Sun Bingo has been online since 2006 and has become the number one place for bingo players to play after years of hard work, excellent offers and fantastic promotions.

The highlight of Sun Bingo’s offers last year has to be when they gave away 30 cars in 30 days in a promotion that could not be found anywhere else on the web.

Mecca Bingo repeated their second placed finish of 2009 and will be delighted to have finished first in the CM of the Year as well as runner-up in Site of the Year.

Moon Bingo, a rejuvinated site in 2010, managed an incredible third placed finish after a relaunch and their first ever TV advertisement propelled them to the forefront of online bingo in the UK.

Along with the Site of the Year award, Which Bingo also ran their fourth successive New Site of the Year vote, which this year goes to Bingo Hollywood.

Bingo Hollywood was launched in April 2010 and has become popular amongst players for its glamorous site and excellent deposit bonus.

Bingo Giving, a new site that donates a percentage of every jackpot to charity came second, while Moon Bingo came third in this vote as well.

The site, which only finished 18th in the awards in 2008, beat off Mecca Bingo, who finished second, and Wink Bingo in third place. Tombola Bingo finished fourth and Bingo Playground finished fifth. What was most suprising was to see Crown Bingo finish 12th and Foxy Bingo finish 17th, suggesting that the company’s management teams did not put the same effort into a high finish as in previous years. Gala Bingo’s 21st place was also suprisingly low for a site that until three years ago was the dominant presence in UK online bingo. The total absensce of William Hill Bingo and Paddy Power Bingo, both of whom have huge bingo sites, is also somewhat suprising.

In the New Bingo Site of the Year award Golden Hat Bingo saw off Giggle Bingo and Landmark Bingo. Cheeky Bingo and Costa Bingo were third and fourth respectively.

Ruairi Boyle, Head of Games & Bingo at Ladbrokes Bingo welcomed the award, saying: “It’s the most prestigious Award in online Bingo and we’re thrilled to win it. We want to share this success with all our roomies who voted for us and helped us to the top of the Bingo pile. We’re already looking to 2010 to retain our title. New players, exciting innovations for existing roomies and more promotions, games and jackpots than anyone else are all in our sights. But right now we’re in the mood to party and 31 January will be a great day for everyone in Bingo.” Ladbrokes Bingo will offer free bingo to all their players on 31 January.

The top 30 finishers in the UK award were:

1 Ladbrokes Bingo
2 Mecca Bingo
3 Wink Bingo
4 Tombola Bingo
5 Bingo Playground
6 Golden Hat Bingo
7 Giggle Bingo
8 Betfred Bingo
9 Posh Bingo
10 Gone Bingo
11 Totesport Bingo
12 Crown Bingo
13 Harry’s Bingo
14 Jackpot Joy
15 CyberBingo.co.uk
16 Landmark Bingo
17 Foxy Bingo
18 House of Bingo
19 Costa Bingo
20 BingoSKY
21 Gala Bingo Online
22 FreeBingo.co.uk
23 Play2Win Bingo
24 Cheeky Bingo
25 888ladies
26 Bingo MagiX
27 Bingos.co.uk
28 BingoLiner UK
29 Platinum Play Bingo
30 Snap Bingo

New Bingo Site of the Year 2010
1 Golden Hat Bingo
2 Giggle Bingo
3 Landmark Bingo
4 Cheeky Bingo
5 Costa Bingo
6 Betfred Bingo
7 Moon Bingo
8 Eat Sleep Bingo
9 JackpotCity Bingo
10 Foxy Zero
11 Totesport Bingo
12 BOGOF Bingo
13 Play2Win Bingo
14 Tea Time Bingo
15 Epic Bingo
16 Kiss My Bingo
17 LiveBingo.co.uk
18 OK! Mag Bingo
19 Bloke Bingo
20 Eyes Down Bingo
21 Bingo Nation
22 3am Bingo
23 BingoG

Party Gaming, parent company of Party Gaming and the new owner of Cashcade, who run Foxy Bingo, Cheeky Bingo, Little Big Bingo, Think Bingo and Bingo Scotland, was highest on the list at no 2.

