Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m going to let you into a little secret by telling you a couple of places where you might find me playing online bingo this weekend and why – so here’s a quick rundown of my busy bingo weekend schedule – hope to bump into you sometime soon!

Tomorrow night is the 30th of the month, which brings me to my hot date with Wink Bingo at 10pm sharp! This is when the £5,000 monthly guaranteed game kicks off and I’ll be one of the first ones lined up to play bingo online at my fave site. You’ll need to prebuy tickets and they’re only £1 a piece, so don’t forget. I quite fancy being £5k richer, don’t know about you! And all it takes is a few minutes in front of the computer, a lucky pair of socks, and concentrate on winning while you play bingo – and that should do the trick!

You also might see me hanging around for a quick Nifty Fifty at Bet365 Bingo – they’ve got some cool really fun online bingo games where you can pick up a £50 guaranteed online bingo jackpot for a mere 5p a ticket – now that certainly isn’t going to break my piggy bank (or yours) and you can squeeze a whole load of almost free bingo games for five little pennies – that’s value for money! I do love playing for the big jackpots, must be honest, but I really enjoy to play bingo online in the smaller bingo games too, as you can make so many new friends easily and just have a good old fashioned chit chat and laugh.

So will I be bumping into you this weekend, shall we play some online bingo games together? Hope so!

Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – your number one resource for all things to do with online bingo in the UK!

I just had to laugh out loud when I saw the bingo headlines this morning, Barack Obama with his own online bingo website! OK, so it’s not quite true. Apparently a couple of guys set up www.obama-bingo.com to bring two dynamically opposite worlds together – politics and bingo. (Reminds me of one of our recent bingo polls – who would you prefer to play bingo with, Obama or Hillary Clinton? – It was very close, but Hillary beat Obama by 1%)

Here’s the online bingo poll results so you can see for yourself:
http://bingostreet.com/online-bingo-poll/which-american-presidential-candidate-would-you-like-to-play-online-bingo-with

There is a deeper meaning to Obama-Bingo that makes it a very worthy cause, winners get to donate their prize to their favourite charity. And there’s a really nice twist in this online bingo game that’ll be put to the test tonight in the US, when Obama makes his next convention speech.

The bingo cards have keywords instead of numbers, that featured in previous Obama speeches. There’ll be an electronic link from the convention to the online bingo site, and as soon as he opens his mouth and pops out a featured word it’ll be transmitted to Obama-Bingo players. First person to Bingo on a line wins the grand prize – and their lucky chosen charity gets the full benefit. Just another reason why I’m mad for online bingo!

Written by John Witherspoon for Bingo Street – the place to go for anything to do with bingo, online bingo and online bingo promotions!

Have you guys read the news today? Check this out: Republicans wave goodbye to UIGEA – Online Bingo News

This is a tremendously huge biggie for the world of online bingo and the online gambling world in general – the UIGEA looks like finally it’s on its last legs – yippeeee!!

The highly controversial UIGEA prohibition bill was passed in October 2006 and totally decimated the online gambling industry – not to mention excluding all Americans from playing bingo online, or playing online poker, or playing their favourite casino games.

Can you imagine not being allowed to play online bingo in the privacy of your own home, using your own bought and paid for computer and internet connection? Not to mention your own hard earned money?! And the Statue of Liberty means exactly what?

The sheer cheek of them US litigators to actually allow a bill like this to pass just makes me wanna cry. But it happened, and now it looks like it’s finally unhappening. I’m so happy I could play online bingo all night long just to celebrate in honour of our fellow bingo players in America – WTG yeah!

Written by John Witherspoon – if you enjoy playing bingo online the best free online bingo games are just a click away at Bingo Street!

Wink Bingo has always been my fave online bingo site – ok I know they’ve only been online since earlier this year, but out of all the online bingo sites I’ve ever played at – and there’s too many to count – it’s the one place where I always feel the most at home, and the bingo rocks too!

So what is it about Wink Bingo that sets it apart from the online bingo crowd? I know they recently changed their very generous £15 free welcome bonus to £5 Free – I think too many people must have been winning too much money! But for the dedicated online bingo fan that’s not an issue.

