Hate to tell you this…there is a dark side to Bingo as well. It is all very well for us to rejoice hearing stories of big wins and revelry linked to online Bingo or Bingo Hall games. Let us not gloss over the incidents that prove that Bingo players can behave quite irresponsibly at times.

Not this, Baby Shower Bingo!
Take for instance, the parents of a one-year-old infant. Today, they face imprisonment up to a year for abandoning their child –left locked up in the car with the windows closed –in order to play Bingo at a club in Calle Mancor, Palma in Spain.
Though they claimed that they were checking on the infant frequently, it transpires they were engrossed in the Bingo game for three hours. They did not surface even when the cops arrived and ascertained the vehicle registration and ownership details –an exercise that took a good half hour.

Nickels Room, Beware!
Recently two women aged all of 60 and 85 respectively turned a lazy Bingo game into a tug-of-war in Texas. They were old friends who played regularly at the Del Rio Senior Citizens Centre. One of them suspected that the other had not dropped her nickels in the pot and did a manual check, counting the money out loud. This angered the other who started an argument. The verbal duel soon turned violent and the duo grabbed each other’s hair and clawed their faces. The sister of one of the women also jumped in to lend her support, and all three were bruised. They were admonished for spoiling a fun-game and sent home to cool down. They have also been barred from from playing Bingo at the Centre for 90 days.

Bingo Battery
We have heard of utensils, hair brushes and perhaps flower vases being flung around by angry couples. However a couple in Illinois hurt each other with Bingo daubers! Here is how it happened: Ms Chyrl S Miller returned home after 10 pm one night after playing Bingo. She found the door locked. Though she opened one lock with the key she had, the other had to be unlocked only with the key her husband had.

With growing anger, she hammered on the door to wake up Mr Jerry J Pitts. When he finally came to the door and opened it, she could not control her rage and lashed out at him with her purse. The Bingo dauber fell out and both of them took turns to use it as weapon against each other.
The police moved the couple to the Sangamon County Jail for domestic violence, after finding both injured.

Cheques by Post!

Patricia Barnes had been handling Royal Mail special postal delivery in Norwich, England for 14 long years. She had developed a gambling addiction alongside. To fund her online Bingo craze and slot machine gaming sprees, she stole more than £75,000 in cash and cheques to pay for her addiction to slot machines and online bingo.
The thefts were carried out between April 2007 and June 2008 and were in breach of the highest degree of trust that the public places in postal services. Hence she was sentenced to one year imprisonment. Interestingly, the judge Philip Brooke-Smith, observed: “I accept this was done to support a gambling habit that’s made very easy indeed with the availability of the Internet.”

Online Bingo in America seems to have found a friend in Democrat Representative, Barney Frank.  As of now, there is a ban in the US on Internet Bingo. However, if Frank has his way it may soon be legal to run online Bingo operations in the US. Which in turn would mean online Bingo players in America too can breathe easy and be assured of secure and trustworthy services while they enjoy Bingo from the comfort of their homes.

The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act introduced by Frank to the Congress seeks to stymie the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) passed of 2006. The UIGEA had banned banks and other financial institutions from making transactions linked to online gambling. However, the UIGEA has not been enforced effectively, due to lack of clarity on several aspects of the law.

With an eye on ensuring a well-debated national policy on the issue, Frank is also introducing another Bill called Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act of 2009. This is expected to delay by one full year, the implementation of the UIGEA and its supporting regulations which were to be in place by December 1, 2009.

Meanwhile, Frank’s main Bill seeks to regulate the online gambling industry by introducing licensing. Only those Bingo, Poker or for that matter online casino operators who can prove their credentials in terms of character, honesty, reputation and prior activities will be issued licenses, if this Bill becomes law.

The Bill provides for stringent pre-licensing checks and operators would have to take on the responsibility of combating money laundering, underage gambling as well as comply with both state and federal laws in the US apart from applicable Indian Tribe limitations.

Applications will have to be accompanied by detailed financial records and personal details of directors to facilitate credit and criminal history checks. The licence when granted would be valid for five years and will be renewed based on good conduct and efficiency –failing which, it would be terminated. Violations attract imprisonment of up to five years under the proposed Act.

Of course, if the regulators step in to ensure clean operations, will taxes be far behind? Representative Jim McDermott is bringing in The Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2009.

Under this, licensed operators have to pay a 2% fee based on turnover. They are also required to collect taxes from winnings before payouts are made –thus ensuring that individual and corporate taxes owed on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected.

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Does their VIP status make you hanker after a high-profile?

