Mecca is owned by the public company Rank. A shareholder has recently increased their stake in the group to over 40%, very near becoming a majority stakeholder.

The investor is Quek Leng Chan – a private investor from Malaysia. He offered 150p per share – thereby valuing the company at £586million.

Rank have rejected the offer, stating that the valuation is too low. Shares in the group have now risen to over 151p.

Nothing changes for online bingo players – whatever the eventuation. Mecca Bingo and their networked sites and land-based clubs will continue serving up bingo games and jackpots for their fans.

Keep an eye out here for the latest news on Mecca.

With the leadership and efforts of Syliva Frost – an eye patient herself – successful and productive bingo games were conducted at the William Burt Centre in West Winch.  Right after the event, a cheque worth £330 was presented to Ratnagopal Bala.

Mrs. Frost together with her husband has been a devouted fundraiser and a bingo game host.  Every month they would hold bingo games for charity.  Mrs. Frost explained, “My husband and I have been going to the eye clinic for many years now and wanted to give something back.”

Mrs. Frost continually sends her heartfelt gratitude to all who unconditionally supports her endeavors.  From the attendees and participants of the bingo games she has organised, and to her co-organisers of the fundraising events she has led.

Mrs. Frost’s good deeds reveal the hidden beauty of playing Bingo – though it is a form of gambling but if done for a cause, especially to help those who are in need is such a great feat.  Let your bingo cards be the tool to touch the lives of others, and to continue spreading love, kindness and hope.  Mrs. Frost shows that there is no need to spend millions in order to help.  No matter how small is the amount as long as it is given wholeheartedly, it would mean a lot.  As the cliché goes, “It is the thought that counts.”

Associating with other live bingo players who are mostly smokers is a great opportunity to interact and be part of a winning moment.  And, smoking plays a vital role for some and even a necessity to others in order to ultimately enjoy the bingo fun.  That is why live bingo gaming minus the cigarettes is a boring game for some players.

However, with the introduction of electronic cigarettes in the market, bingo and smoking enthusiasts have high hopes that smoking ban will be lifted as long as e-cigarettes are used.  It is an effective substitute because it has no smoke yet still it transports the nicotine to the user.  It looks and feels just like the same original cigar that you have been puffing.

Another alternative springing in the market is the online bingo gaming.  Traditional bingo fun brought at the comfort of your very own home.  No restrictions on smoking and filled with infinite possibilities on prizes, bonuses and rewards.  Also, various innovations have been made to uplift its social interaction – live chat, webcam activation and the like.

While live bingo halls are shutting down one by one, UK bingo sites are blooming like flowers in the field.  New bingo sites are added each year and sometimes even each month.  So many to choose from, and with competition up and about to strengthen more and more are to be expected from them.  From the simple rebates to the major loyalty schemes, and other fun and exciting add-ons, live bingo players will surely be enticed to try, play and discover the beauty of online bingo gaming.

Brought by the recession, various governments are struggling with their finances, and may take action to legalise online gaming with a strict tax ranging from 1 to 15 per cent.  Thus, it is an additional deduction from the online bingo sites’ income or a further expense on the players’ part.

Being under a law with stringent regulations means they need to operate with firm guidelines; hence, higher operating and maintenance costs.

At present, due to minimal regulations online bingo sites can hide the actual number of tickets sold, and the winner’s prize being directly proportional with the game’s earnings can be manipulated by the operators in order to bag more profit.

Market Consolidation

With the start of consolidation (and is expected to increase) of operators, competition may decrease.  With a low competition, prizes and bonuses may also turn out to be minimal in the future.

It’s also likely that players will begin trying other games such as scratch cards, slots and texas holdem type games.

Economy

TV advertisements being neglected by most establishments have lowered its price tremendously to draw new clients.  And, these new clients include some online bingo sites.  As economy began to stabilize it is expected that TV ads will again be in demand – per law of supply and demand, as demand increases, price also increases.

With the recession, some people (especially those who are jobless) are beginning to spend wisely by cutting down unnecessary expenses including travel, and have opted to stay at home and play online.  If the economic crisis ceases, all these existing thrifty and jobless individuals will be out and resume with their regular outdoor activities.

A spokesman has said; “It is with great regret that Mecca Bingo has taken the decision to temporarily close its club at All Saints Green, Norwich.
During routine maintenance and refurbishment work, engineers have discovered that there are some serious structural issues with the building, which could potentially lead to complex and lengthy repairs. The engineers can’t complete their assessment while the building is operational so as a result we have temporarily closed the club. So that its All Saints customers can continue to enjoy their bingo, Mecca will be providing a free shuttle bus service between All Saints Green and its sister club at Aylsham Road.”

The bus will be operating between 11am and 1pm from All Saints Green and there will be an evening service between 5pm and 7pm. Bingo players will also be brought back at regular intervals after their session has finished.

A previous Norwich Union manager has said that there was a condition during its development back in the 1950s that the building had to be demolished when the lease ran out, although this has not been officially confirmed. The gaming giant will wait to receive the report from the structural engineers which will tell them how much work has to be done to make the building safe. A decision will then be made as to what the future holds for the club, although hopefully the cost of the works will allow it to operate in the future.

Online bingo continues to be an option for locals in this area.

Tombola is already a huge name in the world of online bingo, but will team up with Search Laboratory to raise its online profile and make sure that it heads the list when people are using Google to search for an online bingo site to play on. This fits in with the high-profile strategy it already employs, as can be seen by its sponsorship of Sunderland Association Football Club and Emmerdale.

