for making some quick money but because the game helped them to relax after a long day at work.

Most popular bingo sites allows any player to play as long as they follow the simple start up procedure. All you need to do is register with the bingo site of your choice and make a deposit. The best bingo sites will also offer you a no deposit bingo bonus that you can use for testing the games before spending your own money. You can join a bingo site with £15 free no deposit bonus today and play your favorite game without risking any of your own money. Once you decide to make a deposit, you will be able to take advantage of many amazing promotion offers available on the site.