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Chat games are the real bonus in any online Bingo games. Buy a Bingo ticket and put it on auto-play. This will keep your hands free to chat and play side-games with your Bingo buddies. And there is not just one but numerous chat games to keep pace with your changing fortunes and moods. Be it Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, every occasion has a game! Even if there is no special occasion, we have chat games woven around other themes like numbers and trivia questions.

The games we offer at 123bingoonline are innovative and creative. With Mother’s Day round the corner, we don’t think of Moms alone. We think of Mommy’s pet too. Catch the naughty babies and win 20 bonus bucks (BBs). We do not mean the runny-nose toddlers silly! We are talking of your very own lucky Bingo number. They are all over the place just like babies are! Try catching them. Log on and find our chat monitor (CM), who will announce a number. That will be your “Bingo Baby” of the day. Bingo on this very number and win 20 BBs.

Yes, we know. 20BBs sounds so paltry considering the big bucks you make on some Bingo patterns. We have heard many of our players complaining. But it is only the newbies who do it. Others have either experienced or seen others winning HUGE amounts, thanks to our chat game Bbs. You will know what we mean, when you run out of cash and the BBs come to your rescue.

Still looking for something big? We have something more in store for you. Heard the saying “little drops of water make the mighty ocean?” Well pennies make millions would be more apt here, as we will let you pile on the BBs, with every Bingo Baby you win. You can win up to a 100 Bbs, if you are the lucky mother with the maximum babies!

You can also try your luck and win 7 to 9 BBs on other chat games like Bingo Races, Tote It Up and Mother’s Day Trivia, in addition to other regular Bingo chat games.

So, go after the Bingo Babies, sorry, Baby Bucks, oops…Bonus Bucks!

Whether or not Scottish singing sensation, Susan Boyle has ever tried her hand at Bingo — or betting for that matter —punters are wagering millions of pounds on her. If they are right, she is likely to walk away with the £ 100,000 prize amount on the Britain’s Got Talent show aired by ITV. When Boyle mustered the courage to audition for the show, she took a gamble alright. We cannot claim she would have stood such a strong chance, say in a game of online Bingo!

The stakes are high now. Giving her competition is Welsh-wonder Jamie Pugh who has just surfaced with his terrific rendition of ‘Bring Him Home’, from the musical Les Misérables. For those of you are not in-the-know, Boyle’s superb singing of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the same musical, sparked off the Boylemania online –with more than 100 million views of her video on YouTube.

It reminds us of the Bingo mania that has swept across the world, especially the online Bingo world.

Some of it is true, some of it is hype. Just as it is with online Bingo. Speaking of Bingo, one of the most truthful accolades Susan Boyle got was from the local bingo caller at the community center where Boyle has volunteered. “We’re all tired of 23-year-old models trying to sing on TV. Susan is a 47-year-old spinster who, by God, can sing,” 64-year-old Michael Nicolson, says in The Washington Post.

Apparently, Susan Boyle has not been employed for long. A small-town lady, she visited church, took care of her Mom till she died and only had a cat, Pebbles for company. She was often spotted at the Bingo hall, minding the brownies and petty cash, or sat by the dartboard at the Happy Valley Hotel in Blackburn, waiting for her turn at karaoke.

There is a reason why ‘Simple Susie’ has become such a legend. Boyle, is the embodiment of the American Dream. Most Americans believe in the rags-to-riches story or the tale of ugly duckling which turned into a swan. Now, there is just one more thing that can make than happen. You know it is Bingo, don’t you ? A simple game, where all you have to do is buy some tickets with numbers on it and hope that you are the lucky one whose numbers are called. If you do daub those numbers off your ticket, you win money! Go on, take a bet…unless you can sing, and sing well! Like Boyle does.

Every mother has said it. I bet yours did too. Mine definitely did. “Money Does Not Grow On Trees.”

There comes a point in everybody’s life when they spout the same things as their mother did. Not so Bingo players. At least not this particular Mother’s Mantra.

No matter what “Mom Used to Say,” if you clamber up a Bingo tree, you may just find money is there for the plucking!

The High Rollers would know what we mean. There is an awesome $10,000 progressive jackpot for Bingo lovers who have luck on their side. And if you like slots, you just may bag a colossal $ 25,000 or $ 100,000 progressive jackpot. Now that is a win that would make any mother proud.

Do not forget to participate in our contest of Mother’s Sayings. Send in your entries and earn 5 bonus bucks (BBs). The best entry will be rewarded 50 BBs. Hurry, prove yourself a worthy son or daughter this May 10.