Think Bingo is not a game where you can hit a big jackpot? Think again. There have been many successful Bingo players around the world that made their fortunes with Bingo. They hit the jackpot and saw their dreams come true.  Read on…

It was a dream come true for Christine Bradfield when she hit a £10,00,000  Bingo jackpot. Christine would never forget January 28, 2008, when she became a millionaire overnight. A 53 year lady shocked the whole Bingo community worldwide with her distinguished win. Even then, she returned to her old £5.55 an hour job as a petrol station cashier, saying that she didn’t want to go mad spending her mammoth Bingo prize on things like shopping everyday. By the way, she donated a decent amount of money to different charities as well.

Christine is not the only Bingo millionaire though. Pauline Clarke, a 62 year old pensioner from Bristol, England created history when she became the first woman to win the £10,00,000 at a Bingo online event. And do you know how much money she gambled to win this huge amount? Just 60 pence!

That’s right, according to her, she deposited £5 in her Bingo account a couple of weeks ago. By the time this historical game was announced, she had 60 pence left in her account. With that amount, she bought her winning Bingo games ticket just in time. The Bingo ticket fetched her winnings, big enough to make her a millionaire.

But the real Big Win story is the recent $ 2 million jackpot that 46 year old Arnulfo Aserios, an immigrant construction worker from the Philippines won in the Guam  National Olympic Committee SportsBingo.  Of course, about $400,000 will go for taxes, but the rest is still enough for Aserios to buy a bigger house, some gifts who his wife. He can also afford to pay for his sons’ higher education.

As for himself, Aserios only plans to buy more Bingo tickets! By the way, he paid $ 7. 80 for his winning Bingo card.

These are just some winners’ stories. You too can share your story of earning a fortune with Bingo. Bingo is a pure chance-based game. And the odds of winning remain the same whether you play Bingo online or at your local Bingo hall. You never know when your big day will arrive. Till then, keep daubing numbers on your Bingo tickets.

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.

The world is full of knowledge. It may take up to a lifetime to know and understand the mysteries of this world. Have you ever thought of an elixir that would come in small entertaining visual capsules and feed huge and complicated information into your brain with ease?  It is said that a picture is equal to one thousand words. Bingo! The game of Bingo really fits the bill…as it is fast becoming a tool for  infotainment.

That Bingo can be used for teaching is a well-known fact. But the extent to which it is being employed always surprises! Take a look at the range of Bingo games used to teach children: there is botanical bingo, dinosaur bingo,ocean bingo, element bingo,  bug bingo, reptile bingo, amphibian bingo, bird bingo, nature bingo, science bingo. Indeed the entire family of flora and fauna has been reproduced as an attractive, colorful and captivating game not only for young minds.

Even the old and elderly are learning a lot from the game. Not just about winning and losing. It is used to alert the old about financial frauds and diseases as well as to raise money to help causes. Only recently, Melanie Woods, investor education coordinator for the securities division of the Indiana Secretary of State, tried to educate the elderly at a retirement community with the help of the game. The call number A34 was 30 percent, which Woods told the players was “the percent of victims we see who are seniors, which is why we hold presentations like this.”

Madoff pleaded guilty on March 12 to swindling investors for $65 billion dollars in a Ponzi scheme  (a fraudulent investment scheme which pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned) which was R22 on the Bingo board.
In Edmonton, Canada, Stephani Carter of EcoAmmo who is a green activist, observed Earth Day on April 22 by playing Eco Bingo games with her staff. It was a game with eco-friendly initiatives instead of numbers. Those who won were offered organically prepared dinners for two instead of money!

Thus Bingo is an innovative technique adopted for knowledge gathering, sharing and learning and has helped us discover an ideal way to explore, entertain and enjoy the world around us.

What happened last week in England turns out to be another attempt to lower the taxes enforced on land-based Bingo halls. Will it yield any better results South Shields MP David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and a Bingo enthusiast himself, played the role of a Bingo caller. The  Bingo show was a huge success and many think that it will shape public opinion against the high incidence of taxes on Bingo halls.

According to media reports, MP Miliband said, “…A number of important issues have been raised, and I will be taking these back to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.” He was responding to a presentation on the hefty taxes that Bingo halls have to pay. “However, I think I’ll be sticking to my day job,” he chuckled, “and leaving the calling to the experts.”

As of now, land-based Bingo halls pay 15% VAT and a gross 15% taxes on their total revenues. It’s a good thing that MP Miliband is not the only government official who is aware of this problem regarding double tax. Would-be Tory MP Karen Allen, Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Shield, also visited an Bingo club recently. She also agreed that the 30% tax on Bingo is not helping clubs to bloom.

We do understand the problems faced by the offline Bingo industry. With the government rejecting their pleas repeatedly, perhaps the solution lies online.