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UK Bingo Hall News
Scottish granny mugged for bingo winnings
Posted by Debbie Archer on 1 July 2010
An Aberdeen pensioner was robbed of her £140 bingo winnings as she walked home.
Margaret Craig, 63, was kicked in the face by the robber who snatched her handbag, which had a total of £200 inside. She was taken to hospital following the attack.
Mrs Craig told the Daily Record: “I was at the bingo and decided [...]
Ceiling collapses at Galashiels bingo club
Posted by Debbie Archer on 11 May 2010
Police said bingo players were lucky to escape unharmed after a ceiling collapsed as a Galashiels bingo club.
Three fire engines and two police vans attended the incident at the Market Street bingo club which also led to the neighbouring cinema being evacuated over safety fears.
The bingo club was closed while Scottish Borders council officials from [...]
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Three in hospital after bingo minibus crashes
Posted by Debbie Archer on 11 May 2010
A minibus driving 12 players back from a South Shields bingo club flipped over, leaving three of them in hospital with minor injuries. The crash happened on Saturday 8 May at about 9.15pm when players were being transported back from the Crown Bingo and Social Club in Hudson Street, Tyne Dock, South Shields. All of the passengers [...]
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Tory MP plays bingo before election
Posted by Debbie Archer on 6 May 2010
CREWE, UK – The Tory candidate in Crewe and Nantwich has spent the week run up to the election playing bingo in his local Mecca Bingo hall. Edward Timpson visited the Mecca Bingo hall in Crewe on the Friday before the election and even took his mother and the team from his office to join in [...]
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Woman convicted of Mecca Bingo fraud
Posted by Debbie Archer on 4 May 2010
A woman who tried to claim another woman’s winnings at her local bingo hall has been convicted of fraud.
Clair Borrill from Southport was fined a total of £700 after pleading guilty to the offence. She had successfully claimed another bingo player’s £500 jackpot at the Mecca Bingo hall in Lord Street, Southport by claiming to [...]
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Bingo hall worker wins £1 million on scratchcard
Posted by Debbie Archer on 12 November 2009
An assistant bingo manager at The Palace bingo hall in Felixstowe, Suffolk has won £1 million on a National Lottery scratchcard. But even after scooping a life changing jackpot she doesn’t plan to quit her bingo hall job.
Audrey White, 58, didn’t even mean to buy the £5 scratchcard as she planned to buy a £2 [...]
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Northern Ireland laws on bingo may be relaxed
Posted by Debbie Archer on 28 September 2009
Northern Ireland’s bingo halls may be allowed to open on Sunday following the announcement of a government review of gambling laws.
Northern Ireland Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie said there was a need to update current legislation which is “not robust enough to deal with modern gambling”.
The current laws date from 1985; in 2006 the government [...]
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Top Ten Bingo player demands £5,000 payout
Posted by Debbie Archer on 14 September 2009
A bingo player at the Top Ten Bingo hall in Billingham, Teeside, claims she is owed £4,000 after hitting a full house jackpot.
19 year old Lynsey Dickenson said that when she was playing one weekend she hit a full house and assumed she had won the £5,000 prize shown on the club’s screens.
But when she [...]
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Mecca Bingo hall in Islington to become church
Posted by Debbie Archer on 3 September 2009
The Mecca Bingo hall in Essex Road, Islington has been bought by an evangelical church who plan to turn it into a community centre.
Resurrection Manifestations, an evangelical church, have bought the freehold on the art deco building, which was once Tony Blair’s local bingo hall.
It was closed by Mecca Bingo in 2007 because it was [...]
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Gala Bingo players in Edinburgh pick up £92,115.42
Posted by Debbie Archer on 2 September 2009
Players at the Gala Bingo club in Edinburgh Meadowbank shared a £92,115.42 win on Saturday night after hitting the High 5 jackpot. One lucky woman won £41,000 for hitting the jackpot while the remaining cash were shared among the 438 bingo players also playing in the same bingo hall. They picked up just under £100 each [...]
