Tag Archives: uk
Paypal For Internet Bingo Players
Paypal is the worlds largest processor of online payments and has over 160 million accounts worldwide and Paypal accepts 17 currencies. Account holders can make online purchases, send money transfers and in Europe account holders can use Paypal to fund internet bingo and other online gambling accounts. In 2006 Paypal stopped allowing account holders to fund online gambling accounts because of the puritanical anti gambling stance of the United States. Last year Paypal decided to drop its anti gambling stance and now actively participates in the UK and European gambling sector. Paypal is probably the most trusted and popular ewallet service and has a well deserved reputation for fast efficient service. Unfortunately at the present time US bingo players are effectively prevented from using this popular ewallet service. Paypal offers protection for both buyers and sellers and has many security features to prevent fraud. In Europe Paypal is registered as a bank in Luxembourg and is regulated by the Luxembourg bank authority and consumers are well protected.
Paypal is extremely popular with UK internet bingo players. Most of the top names in online bingo accept Paypal including, Ladbrokes, 888 ladies bingo, Paddy Power and many more popular internet bingo websites. There are several websites that list all of the internet bingo sites that accept Paypal. Paypal users can take advantage of all the player perks offered by internet bingo sites. In the UK bingo providers are engaged in fierce competition to attract players and this has resulted in bigger bingo bonuses. Bingo sign up and deposit bonuses can easily double or triple a deposit. Although these bonuses cannot be withdrawn from a players account they can be used to stretch those hard earned bingo pounds or Euros.
In 2008 many US bingo players hoped that the incoming Obama administration would undo anti gambling legislation passed in 2006. A bill was prepared by Representative Barney Frank but the global recession was in full swing and legalizing online gambling was not a high priority for the US government. EBay, which bought Paypal, initially supported the anti gambling legislation but reversed course last year and allowed Europeans to fund online bingo, poker and other gambling related accounts. The move has been highly successful for Paypal. Should the US ever re legalize online gaming most industry experts say Paypal would acquire millions of new accounts overnight. Paypal is following the lead of many online companies that have softened their stance towards the internet gaming industry.
Gala Bingo Considers Rescue Plan
It is no secret that land based bingo in the UK is in real trouble financially. The draconian national smoking ban hit bingo clubs hard and then came a rise in taxation. For some reason bingo is taxed at a higher rate than any other form of gaming. For gaming companies that operate internet bingo websites the passage of the internet gaming ban in the US caused a drastic drop in revenue and a serious decline in publicly traded gaming stocks. A recent Reuters report states that UK bingo industry giant Gala Coral Group is presently saddled with about 2.7 billion pounds of debt.
Gala was forced to let hundreds of valued employees go and close many of its popular bingo halls across the UK. In 2009 reports of gala bingo club closures became common in the press. Gala also operates a highly successful internet bingo website. Without private investment Gala faces a bleak future indeed. A few years ago when reports said Gala was foundering US gaming giant Harrahs made a bid for shares of Gala. At the time Gala was able to repel any hostile takeover.
In November it was reported that private equity firm Blackstone made a £300 million pound bid for 40 to 60% of the shares. Despite denials from Gala it has been reported that Gala is actively seeking private equity investors to stave off collapse of the company. A recent report from news agency Reuters said the bingo giant had been approached by US private equity firm Apollo. Apollo submitted a plan to Gala which said Apollo would pay 250 million pounds ($405 million USD) for half of the company. The conditions of the Apollo deal say that 250 million pounds would be paid to Galas senior lenders and junior lenders would receive the other half of Gala.
Gala has entered the world of internet bingo with some success. Gala provides players with a generous bingo deposit bonus and free play options. Gala also offers a bingo sign up bonus to players. Like most other UK based bingo sites Gala has increased the size of its bingo bonuses to compete with others in the internet bingo industry.
Galas situation highlights the troubles of the brick and mortar UK bingo industry. Internet bingo, on the other hand, remains a thriving and growing industry. Internet bingo has defied the global recession and remains profitable for internet bingo providers. Gala may want to consider focusing on its online operations.