Being a dedicated online bingo myself, even if I just visited Wink Bingo for the first time today I’d probably sign up with them right away. They offer a good bunch of welcome bonuses with £5 free, £200 first deposit and 50% reload – so you’re always going to get the most for your money playing online bingo here.

The site’s got a really cool look to it, everything’s where you’d expect it to be, and what can I say about their promotions that hasn’t already been said? They offer some of the coolest bingo promotions online. Love their Super Cleaner promo – takes someone with imagination and who knows what bingo players want to think that one up!

Wink Bingo have some really huge coverall jackpot bingo games which are always thrilling to play. Not to mention the Bingo Boat and Bingo Boat Bypass promos for that fantastic bingo cruise in the Caribbean – boy what I wouldn’t give to be on that bingo ship when it sails – it’ll be absolutely rocking!

As a genuine Wink Bingo fan my advice to you is try it out for yourself if you haven’t already. Good luck – and let me know what you think!

Written by John Witherspoon for Bingo Street.com – the UK’s top online bingo authority if you’re looking to play bingo online and get lucky in the free bingo games!

For a change I’m not going to write about online bingo today, the subject is jokes, but not bingo jokes, comedian jokes. The Edinburgh Fringe festival has been giving out awards for funniest gags, and the newly crowned winner is Zoe Lyons – well done girl!

This is the one-liner she jumped over the winning post with, on the subject of the misunderstood but talented singer Amy Winehouse:

“I can’t believe Amy Winehouse self-harms. She’s so irritating she must be able to find someone to do it for her.”

In the tasteless ratings this joke scores pretty highly, but humour is like art, and as Picasso once said famously, “The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?”

33 year-old Zoe from Brighton said she was delighted to have won the award.

“I know self-harming is not funny but it’s just a joke, so I’m not going to beat myself up about it.”

Andrew Laurence came in second with his witty one liner:  “Most of us have a skeleton in the cupboard. David Beckham takes his out in public.”

I’ve always appreciated a good joke, it’s something I can’t get by without, like a nice cuppa while I bingo. I wish there were more bingo themed jokes around as I love anything to do with bingo, however we have a few rib-ticklers submitted by our very own Bingostreeters in our Bingo Forum – pop over now for a quick giggle!

Written by John Witherspoon – For the best online bingo community in the UK join Bingostreet and be the first to hear about super new bingo promotions.

I’d like to dedicate this post to Paddy Power Bingo – for providing an exclusive Free Bingo Room for Bingostreeters earlier this week. This was the first ever bingo promotion of its kind that we’d ever done at Bingostreet, and I think that some of my colleagues were secretly concerned that it might not go down well, just because it was so new.

However I’m very pleased to report that it was a roaring success and the free bingo room was totally buzzing with Bingostreeters meeting and chatting with other Bingostreeters while they played free bingo. Tons of free cash prizes were won by happy Bingostreeters, the CM was an absolute delight, and we got a lovely bunch of thank you emails from contented Bingostreeters after the free online bingo event that really warmed our cockles!

Paddy Power Bingo also said that it went really well – it was a first for them too – and I’m pretty sure we’ll be holding more of these great free bingo room events in the future!

Paddy Power Bingo might be relatively new to the world of online bingo but they sure know how to party in real bingo style! WTG guys, and thank you for your generousity in giving our Bingostreeters a really fabulous evening of top free online bingo!

Written by John Witherspoon for Bingostreet – the UK’s top online bingo resource for free bingo games and the very best bingo promotions.

Ok, so here’s the deal, something’s really bitten my goat today. You’ve probably read in the news that the advertising agency for Wink Bingo has unintentionally landed its sponsors in hot water – their latest ad being banned by the ASA – the Advertising Standards Authority.

You might think that the advert must have been pretty racy, raunchy, offensive, aimed at minors, or something of that order to have offended the stuffy bigwigs of the ASA. But check this out – the ad shows a nurse in the maternity ward, she’s celebrating her bingo jackpot win at Wink Bingo – you can see her laptop on her trolley, and in the background is a woman giving birth. The catchphrase is: “Find the appropriate moment…”

So somebody please tell me what’s wrong with that, or am I the only one with a sense of humour here? The ASA says that it’s inappropriate (funny choice of word when you read the catchphrase) as it means that a professional health-care worker is ignoring the poor woman suffering in labor because she’s just hit the jackpot at Wink Bingo.