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Mecca Bingo in Beeston is model for new clubs
Posted by Debbie Archer on 5 August 2009
Mecca Bingo plans to build two clubs similar to their Beeston bingo hall, which has been a massive success. The clubs, which will cost around £1.5 million each, will have restaurants, table service for drinks and aims to upgrade the bingo club experience to attract younger, wealthier customers. Rank chief executive Ian Burke told This Is Business [...]
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Man jailed for Teesside bingo attack
Posted by Debbie Archer on 3 August 2009
A man who headbutted the organiser of a bingo game in Teesside has been jailed for 12 months.
David Clarke, 24, had been drinking heavily at the North Ormesby Institute when he was asked to be quiet during a bingo game.
Jeffrey Bullock, the vice president of the club, asked Mr Clarke and his friends to make [...]
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Squatters take over Cambridge bingo hall
Posted by Debbie Archer on 16 July 2009
A Cambridge bingo hall that closed two months ago has been occupied by squatters. The Gala Bingo Hall in Hobson Street, Cambridge closed on May 25 was squatted on Monday 27 July by Occupy Cambridge, a self-described group of “squatters, anarchists, revolutionists, land rights types and general social misfits”. The Gala Bingo Hall is now owned by [...]
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Bingo debated in House of Commons
Posted by Debbie Archer on 15 July 2009
The taxation regime on bingo was raised during Treasury questions in the House of Commons yesterday.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, took four questions from MPs who questioned why the government was doing so little for the UK bingo industry.
Unfortunately there was little to cheer the bingo industry as the minister played a [...]
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Youths shoot Liverpool bingo hall employee
Posted by Debbie Archer on 13 July 2009
Police are searching for two youths who shot a 65 year old bingo hall employee in Dovecot, Liverpool.
The man confronted two youths on a scrambler bike outside the Granada Bingo Hall in East Prescot Road, Dovecot, Liverpool at 9.53pm on Saturday night.
He followed the bike through the bingo hall car park before the passenger on [...]
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Bingo play a hit with the critics
Posted by Debbie Archer on 9 July 2009
A play about life inside a bingo hall has proved a hit with the critics with both the Financial Times and Independent giving it positive reviews.
Neil Bartlett’s Everybody Loves A Winner , which is being played as part of the Manchester International Festival, is all about life in a bingo hall. It looks at the [...]
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Mintel publishes new bingo report
Posted by Debbie Archer on 7 July 2009
Market research specialists Mintel have published their latest report on the UK bingo market. The report, titled “Bingo – UK – April 2009″, examines the effect of the smoking ban has had on UK bingo halls and how much it has been affected by the economic downturn. It also looks at the extent to which online [...]
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£30,000 win for Gala Bingo, Redditch player
Posted by Debbie Archer on 27 May 2009
A 76 year old regular bingo player scooped over £30,000 when she hit the High 5 Jackpot at the Gala Bingo hall in Birmingham Great Park. Eunice Smith said it was the most she had ever won and she felt wonderful. She told the Redditch Advertiser: “I feel wonderful. When I won it I was told that [...]
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Bingo hen night for television presenter
Posted by Debbie Archer on 27 May 2009
TV presenter Yvette Fielding held her hen party at the Mecca Bingo hall in Crewe.
The Most Haunted star downed champagne with five friends ahead of renewing her vows with husband Karl Beattie later this year.
The 40 year old ex Blue Peter presenter was at Mecca Bingo in the Phoenix Leisure Park Club on Dunwoody Way, [...]
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Mecca Bingo boss to be replaced
Posted by Debbie Archer on 18 May 2009
The managing director of Mecca Bingo is being replaced as the company looks for a new face to take the bingo business forward. Simon Wykes, who was responsible for Rank Group’s 103 UK bingo clubs, has left with immediate effect; Rank’s chief executive Ian Burke has taken over operational management of the business until a new [...]
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Cascade bingo hall robbed
Posted by Debbie Archer on 18 May 2009
A bingo hall in Lurgan, Nothern Ireland was robbed last Thursday evening as customers played bingo.
Three men carrying hammers and knives robbed bingo players of cash and handbags at the Cascade bingo hall on Old Portadown Road in Lurgan.
