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The National Bingo Game is a bingo game operated by the National Bingo Game Association, based in the UK, and played in most licensed British bingo clubs every day except Christmas.
The game was introduced under UK legislation as a game of multiple bingo. It was launched in June 1986. Technology became available whereby clubs were able to connect to a game control center via modem to receive a pre-selected list of numbers which were called in the same time window in each participating bingo club.
Clubs then relayed the details of the winner in their club back to game control, who would then award the National Prize to the club whose winner had claimed the lowest number of calls across the country and Regional Prizes to the clubs whose winners had claimed in the lowest number of calls in given regions.
The format and pricing of the game have changed several times since its launch. The original price was 25 pence per ticket, but this has changed to 30 pence, 40 pence, 50 pence, and £2 for six tickets. Prize money has also varied during these changes. Presently, pricing is £1 for two tickets or £2 for five tickets, and Jackpot Prizes of £50,000, £1,000, and £100 are offered as well as a house prize in every club. Currently an ADSL-secure internet connection is used to collect and distribute data.
The National Bingo Game has been in operation since 1986, operating first under the Gaming Board for Great Britain and now the Gambling Commission.
There have been controversial incidents with winners in the past, the majority of which have been related to disagreements between players over informal agreements to share their winnings which are not honoured. There are also cases where bingo players share their winnings with fellow players, even when they are not present in the club. As these are independent agreements made between players, the National Bingo Game Association has no official role in resolving the disputes.
There have been occasions where underage players have gained admission to a participating club and purchased tickets for the National Bingo Game. As clubs are managed by independent operators, the National Bingo Game has no direct control over this. Players participating in the National Bingo Game must be over 18. An underage person would, by law and under the rules of the game, be ineligible to participate or claim any prize.[ citation needed ]
The National Bingo Game was Britain's largest computer-controlled gambling game until the National Lottery was launched in 1994. The lottery had a negative impact on attendances at bingo clubs, although the game underwent several changes in an attempt to boost prize money and compete with the lottery. Over £1 billion has been paid out in prize money since the National Bingo Game was launched.[ citation needed ]
In September 2007, bingo operators were allowed to introduce rollover jackpots for the first time, and the National Bingo Game introduced the "Big N" – an optional £1 jackpot charge to players which gave them a chance to play for a gold, silver, or platinum jackpot which could exceed £1 million.
Ticket sales for the jackpot were lower than anticipated and the prize was not won for a number of months, before the National Bingo Game decided to reduce the participation charge to 50p and make it compulsory in January 2008. As a result of this, 3 jackpots worth at least $1 million were created in the 6 months that followed. Gala Bingo withdrew in September 2008 from the National Bingo Game to launch a competing jackpot.
In November 2007, the first Gold Prize winner won the first "Big'N" prize of £556,000 by getting 6 of the 7 Big'N numbers in Gala Club, East Ham, London. The winner used the proceeds to leave Newham and start a new life in Suffolk. [1]
The National Bingo Game operates a competition for the best bingo caller in Great Britain called the Caller of the Year competition. Regional heats were held across the country, with each winner going forward to the national final. The competition was suspended in 2008 and reintroduced in 2019 as a biennial event.
A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. The most common regulation is prohibition of sale to minors, and vendors must be licensed to sell lottery tickets. Although lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s, casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.
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The Pennsylvania Lottery is operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Lottery was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on August 26, 1971; two months later, Henry Kaplan was appointed as its first executive director. The Pennsylvania Lottery sold its first tickets on March 7, 1972 and drew its first numbers on March 15, 1972.
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The New Zealand Lotteries Commission, trading as Lotto New Zealand since 2013, is a Crown entity that operates nationwide lotteries in New Zealand. It was established in 1987 and operates under the Gambling Act 2003. Its oldest and most popular game is Lotto, which boasts a top prize pool of NZ$4 million. Other games include the four-draws-daily Keno, the daily Bullseye, and a variety of scratchcards and online games known as Instant Kiwi. Instant Kiwi may only be played by persons 18 years of age or older, under the Gambling Act 2003. Powerball and Lotto Strike are optional extras with every Lotto ticket.
The Idaho Lottery began play on July 19, 1989, and is run by the government of the state of Idaho. It is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Fifty percent of all net funds is given to public schools, while the remainder is pledged to the Permanent Building Fund, which is used as a financial resource for the state's colleges and universities.
The Connecticut Lottery Corporation, also called the CT Lottery, is the official lottery in Connecticut. It was created in 1971 by then-Gov. Thomas Meskill, who signed Public Act No. 865. The first tickets were sold on February 15, 1972. The Connecticut Lottery offers several in-house drawing games; Connecticut also participates in Mega Millions and Powerball; each are played in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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The Louisiana Lottery Corporation (LLC) is a government-run lottery that is used to generate revenue without increasing taxes. The proceeds of the Lottery go to the Minimum Foundation Program that funds public education in Louisiana. The daily activities involved with running the cooperation are handled by the president of the Louisiana Lottery Cooperation. The president is under the supervision of the Lottery's nine-member governing board of directors.
The Rhode Island Lottery is run by the government of Rhode Island. The modern form of the Rhode Island Lottery was inaugurated in 1974, following a constitutional amendment passed in 1973. It is a charter member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Rhode Island Lottery games include Mega Millions, Powerball, Wild Money, keno, and scratch tickets. Rhode Island also offers video lottery, which includes the multi-jurisdictional MegaHits game.
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The Virginia Lottery is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was created in 1987 when Virginians voted in a statewide referendum in favor of a state lottery. The first ticket was sold on September 20, 1988. All profits from Virginia Lottery ticket sales go to K-12 public education, as required by Virginia's constitution. In Fiscal Year 2022, the Lottery's profits totaled more than $779.6 million, accounting for approximately 10 percent of school funding in Virginia. That brought total Lottery profits in Virginia to more than $14.5 billion.
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Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers. Bingo, also previously known in the UK as Housey-Housey, became increasingly popular across the UK following the Betting and Gaming Act 1960 with more purpose-built bingo halls opened every year until 2005. Since 2005, bingo halls have seen a marked decline in revenues and the closure of many halls. The number of bingo clubs in Britain has dropped from nearly 600 in 2005 to under 400 as of January 2014. These closures are blamed on high taxes, the smoking ban, and the rise in online gambling, amongst other things.
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Eurojackpot is a transnational European lottery launched in March 2012. As of September 15, 2017, the countries participating in the lottery are: Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
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