Six of the top ten placed companies get significant revenue contributions from online bingo. Bet 365, who run Bet365 Bingo, came in at fourth, followed by William Hill and Ladbrokes at fifth and sixth. Paddy Power was placed eight with Unibet, who own Maria Bingo, placed at ninth.

Of the companies that are more closely associated with bingo rather than a portfolio of online gambling interests, Gamesys was placed highest at no 32, down from no 28 last year. Gamesys run Sun Bingo on behalf of News International as well Jackpot Joy, one of the most successful bingo, slots and scratchcards businesses in the UK.

Nerxt in the list were Gala Coral, parent company of Gala Bingo, who have slid rapidly down the Power 50 from a position of 11th last year.

NetPlay, who own the bingos.com brand and aim to bring interactive gambling to our TV screens, was placed at no 37, up six places from last year. While NetPlay seem great at doing deals, not everyone in the online gambling industry is convinced that they will generate the revenues that their share price seems to suggest they might.

At no 38 is a new entry in the shape of Tombola, who used to run Sun Bingo and now operate one of the biggest online bingo sites in the UK. Under the quiet but confident direction of owner Phil Cronin they have shown incredible growth and impressive player numbers.

Rank Group, the owner of Mecca Bingo, was placed at 40th, down from 26th last year. Like Gala Bingo they have struggled to convert their strong position in bingo halls into the online world and they have had difficulties making their middle managers cross-sell the bingo product to their real world customers.

Last on the list at no 50 was another new entry, Crown Bingo. Crown was praised for its management team and for punching above its weight in a crowded online gaming space.

The report says that at least four agencies have been shortlisted for the multi-million pound contract with parent company Gamesys.

The review, led by marketing director Lee Fenton, has been underway for at least two months and a decision is expected imminently.

Creative agency Publicis in partnership with ZenithOptimedia and Campbell Lace Beta in partnership with Goodstuff Communications are both known to have made the pitch shortlist as well as two others which are not known.

Gamesys has been one of the most successful online gambling businesses in recent years, focussing on the softer end of the gambling proposition and offering white label services to major media brands. They run Sun Bingo on behalf of News International and are estimated to make at least £30 million profit per year, making them one of the strongest privately held online gambling companies worldwide.

In an interview with New York he said: “Just make bingo legal on our websites…. The newspapers in England are supported almost exclusively by the profitability of running bingo games on their websites. It attracts an enormous audience. But here, you’re not allowed to do it…. The Sun makes millions of dollars off of their bingo games.”

Zuckerman is a newspaper propietor and property developer who is ranked 147th wealthiest American by Forbes in their 2008 rich list. He has owned the New York Daily News since 1993.

Although Zuckerman is right that News International makes millions from Sun Bingo and News of the World Bingo, they are by far the most successful sites owned my media companies. Sun Bingo is estimated to produce arond £12 million (US$15 million) per year in profits for News International but their main tabloid rivals The Daily Mirror only make around £3 million (US$4.5 million) from online bingo. The Daily Mail’s Mail Bingo is said to make only a couple of hundred thousands of pounds and all other newspaper profits from online bingo are negligible.

It is true that if US newspapers were allowed to promote online bingo then they would probably make a lot of money from it. But it is unlikely that it would do much more than provide a little bit of respite to a rapidly declining market where newspaper readers are switching to online sources for their news and online resources for what used to be the classified and local advertising that sustained newspaper’s profitability.

The US newspaper industry has been in severe decline in recent years with some of the nation’s most famous titles filing for bankruptcy.

UKash take cash payments at over 275,000 outlets worldwide and players can then state where they would like their money to be uploaded to fund their online accounts.

UKash’s list of bingo sites suggests they have signed deals with St Minver, Virtue Fusion and Party Gaming.