Four handbags were taken before the thieves escaped in a dark saloon car at around 8.30 pm, [...]
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Cambridge Gala Bingo hall to close
Posted by Debbie Archer on 29 April 2009
Cambridge’s only bingo hall, the Gala Bingo in Hobson Street, is set to close on May 25. 13 staff will almost certainly lose their jobs from the closure and local players will be hit hard as there is no bingo hall for miles. The nearest bingo halls are in Peterborough, Bury St Edmunds, Harlow or Bedford. The [...]
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Top Ten Bingo in deep trouble
Posted by Debbie Archer on 23 April 2009
Top Ten Bingo has outlined plans to delist from the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange as part of a restructuring to ensure its financial future. Top Ten Holdings plc said the company “continued to be in breach of its banking covenants and, given its level of bank borrowings and the current economic environment, it is unlikely to be [...]
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Kingsway Bingo to open in Frome, Somerset
Posted by Debbie Archer on 9 April 2009
A new bingo hall is set to open in Frome, Somerset. The Kingsway Bingo Club is planned for a former nightclub premises in the Kingsway Precinct. The space used to house the Level One nightclub.
The backers of the bingo venture have bought an 11 year lease on the venue and have applied to Mendip District [...]
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Riva sells half of clubs to reduce debt
Posted by Debbie Archer on 9 April 2009
Riva Bingo clubs has sold more than half of their bingo clubs to a former Gala Bingo executive. Brian Mattingley has bought three Beacon Bingo clubs and three more clubs from Riva Bingo for an undisclosed sum. The Beacon Bingo clubs Mattingley has bought are in Loughborough, Northampton and Cricklewood. He has also bought the Hippodrome Bingo [...]
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Gala Bingo hall attendance soars 400%
Posted by Debbie Archer on 6 April 2009
A bingo club in Peterborough says they are beating the recession with attendances soaring 400% in a year. The Gala bingo hall in Westfield Road, Peterborough says they have even had to turn some customers away, such is the popularity of bingo in a recession. Managers say that special offers and promotions have helped raise numbers from [...]
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Gala employees suspended for ‘fixing’ bingo games
Posted by Debbie Archer on 6 April 2009
A Gala Bingo employee has been sacked over an alleged £10,000 scam in which they fixed the result of a bingo game. A female employee, said to be his girlfriend, has been suspended pending an investigation. The man and women worked in the Gala bingo hall in Pallion, Sunderland. The police and the Gambling Commission are both [...]
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Bingo entrepreneurs buy London’s Hippodrome
Posted by Debbie Archer on 27 March 2009
Two bingo entrepreneurs have bought outright London’s Hippodrome nightclub.
The famous London landmark, which sits on the corner of Leicester Square, has been purchased by Simon and Jerry Thomas, who used to own the Beacon Bingo business.
The Thomas’ had been involved in a joint-venture development of the property with developers Eddie Fairless and Mike Pemberton and [...]
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Middleton bingo hall up for sale
Posted by Debbie Archer on 23 March 2009
The Tivoli Bingo Hall in Middleton, Lancashire has been put up for sale for £300,000.
Owners Top Ten Bingo say the Acre Road site is no longer part of thier core business and they are willing to sell it as a going concern.
The Tivoli Bingo Hall has been the centre of bingo activity in Middleton for [...]
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Mecca Bingo hall in Fulham to become student flats
Posted by Debbie Archer on 26 February 2009
Mecca Bingo’s former bingo hall in Vanston Place, Fulham, London is set to be turned into 150 student flats and three shops, if planning permission is granted. Fulham Council have been asked to allow the Victorian building to be conveted into student housing after Mecca Bingo moved out of the premises. The bingo hall was closed [...]
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Buckingham Bingo closes Preston bingo hall
Posted by Debbie Archer on 26 February 2009
A Preston bingo hall that was built for £4.1 million just two years ago is to close because it is loss making.
The Buckingham Bingo hall in New Hall Lane, Preston will be closed at the end of March. Staff were told ina meeting yesterday that all 27 employees will lose their jobs,
The purpose built club [...]
