The 123bingoonline Online Bingo Blog

Did I hear you say that Bingo is a woman’s game? It is not women alone who play and like Bingo. We men love Bingo too!

There is no denying the fact that a large chunk of Bingo players include women. But how can we forget that the game of Bingo was actually invented by a man- Edwin S Lowe?

Well, I am a man too and I accept that I just love playing Bingo. I can give a number of reasons for why I love Bingo.

To start with, it is the most fun-way to earn money. I am one of those who likes to mix a little pleasure with business. So I playfully try my luck at Bingo, but am very business-like about the money I wager and win. Especially in these times, with the recession has claimed many victims. I have seen friends who have been layed-off behave quite irresponsibly, whiling away their time at Bingo halls, wasting money by wagering without a thought, drinking and gossiping. Now, if I were to lose my job (God Forbid!) I would treat Bingo as an alternative. Why not? If you play like a professional, it can be quite paying.

Even now, it gives me a refreshing break after the days drudgery. I play Bingo online and avoid the additional expenditure on snacks and drinks. One of my friends who frequents the Bingo hall down the road, joked that the Bingo dauber costs less than a golf kit! But hey, online Bingo players don’t need a dauber –there is an automatic dauber feature as well!

Online Bingo is really cool! Playing Bingo, earning rewards, reaping beefy bonus profits and chatting with online Bingo buddies without leaving the comfort of the living room is every lazy man’s dream! I think it is the Sunday morning equivalent of my dad’s newspaper reading sessions! Except that my wife does not complain or feel left out like my Mom used to feel when Dad read the newspaper for hours on end! Yesterday in fact, my wife peeped over my shoulder and commented on the game’s progress. She then got so involved that she sat down with me and played an online game herself with me looking on. Speak of Bingo Bonding!

It is not as if I never visit the Bingo hall though. In fact, I accompany by wife there. We get our time together, a weekly outing, some tidbits to nibble on as well as chit-chat with friends. After all one cannot go to the movies, concerts or vacations as frequently as one can Bingo!

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.

Mesmerized by the aura of the elite around British royalty and the glitz and glamor surrounding Hollywood celebrities? Envy the luxury they enjoy and the VIP-treatment meted out to them? Do you sigh wistfully when Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Brad Pit walk down the red carpet? Or watch with wonder when US President Barack Obama pays a highly -publicized visit to the grand Buckingham Palace?

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

Well! Maybe not in Hollywood or politics but we at 123bingooline.com can extend the VIP treatment to daring bettors.

Have you already been granted special status with a Blue ID? If you have been wagering huge amounts on this site in the past two months, you may have covered half the journey to the much-in-demand $1000 slots tournament already.

But if you have not got the blue background VIP ID as yet, don’t worry! Make a deposit of $300 in one day and you will be bestowed with VIP status, pronto.

There is another way to qualify as a VIP player on the tournament. Do you enjoy a loyalty level of 9-10? If so, you are welcome to play and win the irresistible $1000 Get Cracking Slot tourney. Loyalty level 9-10 is assigned to players who have accumulated 5001 points. This happens automatically when you wager on bingo, pull tabs, slots and video poker in a certain fashion. Check out the details now, if you wish to earn royally for being loyal!

But hey buddies, you need to hurry up and fulfill any of these criterion mentioned above or you might miss out on our Get Cracking VIP Slots Tournament this week. It’s up for grabs only for today and tomorrow. Remember it has begun yesterday and there are many players vying for the $1000. Don’t get it wrong, the $1000 is not your winnings from the slot. It is not a jackpot within the slot game. It is a generous gift from us to the player who wagers most –the maximum amount—on the Get Cracking online slot game.

So, get cracking. If you are lucky, you may even win the slot game which comes with its own Happy Hen bonus round! All the Best!

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.

I like Bingo. I live Bingo. I eat Bingo and I breathe Bingo! Yes, I am a Bingo addict. And my addiction is not restricted to the game alone. It is not about winning money either. I have to try my luck on every new pattern introduced, I have to visit each and every online Bingo site –though I am a loyal player only at 123Bingoonline.com! And over the years, I have also developed a huge appetite for Bingo facts, trivia, events and equipment. I love Bingo so much that I have become a brand ambassador-of-sorts for the game. I never, never lose an opportunity to share Bingo tidbits. So here goes:

• The biggest Bingo event in history took place at the Teaneck Armory in New York with approximately 60,000 players in the 1930s. 10,000 aspiring players had to be turned away at the gate. Ten cars were given away as prizes. ( The picture above, courtesy, www.teaneck.org fills me with nostalgia!)

• Do you know how many Bingo card combinations are possible?  A recent estimate says there are  52,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 possible bingo card combinations.

• The first game of Bingo aimed at raising money was played at a church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The funds helped the Parish resolve its financial problems.

• It is a commonly held belief among Bingo players that women players with the name “Margaret” and men who are named “Joe” are more likely to win!

• Toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe introduced the game of Bingo as “Lowe’s Bingo” to the masses. His newly formed toy company, E.S. Lowe Company would have folded up had Bingo not become such a success.

• On an average, a Bingo game lasts just 3 to 6 minutes.

• The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute. Caller competitions are held annually in the UK.

• Over three million people play online Bingo regularly.

• A recent study reveals that roughly 80% of male online Bingo players are lazy and dodge household activities.

• The number one reason why people play Bingo is entertainment. Winning money is way down the list, at fifth place.

I have been playing Bingo in land-based Bingo halls for years. I love playing Bingo but I have grown old now and find it difficult to walk even to the nearest Bingo hall in my neighborhood. This made me depressed and irritable. One day my grandson suggested that I should try out online Bingo halls. He even helped me open an account at a good online Bingo site and I proudly took on my new ID- JACKIESMOM.

The moment I entered the Bingo room, I was bewildered by the atmosphere. I saw the Bingo cards and they looked familiar enough, alright. But the chat window, the automatic and manual daub options, graphics — they were all so very different compared to land Bingo halls. I am so used to seeing people, and have always concentrated on the numbers called. Daubing the numbers is a project by itself.

To confuse me further, as soon as I typed in “Hello” in the online Bingo chat window, the chat host replied “YW JACKIESMOM HUN!” The term YW left me a little perplexed. When I asked the chat host about it, he told me that YW stands for “You are welcome” in the new-age Bingo terminology.

Understanding that I was new to the world of online Bingo, the chat host guided me on how to buy Bingo tickets and wait for the game to begin. When I thanked him, he replied, “YVW!” It was not too difficult to figure that out — “You are Very Welcome?” and I began to feel at home.

But my comfort was short-lived. The chat-host asked me, “Would you like to play our new CG JACKIESMOM?” I was confused. The friendly chat host told me all about chat games. Wow! A sub-game that players can play while the main Bingo game is on, with the auto dauber in operation! Now, that is what I call a Bingo edge. Soon, I was playing chat games as well as betting on the Bingo patterns like a veteran online Bingo player. I even won a chat game and was richer by $2, thanks to 2BBs (bonus bucks) awarded by the CG. See, I am catching on

But there was one other problem. I excitedly typed in Kelly’s Eye when the number 1 was called. One of the player’s asked me what I talking about. I found that the new players and even the Bingo Caller on this site was sticking to straight calling. Many of the online Bingo players were totally oblivious to all those funny calling terms that good ‘ol Bingo is known for!

I took it upon myself to introduce my new Bingo friends to the classical Bingo lingo. The response was, “WTG (Way To Go) JACKIESMOM!”

One of them politely directed me to sites where callers use older terms as well. I visited them, but soon tired of typing in Choo Choo Thomas (for 58) and Jump and Jive (for 35). I was missing out on the CGs and felt like the OL. (That’s chat lingo for Old Lady, dearies…oops, QT). So I decided to play Bingo the way it is played online.

Soon, I was chatting, playing CGs… and guess what?  Whoever said,”When In Rome Do As the Romans Do” sure knew what he was speaking about. TTFN.

Many people are so used to playing Bingo at halls, parties, churches and community centers that they do not have the foggiest idea about how to play Bingo online. If you are reading this blog, you are obviously interested in playing Bingo at 123bingoonline.com.

Your first step is to register yourself and sign in with a minimum deposit . At present it is $20. On completion of the registration, your player ID will be emailed to you. Using that, you can enter the Bingo rooms on our site. Clicking on the Join Now logo on www.123bingoonline.com will help you start your registration.

You will be transported to a pleasantly pink games lobby page. You will find a lot of interesting games like slots, keno, video poker, craps, blackjack, roulette and so on. What we are especially proud of are the value-adds we have provided. Players can check out horoscopes and try out puzzles in the games and trivia section. We also host an Agony Aunt column in our lifestyle section. There is more, but we will let you explore the goodies yourself.
Going on to Bingo, click on the Bingo link and you will have an option of playing either in the green room, red room, blue room. If you are not aware, we offer 75 ball Bingo in our rooms. The Green Thumb Bingo is a quarter room (where you purchase Bingo tickets priced 25 cents each), the Blue room or Blue Sapphire Bingo is a free room (where you can pick up free Bingo cards) and the Red room or Bingo Country is a nickel room (where players can purchase a ticket for as little as 5 cents).

The game is yet to begin. If you look around you will find a chat window. Click to join the chat room and engage in friendly banter with other online Bingo players. The chat hosts will also help you with any doubts or problems you may encounter.  They also host chat games which you can indulge in, if interested.

When the game begins, you can see the number board on the right side of the screen. If you have chosen the auto daub function, the numbers will be daubed automatically. The prize money is displayed on the screen and it depends on the pattern being played, the number of tickets bought (the number of participants). Some patterns like coverall do carry a fixed prize amount.

Well, that should help you get started. Make sure you check back for more on our Bingo Billboard.