Today there is news that one set of the William Hill Bingo Adverts has been banned by the Advertising Standard Agency (ASA) for advocating “socially irresponsible” gambling.

According to the ASA the advert implied that a woman couldn’t wait to play bingo and she had to keep it secret from her husband.

Even with the adverts vetted by Clearcast the company accepted William Hill’s explanation of the advert, describing it as “in a humorous tone” denying the advert showed someone who preferred to gamble alone.

The ASA responded by saying that they felt “the advert characterized and excused gambling behaviour that could lead on to social, financial and even emotional harm” and said that was “socially irresponsible”.

What is it with employees these days stealing from their workplaces?? There is yet another story in the news today reporting a £31,000 theft by a bingo hall manager, who helped herself to the safe cash due to her mounting debts.

Not only did she have a £46,000 salary, she had the cheek to leave behind an IOU. A practice commonly undertaken by staff members, although im sure £33,000 was way beyond the norm!

The bingo hall boss, Helen Walker told Durham Crown Court this information, and the fact that she had worked in the bingo hall for more than five years.

Walker was sentenced to 15 months for the theft by Judge Guy Whitburn, and an additional six months that will be served concurrently for fraud.  

 There had been hopes that the on-line bingo industry access to the Dutch gaming market was coming, however there has been a setback with the Netherlands state council unlikely to give a verdict on the case between Betfair and the Dutch Government.

Due to its gambling monopoly policies, Betfair is being refused a Dutch gambling licence by the government, meaning the matter will not be resolved for another 2 years at least.

Betfair does not actually provide on-line bingo, but this has become a test case for other on-line gambling operators for clues as to when the European market will fully open up.

Dutch gambling policies restrict UK-based on-line bingo halls from operating there putting the country at odds with the EU’s push for free trade between member states.

888.com have anounced a fourth partnership deal, this time with Rival Powered - the on-line game server software developer.

Rival Powered will provide 888.com with its range of games and backend systems to integrate into its cross-platform system.

888.com has been pursuing partnerships to consolidate its position in the online gaming industry. 

Patrick Stacey, Rival Powered CEO stated “Rival is proud and eager to partner with 888 in providing its visually rich and highly interactive offering of games to a wider audience.”

888.com has signed previous partnerships with Cryptologic, Electracade and GTS.

Following the reporting of the French change in attitudes towards gambling earlier in the week, it seems that the Greeks could be following suit. 

Greece currently operates one of the most restricted gambling monopolies in the European Union EU, but recent Greek media reports speculate an upcoming meeting could see a change in the policies.

European Commission officials and the Greek economic minister are scheduled to meet to discuss changes Greece needs to make to their protectionist gambling laws to bring them into line with EU standards.

Whilst reading through my daily updates, i spotted that there is yet another way to pay for your on-line bingo, whilst earning reward points.

ipoints is a loyalty reward programme boasting over 600 partners ready to reward you for using the service.

All you have to do is log onto ipoints.co.uk, create your account (which will earn you up to 175 points!!) and go to your chosen partner. In some places ipoints can be collected directly on the partner site, just look for the “Collect ipoints” symbol at the checkout.

You can watch the progress of your ipoints balance in your personal account. When you have accumulated enough ipoints you can exchange them for a free gift from their rewards catalogue.

Joining ipoints is free, and you will receive 50 points just for joining!!  

Today sees the launch of new bingo site Love Bingo powered by St Minver Gaming.

The site is offering all new players signing up a free £1 to try the site before depositing. Giving players 10 FREE Bingo games to get a taste of the fun at Lovebingo.co.uk. In addition to this, all new players will receive one entry to a £500 Red Letter Day Holiday Prize Draw when they signup.

The site offers fantastic graphics and an animated and colourful site themed around fun, comedy and romance with Leo the Love Bingo Cupid as the site’s mascot.

Love Bingo is hoping to appeal to the social networking scene, with a fully customised Blog, MySpace, Facebook and Bebo Profiles.

The site also aims to enhance the online bingo experience through continuous improvements and innovations in promotions and game play through listening and responding to player’s feedback.

A story in the Driffield Times caught my attention today where a 41 year old woman defrauded her workplace of tens of thousands of pounds.

Sandra Ann Preston is said to have transfered around £60,000 (however, the true figure is not yet known) directly into her account from a paypoint outlet at Preston Eling Ltd petrol station on Middle Street South, Driffield where she worked as a manageress between August and October 2007.

This would be equivalent to taking an average of £1,000 per day.

The prosecuter said: “She did it by transferring money from a PayPoint system to her own account to fund an online bingo addiction. I want to go through documents to make sure the figure is correct.”

However, Anil Murray, representing Preston said his client did not believe the total amount taken to be as high as the suggested figure of £62,722.99.

Preston originally pleaded guilty to the offence of “fraud by abuse of position” at Bridlington Magistrates Court at the beginning of April, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.