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Bingo night cancelled after legal complaint
Posted by Debbie Archer on 26 February 2009
A bingo night in Catfield, Norfolk has been cancelled after a local resident complained that the sessions were illegal.
The village hall hosted a regular bingo night and £800 was raised last yuear for good causes. But an anonymous local resident said that allowing players to bring their own drinks and win cash prizes broke North [...]
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Toxteth bingo hall becomes £30 million Tesco
Posted by Debbie Archer on 26 February 2009
The old Mecca Bingo Hall in Park Road, Toxteth is to be knocked down and turned into Liverpool’s largest supermarket. The £30 million development of a Tesco superstore will start in September 2009, according to the company. It will create up to 500 jobs of which half will go to local residents. It is the largest development [...]
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VAT on bingo halls will not be scrapped
Posted by Debbie Archer on 26 February 2009
The government will not change the VAT regime on bingo halls despite industry claims that the tax situation is unfair and will cause hundreds of bingo halls to close.
The bingo industry has mounted a vigorous campaign to abolish VAT being charged on bingo tickets, which they claim amounts to double taxation.
But Treasury secretary Angela Eagle [...]
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Bingo halls adding B3 machines in a hurry
Posted by Debbie Archer on 13 February 2009
The law allowing bingo halls to increase the number of B3 jackpot gaming machines from four to eight was only changed on 4 February but already bingo halls are seeing the positive effects of the change. Mecca Bingo and Gala Bingo management have ordered bingo halls to increase the number of B3 machines as rapidly as [...]
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New bingo hall in Beeston, Nottinghamshire
Posted by Debbie Archer on 2 February 2009
A new bingo hall is set to open in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, bucking the national trend for closing bingo clubs. Mecca Bingo will open in Queen’s Road, Beeston in May, subject to receiving the necessary licences. The bingo operator expects to employ up to 65 people at the new bingo hall and is currently recruiting. Jay Murray, general manager [...]
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Northern Irish bingo manager tied up
Posted by Debbie Archer on 2 February 2009
The manager of a West Belfast bingo hall was tied up in his own home while thieves tried to find keys to his business.
Two thieves followed the bingo manager and a friend into a house on Galway Street, Belfast, shortly after midnight on January 27.
The masked men tied up the bingo manager in a downstairs [...]
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East Kilbride bingo player scoops £28k
Posted by Debbie Archer on 29 January 2009
A Scottish bingo player was an appropriate National Game winner when she won £28,000 on Burns Night.
The player from the Carlton Bingo Hall in East Kilbride celebrated with haggis and recitals of Burns’ poetry.
Carlton Bingo general manager Bill Wilkes told the East Kilbride News: “It was the perfect Burns night. Everyone paid £10 and that [...]
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Mecca Bingo ‘bomber’ faces new trial
Posted by Debbie Archer on 29 January 2009
The trial of a man who is accused of telling Mecca Bingo staff there was a bomb in their bingo hall was ended after the judge decided inadmissible evidence had been heard by the jury. John Thompson, 42, will face a new trial on May 18. Mr Thompson faces one charge of communicating false information with intent [...]
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Prison bingo a bit hit with jailbirds
Posted by Debbie Archer on 26 January 2009
A report in The Sun newspaper claims that “killers and rapists waiting to be kicked out of Britain are being treated to nightly bingo games” in immigration centres.
It claims that £15,000 has been set aside at the Colnbrook Immigration Centre in Berkshire for competition prizes and that most of it is spent on bingo. The [...]
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Wisbech woman wins £23k at bingo
Posted by Debbie Archer on 16 January 2009
A Wisbech woman picked up the £20,000 national bingo prize plus a further £3,756.05 zone prize and a house prize of £60.90 on Wednesday night when she got a full house in 40 calls.
The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, was playing at Wisbech’s Empire Theatre Bingo Hall in Blackfriars Road. The bingo hall [...]
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Gala Bingo introduces outside playing area for smokers
Posted by Debbie Archer on 16 January 2009
In an effort to lessen the effect of the smoking ban, Gala Bingo is introducing outside shelters where smokers can play bingo while they puff away.
Gala Bingo in Fenton, Staffordshire now have a wooden decked area where they can smoke and play on electronic bingo machines at the same time.