Online bingo sites that accept UKash deposits:

Gone Bingo

Crown Bingo

Astro Bingo

JackpotCityBingo

Bingo Palace

Cyberbingo

Bingos.com

Bingozest

Baraka Bingo

Bucky Bingo

Take a Break Bingo

Bingo Day

Bingo Liner

Bingo Mania

Blackpool Bingo

Daily Express Bingo

Desperate Wives Bingo

Digital Bingo

Elgranbingo

Emmerdale Bingo

Ibingo

ITV Bingo

Magic FM Bingo

Mecca Bingo

Party Bingo

Purely Bingo

Rehabbingo

Ruby Bingo

BingoJoy

Bingo Loopy

Bingonanza

Butlins Bingo

Carlton Bingo

ChitChatBingo

Littlewoods Bingo

Yahoo Bingo

Winbonanza

321 Bingo

Capitol Bingo

Castle Bingo

Cheggers Bingo

Crazy Bingo

It contrasts with Bingo Port’s figures for July to September 2008, when player numbers showed a 10% increase in the number of players at UK-facing bingo sites.

They also reported that prize pools for players had dropped slightly in the last quarter of 2008.

Scott Logan, managing director of Bingo Port, said: “This is the first sign that the UK online bingo market is feeling the effects of both the recession and market saturation. It signals the beginning of what we see as a period of mergers and acquisitions across the industry.

“This report will not come as a surprise to many industry experts who have been predicting this downturn for some time. We still expect to see strong spending in advertising by the bigger operators as they work to extract the maximum value out of their existing customer base.

“We’re seeing more innovative marketing campaigns from the likes of Foxy Bingo, Gala Bingo, Ladbrokes Bingo and Mecca Bingo. These operators, among others, have introduced a range of different concepts to their real money sites. One of the biggest and most successful of these is free bingo games in between their pay to play games on new sites such as Cheeky Bingo and Minxy Bingo.”

Logan predicted new operators would struggle to establish a presence in the UK market: “In addition, the well established operators are pulling out all of the stops to keep their players from going to competitors. We expect to see a cutthroat 2009.”

Bingo News’ own view is that player numbers were always likely to remain stable, given the relative lack of TV advertising by bingo companies in the fourth quarter of 2008. The third quarter saw huge campaigns from some of the biggest online bingo operators, most notably Ladbrokes Bingo and Foxy Bingo, who between them spent around five million pounds in September 2008. By contrast, only Crown Bingo launched a new campaign in the last quarter of 2008 and advertising in December by bingo companies was constrained by the cost of competing against retail campaigns aimed at Christmas shoppers.

Reports from the UK bingo operators suggest they experienced good growth in January 2009 and that the UK online bingo market is still experiencing robust growth.

Tombola Bingo launched in August using a database of players they gained from running Sun Bingo for the daily tabloid. The customer database belonged to the parent company of Tombola and when The Sun switched to Jackpot Joy many players chose to stay with Tombola Bingo. A recent TV advertising campaign increased player numbers by 12%.

Marketing manager, Dawn Clayton told Gaming Alerts: “Sadly, there are few companies who can report positive performance recently, but in the last three months we have added 30 new members to the team and that pattern will be repeated by adding 30 more in the coming months.

“We are thrilled with the way online bingo players across the UK have responded to our fun approach to online entertainment and now we’re in a great position to share our success with job-seekers in this region.”

Tombola Bingo recently told Bingo News that they thought the Sun Bingo player figures on our Bingo Monitor were being distorted by a free promotion in The Sun; players at The Sun Bingo site were given free games which were boosting player pools by 500 players per game.

In the new site of the year award Bingo Playground took top spot, followed by Tombola Bingo and Wink Bingo.

The votes were something of a surprise as Platinum Play Bingo was a new site in 2008 and they must have worked very hard to get all their players and friends voting for them. By contrast Jackpot Joy is a huge site and has thousands of players every day. Crown Bingo, who finished third last year as well, continues to build on its reputation as being the friendliest online bingo site in the UK.

