Codere, the Spanish gaming company, has decided to diversify. The group incorporates a new important way to improve their funds. According to some sources, the company is planning the launching of a new chain in the sports betting business with which it would become the first company of such characteristics in Spain.

The intention of the Spanish group is to use the experience that the British market has gathered in this business, through a joint venture with one of the most known companies of the sports betting industry, William Hill.

Bingo industry representatives discussed advertising options with a local tourism officer in Sarnia-Lambton, Canada. The region is trying to find ways to bring back American tourists and, with them, the desired and stronger American Dollars.

The problem started when Canadian dollars, the local currency, grew stronger. That, together with the increase in the price of fuel and the confusion over new passport requirements -under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-, resulted in fewer Americans crossing into Canada. Also, more Canadians choose to go abroad on vacations.

Bingo is an excellent educational tool, educator Rita Weiss explained. Years of education-related work have resulted in a love for bingo and an appreciation of the game as a very valuable tool, especially when it comes to non-natives.

The game can be used to teach anything to students of every age, Weiss explained. “The reason that it’s educational for both adults and children is that they have to learn to listen,” she added. It is useful for teaching vocabulary in foreign languages but also in the first language of the pupil. It can be applied to school subjects as well.

A lucky regular bingo player, decided to test her luck this time in online gambling and she was awarded with a millionaire jackpot playing at the King Cashalot slot machine at a very popular online casino.

She had won some minor prizes playing bingo, but never one this big, that is why for quite some time she had been testing her luck in online gambling. The 32nd time was the charmed for this woman, who declared that this was the 32nd time that she logged on to the site to play.

Bolton MP David Crausby and local councilor John Byrne visited the Mecca Bingo hall in Breightmet to discuss the effects of high taxes and the upcoming smoking ban. MP Crausby said he supports the “Stop Destroying My Bingo” national campaign that aims to eliminate VAT on bingo.

“The smoking ban will have an economic effect on bingo and is one reason we should give our support on the question of double taxation - but it would need the Chancellor to do something about it in a budget,” Crausby said and added that, in the long run, the smoking ban would be seen as a good thing because more people would stop smoking.

A 59-year-old grandmother from South Cerney won £20,000 (40,000 dollars) in a bingo game she was playing at the Greenbridge Retail Park in Swindon. The lucky lady, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she would share the winnings with her sister-in-law, honoring an agreement they made when they started playing bingo together.

The bingo hall staff said the winner was initially in a little bit of panic when she realized she had won. “I was shaking like a leaf when I was told how much it was,” the lucky lady explained. “I just couldn't believe it! I'm diabetic and my blood sugar dropped due to the shock, so the staff at the club had to fetch me a cup of tea!”

The Northern Arapaho Tribe’s Wind River Casino has decided to stop offering bingo at its facilities. According to casino manager Jim Conrad, the operation has moved high stakes slot machines into the room that was once used for bingo.

“Slot machines are more lucrative than bingo,” Conrad explained. “The tribe is not abandoning bingo. The game will be offered at the tribal community center’s Great Plains Hall in Arapahoe.”

When the authorities of Wolverhampton Mecca Bingo announced the hall would close within weeks, its regulars decided to gather outside the Skinner Street building and protest in an attempt to save the popular club.

The more than 300 citizens publicly rejected a free bus service offered by the owners of the Rank Leisure Club, which takes players to the club in Bilston. “This is our club and we’re like a big family here,” Susan Smith, who is coordinating the efforts to stop the closure, said. “Many of us won’t be able to get to Bilston if our place closes. These coaches are a waste of time so we’re showing them what we think.”

The most important bingo operators in Britain have joined forces to convince the government to make changes to the legislation that governs the industry in order to counterbalance the impact on their clubs of the smoking ban.

According to Gala and Rank Group, if no changes are made, up to 200 of Great Britain’s 800 bingo halls could close after the establishment of the smoking ban in England in July. Sir Peter Fry, chairman of the Bingo Association, and executives from the companies have requested a meeting with the ministers next week.

Pulaski Legion post plans marathon bingo session sponsored by Sons of the American Legion on Febraury.

American Legion Post 358 in Pulaski will host a marathon bingo session Feb. 4.

Doors open at 11 a.m., selling of cards begins at noon and play starts at 1 p.m.