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26-536: Gala Bingo is an online bingo and casino offering under the ownership of Entain . Gala Bingo was created in 1991 as a division of Bass plc . It later became an independent company, and then became the Gala Coral Group after acquiring Coral Eurobet in 2005. After the sale of its 126 clubs in 2015 to Caledonia Investments (who rebranded them as Buzz Bingo in September 2018), Gala Coral retained

52-609: A joint venture to attempt to launch bingo shops in China. In 2011, a decision was made to move substantial parts of the business to Gibraltar , including almost all of the remote gaming division. The group, through acquisitions and new developments had over 30 casinos and 1,800 licensed betting offices. Gala's total clubs peaked at around 174, but since 2007 and the introduction of smoking bans in Great Britain, this total declined to around 140. In their year end accounts of 2012,

78-568: A new Nectar points-earning scheme for stores on the Isle of Wight in April 2018, in which the standard earning rate of one point for each pound spent was replaced by points on specific items plus points based on how frequently and how long a member has been shopping with Sainsbury's. The trial completed in October 2019, and a redesigned logo and app was launched, with the provision of a digital card on

104-451: A number of partners through avouchers, including Eurostar , eBay, and Caffè Nero. Points are lost if a Nectar account is closed. For example, an account may be closed if no points have been earned or redeemed for a continuous period of 12 months. As Nectar points do not normally "expire", it is possible for cardholders to save towards more expensive rewards, such as train tickets and holidays. Points can also be collected for purchases from

130-610: A random set of numbers, the chances of winning for each participant are equal. The Royal Commission Report has given the game of bingo a chance to thrive in the highly contested cyber gambling community. Playing bingo online, players can make use of optional features which make playing the game easier, such as auto-daub. Auto-daub automatically marks off the numbers on cards as they are called, so players don't have to. Most software providers support other gaming features as "Best Card Sorting" and "Best Card Highlighting" where players cards are sorted and highlighted by closest to bingo. There

156-653: A simple word incorporating letters from "Granada" and "Coral". Gala was officially launched on 17 October 1991 when 17 clubs re-branded and launched a new image. In 1997 a management buy-in purchased all 130 Gala Bingo Clubs from Bass for £235 million. Over the next few years, Gala began acquiring other bingo clubs to increase their portfolio, including 17 clubs from Ritz in July 1998 and 10 clubs from Jarglen in March 2000. In April 2000, they added 27 Riva Bingo Clubs from First Leisure for £90 million. Gala diversified outside bingo for

182-427: Is variety among the different kinds of bingo games that can be played. For example, some inexpensive game rooms appeal to the player who may want to play for as little as 3 cents or 3 pence per card, some bingo games only allow players to purchase the same number of cards so they are not competing against the "high rollers" out there who buy many cards for the same game. Bingo is a popular leisure activity for people in

208-480: The Nectar loyalty card scheme on 1 June 2007. Nectar points were originally awarded for club admissions, and additionally for slot machine play from 1 September 2007, a first for the bingo industry. Gala Bingo no longer participates in the Nectar loyalty card scheme. On 31 July 2007, pensioner Pauline Clarke, 62, became Gala's first GBP millionaire, after winning a tie break against another online player. Gala TV

234-821: The British TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! . Tombola had previously sponsored Emmerdale on ITV for three years. Nectar loyalty card Nectar is a loyalty card scheme in the United Kingdom run by Nectar 360 Limited, company wholly owned by Sainsbury's . The scheme is the largest in the United Kingdom, and comprises a number of partner companies including Sainsbury's, Esso , Argos and British Airways . It launched in 2002 with initially four partner companies, and by 2010 had grown to include over 14 companies and over 400 online retailers. Participating companies cover sectors including travel, retail, finance and newspapers. The scheme

260-554: The UK. The UK market has seen an influx in big brand names launching bingo games on their already established websites in addition to a number established land based operators including Mecca and Gala also entering the market. More recently "charity bingo" has become established. From April 2009 and March 2014 the UK Gambling Commission has been monitoring how many people are gambling. From April 2013 and March 2014 there

286-982: The United Kingdom's third largest bookmaker and largest bingo operator. The group added another 10 bingo clubs in 2006 when it purchased the County Clubs in Scotland for £64 million. The company spent another £14.5 million in February 2006, when it bought the Leo Casino in Liverpool from Dolby Management Ltd increasing the number of casinos in the estate to 31 (at the time). Gala Coral won 403 betting licences in Italy in an open market tender in December 2006, under its Eurobet brand. The group formally established an international division in 2007. The group also set up

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312-445: The app to scan. Cardholders receive points on purchases made at participating retailers both instore and online, generally beginning at one point per whole pound spent. Points for fuel at Esso and Sainsbury's are awarded for each litre purchased. Extra points may be earned when buying certain products or during particular promotions. A number of other online retailers award points when purchases are made on their websites accessed through

338-484: The company reported employment of 4,801 staff in their bingo clubs, along with 10,849 in 1,600 Coral shops, 2,776 in 25 casinos, 276 in remote gambling and 98 in Italy where it had over 400 betting outlets, plus a further 374 in support staff functions. In July 2015, Gala Coral agreed to be acquired by its slightly larger rival Ladbrokes. The 130 Gala Bingo clubs were not part of the merger, and were sold to Caledonia Investments for £241 million in December 2015. The merger