Top 98 bingo sites in the UK, according to Which Bingo:

1 Jackpot Joy
2 Platinum Play Bingo
3 Crown Bingo
4 Bingo Liner (UK)
5 Sun Bingo
6 Tombola Bingo
7 Bingo Playground
8 House Of Bingo
9 Gone Bingo UK
10 Foxy Bingo
11 Bingo MagiX
12 Free Bingo.co.uk
13 Rehab Bingo
14 Wink Bingo
15 Gala Bingo
16 Harry’s Bingo
17 All Bingo Club
18 Ladbrokes Bingo
19 Mecca Bingo
20 888Ladies
21 King Jackpot UK
22 Bingo.com
23 BingoSKY.co.uk
24 Paddy Power Bingo
25 Game Village
26 Think Bingo
27 Blackpool Club Bingo
28 Cyber Bingo
29 Bingo Cafe
30 Wow Bingo
31 Daily Express Bingo
32 Butlins Bingo
33 Bet365 Bingo
34 32Red Bingo
35 Betfred Bingo
36 Mirror Bingo
37 Bingo Zest
38 King.com
39 Jackpot City Bingo
40 Bingo Palace
41 Carlton Bingo
42 Bingo Scotland
43 Virgin Bingo
44 Sky Bingo
45 Best Bingo
46 Blackpool Bingo
47 321Bingo
48 Chit Chat Bingo
49 Moon Bingo
50 Think Bingo Cosy
51 Bingo Joy
52 William Hill Bingo
53 Daily Record Bingo
54 Dream Bingo
55 Astro Bingo UK
56 Bucky Bingo
57 Bingo Wags
58 Betsson
59 Love Bingo
60 Desperate Housewives Bingo
61 Bingo On The Box
62 Simply Bingo
63 ITV Bingo
64 Bingo Britain
65 We Luv Bingo
66 Bingos UK
67 Love it! Bingo
68 Winzingo
69 Kingsway Bingo
70 The Palaces Bingo
71 Yahoo Bingo
72 STV Bingo
73 BingoBallroom
74 UK-Bingo.net
75 Premier Bingo
76 Riva Bingo
77 BingoRooms
78 Loquax Bingo
79 Bingolore
80 BingoFriends
81 Jackpot Bingo
82 Bingo Jetset
83 Kiss My Bingo
84 News of the World Bingo
85 Yours Bingo
86 Fruit Bingo
87 BingoDay UK
88 BingoFun
89 Party Bingo
90 Riverbelle Bingo
91 BingoMania UK
92 Palace Bingo
93 abcBingo
94 Take A Break Bingo
95 BellaBingo
96 Bingo Chest
97 Closer Bingo
98 Purely Bingo

Which Bingo UK Site of the Year website

To play you simply have to choose a winner amongst the 8 adorable puppies. That doesn’t mean that you can only choose one pup per race, as you may want 2 selections or more, depending on whether you can split them according to their cuteness!

Before each race you can read about each pup before placing a small bet, between 10-50p. Pongo is the favourite and is usually pretty consistent, although I saw Chi Chi notch 3 wins in a row.

The races themselves are very regular and thrilling to watch. Even when you abandon all hope of your puppy winning, it can sometime storm to the front! Finishes are nail-biting and it can be frustrating when you just get pipped on the line.

Here we see a photo finish on a race where the favourite Pongo has narrowly won. Remember that every dog has its day, so don’t neglect outsiders like Mooney and Tyson! Don’t forget that you can also chat to other roomies playing mini games in the ‘Instant Winners’ chat room.

35 year old Joanne, from Nottingham, was casually doing a spot of house-keeping when she heard the news. She nearly fell over in the kitchen, such was her excitement when she got the call from Sun Bingo! She immediately phoned her husband, Mark, who though she was joking.

There’s no joking about a free house! The couple currently live in a three-bedroom property with their two children, James and Charlie. They had to remortgage their current £140,000 house and tighten spendings to cope. Thanks to Sun Bingo, it’s time to put the Champagne on ice!

Joanne’s next task is to choose the new home, ‘I definitely want a bigger kitchen with a table where the kids can colour in and play while I cook dinner. We don’t have the room for a big table where we are at the moment. My husband would like a conservatory where he can escape for a bit of peace and quiet. He’ll claim it as a typical ‘Dad’s Room’.’ The kids will also be looking forward to a spacious garden to play in.

Joanne can’t wait to tell her colleagues at work, who are all avid readers of The Sun, ‘I’ll tell them to keep playing Sun Bingo online, because if a win like this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone!’

Sun Bingo currently has an offer where the site gives you 50p for every £5 staked on their bingo site. Hurry as this offer only lasts until 12 October!