Assistant manager Robert Jones told local [...]
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Woolworths may become bingo hall
Posted by Debbie Archer on 14 January 2009
The landlord of High Wycombe’s empty Woolworths store has said she may turn it into a bingo hall.
Felicity Devonshire, the managing director of Devonshire Investment Holdings, said the 60,000 square foot site would be sub-divided and the first floor would be an ideal bingo hall.
She told the Bucks Free Press: “It could be broken up [...]
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Last bingo hall in Deal, Kent closes
Posted by Debbie Archer on 12 January 2009
The Regent Bingo Hall in Deal, Kent has closed, meaning there will be no bingo in the town from now onward.
14 employees have lost their jobs after the closure of the former cinema, which was converted into a bingo hall in the early 1960s.
The seafront bingo hall has struggled with the smoking ban and the [...]
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Bingo may return to Plaza, Cradley Heath
Posted by Debbie Archer on 12 January 2009
Bingo players in Cradley Heath, Sandwell may soon see their favourite local bingo hall re-open.
The Old Hill Plaza Bingo Hall closed in March 2008 following the death of the owner, Mary “Ma” Regan, at the age of 94. Her will stipulated the hall should close on her death.
Her relatives put the bingo hall up for [...]
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Veteran bingo caller ends shift
Posted by Debbie Archer on 11 January 2009
A bingo caller who has worked at the same bingo hall for 34 years has ended her career. Rose Walford, 59, has been working at the Mecca bingo hall in Bridgwater, Somerset since she was 25. Staff at the Mecca Bingo hall near Penel Orlieu saw her off with flowers and a huge basket of fruit. Mrs [...]
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Woman ‘gutted’ by £5,000 bingo win
Posted by Debbie Archer on 5 January 2009
A woman described herself as ‘gutted’ after she won £5,000 playing bingo – because she thought she had won £250,000. Louise Payton was playing at the Bilston Mecca Bingo club when she hit what she thought was the regional jackpot. She only learned the following day it was a national jackpot and had been shared between [...]
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Rank bingo among top ten share tips for 2009
Posted by Debbie Archer on 3 January 2009
Rank Group, the parent company of bingo hall operator Mecca Bingo, is among The Times newspaper’s top 10 share tips for 2009. The Tempus share tipping column picks Rank out as a potential market outperformer over the course of 2009.Under the headline “Investors could be on a winner as Rank’s losing streak fades” the column’s Nick [...]
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Riva and Buckingham bingo discuss merger
Posted by Debbie Archer on 31 December 2008
Bingo News has learned that the owners of Riva Bingo and Buckingham Bingo have held discussions about a merger of the two businesses.
Riva Bingo is owned by private equity group Hermes Private Equity while Buckingham Bingo is owned by Barclays Ventures, who were left with the business when previous private equity owners Alchemy Partners walked [...]
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Harrogate bingo hall saved
Posted by Debbie Archer on 22 December 2008
A bingo hall in Harrogate which was due to be demolished will survive after the owners had a change of heart on its future.
Lucky Numbers Bingo Hall was to be converted into 10 flats but Bartle Leisure Ltd have decided to make it smaller rather than close it down.
The threatened closure would have left the [...]
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Rank Group stabilises Mecca Bingo
Posted by Debbie Archer on 18 December 2008
Trading at Mecca Bingo halls has stablised in the last 15 weeks with a 5% decrease in admissions offset by a 5% increase in expenditure by those at Rank’s bingo halls. But a trading statement issued by Rank Group this morning shows the full effect of the smoking ban and change in laws on jackpot machines [...]
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Neath bingo hall to close
Posted by Debbie Archer on 17 December 2008
A community bingo hall in Neath is set to close following the local council’s decision to drastically raise the rent.
Pensioners have been playing every Wednesday night at the Cimla Community Hall since 1981. The hall will close this week after Neath Town Council raised the rent from £25 per night to £43 per night.
Committee member [...]