364-500: The demographics provided. Another early pioneer for free online bingo was Uproar, which launched Bingo Blitz in 1998. The game of bingo has been able to sidestep many of the laws which ban gambling online. In England, for instance, section 65 of the 1928 Royal Commission Report on Gambling states, “Bingo is a lottery played as a game.” The report details that a game of chance is different than that of casino games, even requiring separate licensing. Since each bingo participant receives

390-682: The first time when it purchased 26 Ladbroke Casinos for £235 million from the Hilton Group in December 2000. In 2001 it added the Jamba Online business for £1.5m. The owners sold the whole business for £1.24 billion in February 2003 to the private equity firms Candover and Cinven . Permira bought a stake in the company in August 2005, which valued the business at £1.89 billion. In October 2005, Gala acquired Coral Eurobet for £2.18 billion and changed its name to Gala Coral Group, creating

416-475: The main Nectar website. Nectar receives a payment from each retailer for each point paid to a customer. It then reimburses the retailer when the points are redeemed. A number of retailers allow cardholders to redeem points in store for money off their shopping, including Argos and Sainsbury's. Points are typically be redeemed in batches of 500, with each point being worth 0.5p. Points can also be redeemed with

442-467: The online Gala services and was later acquired by Ladbrokes (which was later acquired by GVC Holdings ). The chain began as bingo clubs operated by Bass Leisure, a division of Bass plc . As of 1983, Bass had 22 clubs operating under the Coral brand, and another 24 located in its Pontins holiday camps. That year, Bass purchased a chain of 80 bingo clubs from Thorn EMI for £18.2 million. By 1988, Bass

468-441: The patrons are often in the target market. One notable feature of online bingo is the chat functionality, with sites striving to foster a sense of community and interaction between players to assist customer retention . One of the earliest known online bingo games, launched in 1996, was a free bingo game called "Bingo Zone". To play, members had to provide demographic information; in turn, members would receive targeted ads based on

494-514: The time of launch, Nectar confirmed it would be open to more companies to join, excluding rivals of existing members. In December 2007, Loyalty Management Group was purchased by the Canadian Aeroplan, for £368 million. Aeroplan later re-branded itself to Aimia. By 2010, Nectar claimed that 16.8 million people were part of the scheme, and that it had 14 member companies and over 400 online retailers. In August 2017, Nectar announced it

520-494: Was a satellite TV channel that aired from 2006 to 2011, showing bingo games. Online services under the Gala brand are operated by GVC Holdings , including an online bingo site, GalaBingo.com, and an online casino , GalaCasino.com. Online bingo Unlike physical balls used in regular bingo halls, online bingo sites use a random number generator . Most bingo halls also offer links to online poker and casino offerings as

546-404: Was a 6% increase in people gambling compared to the same time last year with over £6.8 billion spent including Bingo. In the same period there was also a 22% increase in people playing Bingo on their mobile phones. In 2013, 102,715 people were employed across the gambling industry in the UK, signaling a 5.3% drop from 2012. Since November 2017, Tombola , a UK-based online gaming company, sponsors

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572-634: Was completed on 1 November 2016, and Ladbrokes became Ladbrokes Coral . As of 2008, Gala Bingo operated 137 clubs throughout the United Kingdom, with approximately a 24% share of all clubs and nearly 40% of National Bingo Game ticket sales up until the operator's withdrawal from the National Game in Summer 2008. Gala has around five million bingo members, of which approximately 1.2 million are active players. Gala Bingo has an average of 600,000 admissions per week. The bingo division began participation in

598-523: Was down to 72 locations, but added another 30 by purchasing Zetters Leisure for £23 million. In May 1991, Bass purchased Granada plc 's chain of 74 bingo clubs for £147 million. Combined with Bass's 91 clubs, the chain was tied with the Rank Organisation for the largest bingo operator in Britain. A united brand for the combined operation, "Gala", was chosen by John Murphy of Interbrand as

624-501: Was established by Loyalty Management Group, replacing the existing schemes of three of the four launch companies. Nectar was purchased by the Canadian Groupe Aeroplan (now Aimia ) in 2007, and purchased by Sainsbury's in 2018. The Nectar scheme was launched in 2002, merging the existing loyalty programmes of Sainsbury's , BP and Barclaycard ; and including Debenhams , which did not have an existing scheme. It

650-473: Was partnering with the Daily Mail newspaper. This association upset many customers, who cancelled their accounts and posted photos of their cut-up loyalty cards online. The company responded, "we know that not all of you will support every partner." On 1 February 2018 J Sainsbury plc announced that it had purchased the Nectar business from Aimia for £60 million. Sainsbury's began a localised trial with

676-760: Was run by Loyalty Management Group, then chaired by Sir Keith Mills , the founder of Air Miles . Robert Gierkink, who previously played a key role in the founding and launches of Air Miles Canada and Air Miles Netherlands, was founding CEO. The co-founding senior executive team and management shareholders of Nectar – Loyalty Management UK Ltd. further consisted of five Vice Presidents: Todd Almeida (previously Air Miles Netherlands), Martin Briggs, Peter Buis, Steve Lobb (previously Fly Buys New Zealand ) and Alex Moorhead (previously Air Miles Canada). Additional co-founding management included Koos Berkhout and Jan Pieter Lips, both of whom previously worked for Air Miles Netherlands. At

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