The new partnership will explore several ways of making sure that the Tombola website gains even more name awareness and becomes the first choice for new bingo players. These include making sure that the Tombola name is linked to search terms people use, developing links from other sites and creating more of a buzz in social networks and other online forums. Tombola was named the ‘Online Bingo Operator of the Year’ in 2010 and has been involved with bingo for the past 50 years, and the company is determined to work hard to maintain its position.

Ian Harris, the CEO of Search Laboratory, says: “Online gaming is a highly competitive market. Tombola has already been innovative in creating a high profile using other media. This collaboration will ensure that potential customers searching on the Internet can find its site quickly and easily”.

Dawn-Elizabeth Howe, the Head of Marketing for Tombola, says: “We’re very pleased to be entering into this partnership with Search Laboratory. Its team brings a highly professional and technically sound approach to search marketing, and we’re already seeing a positive change in Google rankings”.

US’ pursuit to prevent problems in internet gambling especially on morale issues gave way to UIGEA’s legislation.  However, financial and economic analysts see it as a strategy to protect their economy by restricting online gambling competitors from serving the US market.  The legal counsel of Antigua, Mark Mendel stated, “What the United States has attempted to cloak as a moral issue is now clearly nothing but economic protectionism at its worst.”

Currently 11 operators (including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker) are charged of fraud, money laundering and running illegal online games.  Further, US is on the process of reviewing the legislation to declare online gaming – bingo, poker and casino games – illegal within the year; however, earlier this week FBI’s feat suggests that the estimated target may be extended.

Honourable Harold Lovell, Antigua’s Finance Minister asserts that the fight of US to streamline its competition with foreign operators is a contravention of the international treaty. He said, “I am not aware of any other situation where a member of the World Trade Organisation has subjected persons to criminal prosecution under circumstances where the World Trade Organisation has expressly ruled that to do so is in breach of an international treaty.”

Mendel stated that Antigua will be appealing to the WTO regarding steps taken by US to ban online gambling, which is a violation against WTO’s laws.

Full House Holdings, the parent company of Buckingham Bingo, have announced that they raised approximately £30 million from the sale which was competed last month, which is enough to pay off the £28 million that was owed to Barclays. The nine bingo clubs were acquired by Castle Leisure and Club3000.

Castle Leisure, a privately-owned club who only expanded out of Wales in December, acquired the Buckingham Bingo clubs in Bootle and Corby. In December they bought a bingo club in Birmingham and are certainly a name to watch for in the future. Club3000, owned by Brian Fraser, acquired the clubs in Walkden, Trafford, Peterlee, Middleton, Preston, Huyton and Bradford. These join the three clubs already in the group, which are located in south Wales and Scotland.

The online clubs, BuckyBingo.com and BOGOFBingo.com were acquired by Betfred, the sports betting operator.

The club has been going for more than 40 years and to all appearances seemed to be doing very well. It has 34,128 registered members and has a capacity of 855 people. It originally started life as a theatre and cinema and first became a bingo hall in 1967, before being brought by the Rank Group and then branded as a Mecca Bingo hall. The club has announced that it will hold its farewell party for its regular members on the 4th May, and there is expected to be a big turn-out as it had hundreds of regular players. Eighteen jobs are presently at risk following the apparent unsolicited offer.

The parent company of Mecca Bingo, Rank, said back in February that it had received an offer on the site. They have not officially announced the name of the buyer, simply stating that they had received an; “unsolicited offer that was very attractive and made commercial sense.” It has been reported that the buyer is a local church group.

The company did say that; “Unfortunately the closure of the club could potentially lead to some job losses and the company is currently consulting with the 18 employees based at the site to explore other job opportunities within the Rank Group PLC, of which Mecca Bingo is part. The company will also be writing to all its customers to inform them of its plans. Mecca Bingo remains committed to Southampton and would like to relocate to a larger, purpose-built site.”

It is sad to hear of a local bingo club closing down, and we hope that the Mecca club members are either rewarded with a new venue to play in or manage to find another club they can switch to.

The fun is scheduled to start on 22nd April to 2nd May, with all 142 Gala Bingo clubs in Great Britain taking part in the ‘Biggest Wedding Celebration Ever.’ Over this period they’re anticipating that more than 350,000 members will visit them, with more than 70,000 bingo players expected on 29th April, the big day.

For the actual wedding day Gala Bingo are getting things off to a great start by offering members a wedding breakfast and a glass of bubbly. The wedding itself can be watched on a big screen and there will be fun and games in the afternoon as, amongst other surprises, there will be a £5000 prize draw for all clubs, with every member of the winning club sharing in the prize, in addition to £3000 link games.

On Good Friday members who visit Gala Bingo will receive goodies including a Royal dabber, a drink, books and a free draw, with the prize of a free month of bingo up for grabs. On Easter Monday there will be a national free draw for a fantastic wedding gift list worth £5000, and following that there will be 26 holidays, each worth £1000, given away.

For those who play Gala Bingo online there will also be some great prizes waiting to be won. From 24th – 28th April there will be hen and stag link games with a £1000 jackpot at stake, and on 29th April players can take part in the ‘Right Royal Knees Up’ where in two hours £20,000 can be won.

Fans of Gala TV can also get in on the action, as between 18th April – 2nd May players who win between 10pm – 11pm will be entered into the Royal Spree draw to win £50, with the prize increasing to £200 on 29th April.

The Group Corporate PR Manager for Gala, Sarah Mercer, said: “As the nation’s favourite family gather for a special bank holiday, it’s only right that the nation’s favourite house of fun creates a fabulous day out, offering prizes, camaraderie and a chance to wave the flag.”