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Positive news for Gala Bingo
Posted by Debbie Archer on 9 December 2008
The new chief executive of Gala Bingo has predicted 2009 will be a good year for bingo with fewer clubs closing and an upturn in revenues. Dominic Harrison said that he envisaged no more closures in 2009, following the 13 bingo clubs the company closed in 2008. He said the effect of the smoking ban and [...]
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SNP plead with government to protect Bingo clubs
Posted by Debbie Archer on 20 November 2008
Stewart Hosie MP, treasury spokesman for the Scottish National Party, has written to the Treasury to ask for tax relief on bingo.
Under the current fiscal structure, bingo is subject to double taxation – ludicrous given that the government is bailing out banks and liberally dishing out tax cuts. Bingo halls perform an important role in [...]
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Buckingham Bingo fined £10k
Posted by Debbie Archer on 17 November 2008
Buckingham Bingo has been fined £10,000 after one of their kitchen staff was seriously burned in a kitchen accident.
Health and safety inspectors from Salford City Council visited the Ellesmere Retail Park bingo hall and said standards in the kitchens were “disappointing”.
The buffet assistant slipped while removing grease from kitchen utensils and seriously burned his arm; [...]
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Gala Bingo to restructure
Posted by Debbie Archer on 14 November 2008
Gala Coral, owner of Gala Bingo halls and the Gala Bingo online bingo business, is set for a restructuring which will see as many as 200 jobs cut from the group. New chief executive Dominic Harrison said that while trading was satisfactory at the moment, the group needed to prepare itself for a coming recession. He [...]
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Cumbrian Bingo Players Win £38,000 In Three Days
Posted by Lisa Tudge on 12 November 2008
Cumbria’s luck was in this week, with two local bingo players winning a combined prize of £38,000 on the national game in 3 days.
Both wins were with the same company at Opera Bingo. One in Penrith on Thursday and one in Whitehaven on Sunday. The two winners have asked to remain anonymous.
The first win [...]
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Rank gets £60 million refund
Posted by Debbie Archer on 12 November 2008
Rank Group, who own the Mecca Bingo Halls chain, has just received a chunky tax refund – of £59.1 million. The company, which has been struggling following the smoking ban and falling attendances, has finally got something to cheer about after the courts agreed that VAT had been wrongly charged on ‘interval bingo’. VAT was charged by [...]
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First time player wins £46,874
Posted by Debbie Archer on 6 November 2008
A woman won nearly £47,000 on her first ever trip to a bingo hall. Susan Williams, 53, from Newton Abbot, Devon was playing at the Gala Bingo Hall in Torquay when she scooped the High 5 national jackpot. It paid a staggering £46,874.19. She told the Herald Expresss newspaper: “The fact that somebody can go to their [...]
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Fake banknotes at bingo hall
Posted by Debbie Archer on 6 November 2008
A player was excluded from a Mecca bingo hall for passing fake banknotes but the player claims he withdrew it from the hall’s cash machine.
Murray Potter, 37, said he withdrew £100 from the cash machine at the Mecca Bingo Hall in Uxbridge Road, west London but when he took them to the cashier to buy [...]
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Armed Raiders Take Bingo Cash
Posted by Debbie Archer on 31 October 2008
The staff and customers at a bingo hall in Tong Street, Bradford were left shocked and frightened after three masked armed raiders carrying knives and machetes burst in during a bingo session.
They threatened staff before stealing a large amount of money and fleeing the premises.
No one was injured at the Gala Bingo premises. Staff said [...]
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Rank bingo results not great
Posted by Debbie Archer on 29 October 2008
Rank Group, owners of the Mecca bingo hall chain, has provided a trading update showing that gaming revenues fell 8% by comparison with the same period last year. The company did say though that they had seen a 5% like-for-like improvement in trading over the last six weeks following implementation of various improvements to their [...]
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Bingo robbers steal £4,000
Posted by Debbie Archer on 23 October 2008
BURGLARS broke into the Walker’s Bingo hall in Selby, north Yorkshire and escaped with more than £4,000 during a 4am raid.
The thieves broke into the hall, off Portholme Road, and stole cash from 11 slot machines as well as cigarette vending machines and change dispensers.
A police spokesman said it was believed the intruders first set [...]
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