It’s so obviously a joke that their decision to ban this ad isn’t funny. The UK is becoming so flipping PC it’s ridiculous. The advert doesn’t show sexy young things winning the jackpot, nor does it promote Wink Bingo to underage kids (unless you count the unborn baby), nor does it use bad language, so does that mean it’s offensive?

We all know that bingo players and online bingo players alike are mostly women, though it’s becoming much more popular with the menfolk too. So here’s my question – what’s the big deal with this? I think the point of the advertisment is simply to show that anyone can win the bingo jackpots at Wink Bingo at anytime. Simple as that. And I for one do not find that offensive in any way!

Written by John Witherspoon – for the latest and greatest online bingo promotions and free bingo games checkout Bingo Street!

OK so hands up all of you online bingo players who smoke! Yes, I am one of the guilty few – always want to stop but never quite got the determination to handle more than a couple of days of the baccy. But I found some info today on something that looks pretty good, and offers me hope, check it out!

We’re all aware of the smoking ban and how drastically it’s affected bingo halls right across the UK, literally emptying us poor bingo players out on to the street so we can have a quick puff. One enterprising bingo hall in Loughborough, Beacon Bingo, recently introduced a trial for its smoking bingo customers, in the form of a unique battery-powered cigarette, I Smoke. This electronic cigarette looks identical to the real thing and even gives out hits of nicotine with every puff.

The overwhelming response was very favourable, bingo players saying that it tasted exactly like a real ciggy, you even get the same hit at the back at the throat that you’d expect from a live butt. The worst complaint (only one bingo fan brought this up) was that it was a bit heavy! LOL

Just look at the figures – a whopping 25% of adults in the UK smoke! I think something like this is a fantastic idea and one that bingo fans everywhere will jump at – whether you prefer to stay at home and play bingo online or pop down to the bingo club for a night out. I know I’ll be trying it out for sure!

Written by John Witherspoon – anytime you fancy a game of online bingo check out Bingostreet for the best free bingo games.

I will be looking forward to the 2008 European Interactive Gaming (EiG) conference in Barcelona, set to take place on between 23 and 25 September.  Why?  Because this year we will get to hear some pretty prominent online gaming industry experts debate the state of affairs regards the US legal situation.

Those readers of Bingo Street who have been following this blog will know about the devastating effect the US’ UIGEA legislation had on non-US online gaming companies when it was introduced in late 2006.  Online bingo games operators and UK online bingo halls were all, with one fell swoop, banned from operating in the US market – it was a major dislocation to business which forced many to seek new markets in able to recover.

Clarion Gaming, the organizers of the EiG event are to be congratulated in assembling this array of experts willing to discuss the ramifications of US legislative policy.  I for one am going to be very interested to hear what they may be predicting regarding the future of the US online gaming market.

Written by John Witherspoon – Need the best online bingo games? BingoStreet.com collected the best online bingo promotions and free bingo games online.

If there is one thing you cannot accuse the online bingo industry of doing, and that’s not recognizing its responsibility in limiting the effects of problem gambling.  I would say that bingo online as an industry practices some of the most aware policies in trying to negate the effects of problem gambling and its social consequences.

A story out of Alberta, Canada, recently caught my eye in which an attempt has been made to get problem gamblers to sign onto a list of people who have voluntarily banned themselves from going to casinos.  Guess what?  The scheme has not worked.

The problem gamblers who signed on have subsequently found it all too easy to sneak past security who can’t be expected to remember the faces of all 1,500 people on the list.  Oh well,… at least they tried.

I prefer the way in which UK online bingo halls are able to minimize problem gambling through being able to operate in a well regulated gaming environment.  The UK leads the world in this regard and online bingo games have maintained their sociable nature as a result.

There are always going to be people who take things too far and problem gambling is a serious problem for those affected by it.  However, the Alberta experiment has shown us the way not to deal with this problem – Online bingo seems to be doing a much better job,… at least here in the UK.

Written by John Witherspoon – Become a part of a great online bingo community. Play online bingo chat games at BingoStreet.com