Thirty-six years ago, Gill Barton started working as a bingo caller in Solihull, West Midlands. The job suited her since it gave her time to raise her five children while contributing to the economy of her house. Gill was a dedicated worker and in a few years she was promoted to staff training.

However, Gill wanted more and when she turned 50 she told her husband about her new project: opening her own training and recruitment company. “My husband Frank thought I was starting the menopause and being irrational when I said I wanted to start my own business at the age of 50,” she recalls.

Christine Bradfield, a mother of two from Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, took home this week the world’s biggest ever jackpot of £1.1 million. The 53-year-old bingo player, who started going to bingo halls when she was 18, was in her local club when she won. “It was just like a football match when somebody scores a goal. The place erupted,” Steve Hanley-Locke, deputy manager of the bingo hall, said.

The first thing the lucky winner did after confirming her win in the function room, was calling her husband Ray to tell him the good news

After several months of campaign and petition letters, bingo giants Rank and Gala Coral finally obtained the necessary backup for a tax reform. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom has informed that it will start to pressure chancellor Alistair Darling for a bingo tax reduction before this year’s budget is released.

Currently, bingo companies have to pay two different taxes: VAT, 17.5 percent, and Gaming Duty, 15 percent. This heavy taxation plus the falling in admissions due to the smoking ban and the Gambling Act, has caused several bingo venues to close and many are experiencing financial problems.

A lucky 37-year-old mom from Paisley won a £55,000 bingo prize while playing at the Mecca Club in Lonend on Sunday night. The woman, who requested not to be named, said she had only spent £2 on a bingo card when her numbers came up and she was able to shout Bingo!

“It was absolutely fantastic when she won. She jumped out of her seat and screamed the house down,” Alistair Steele, general manager of the club, said. “She is a regular at our club and has been playing here since we opened. Everybody knows her.”

Three of Federico Martone’s aunts are fighting over a huge bingo prize. The women were supposed to share the money they won at a Glasgow bingo hall but when one of them, named Jean McCullagh, hit the £1 million jackpot, she refused to split it with her two sisters-in-law, Rose and Jessie.

Big Brother Four Fed, who owns a restaurant in Glasgow, said the situation has driven a big wedge in his family. “My aunt Rose is a lovely woman and would never tell a lie,” Federico explained. “She and Jessie feel very betrayed. You have to wonder if any amount of money is worth causing all these emotional wounds.”

Margaret Shearer, a regular bingo player from Glasgow, was the lucky winner of a £1 million Bingo Jackpot during a lunchtime bingo game held at the Mecca Bingo Club in Glasgow. Margaret, who was playing with her mother and regular bingo partner, lost her job at the McVitie’s factory only three weeks ago.

“It’s such an enormous amount that it’s difficult to grasp what it really means”, Margaret said. “I experienced hot flushes just before I started playing the bingo session, which I took as a sign that something was going to happen!” What happened was a life-changing prize that came a few weeks after laws were changed to allow such big prizes in bingo clubs.

Bingo halls in Wales are having trouble to stay in business due to the negative effects of the smoking ban. Many bingo operators have already reported a decrease in profits of up to 20 percent. Tony Willis, Crystal Bingo general manager, said revenue dropped about 25 percent, in spite of special promotions aimed to lure players.

“We are getting through it now, but the winter will be the worst. Our customers have put up with the rain the last few weeks but it has not been cold,” Willis explained. "Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how things turn out in England. We've already heard of a bingo hall is closing in Gloucester.”

A new group of regulations still pending in the Legislature, aim to give local clubs, fire departments and fraternal organizations a little relief from the fierce competition slot machines represent. One of these provisions is House Bill 169, still pending Senate approval, which would increase prizes for bingo clubs and allow for multiple drawings.

Another bill under consideration is House Bill 1467, which would also raise bingo jackpots but requires strict licensing procedures. Some impending regulations also request the authorization and regulation of poker tournaments and video poker games in clubs.

Members of the bingo industry have called bingo fans to save Irish clubs, which have been severely affected by the smoking ban. The plea to save bingo halls was launched at Holyrood and it included the consequences of the new Gambling Act and the Vat and gambling taxes imposed on the activities of bingo operators.

Besides, the most important bingo operators in Ireland have addressed the petitions committee and urged MSPs to request the Executive a discussion of their case with Westminster. They want the tax on bingo clubs to be brought into line with the rest of the gaming industry.

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.