An anonymous player at Mecca Bingo is reported to have scooped a prize of £639,000. It is the largest single payout to date.

The win comes just as the Platinum playoff game of the National Bingo began last Sunday. The winner’s prize comes from the Mecca house prize, regional prize, national prize and special Platinum playoff prize.

There is very little information about the winner; however it is known that it is a hospital administrator - a married woman with two children and three grandchildren.

The fact of winning was a moment of big surprise for her and her husband. It took them time to sink in. The husband first thought she’d won £639.  And he was totally knocked down when he realized his mistake.

A selection of skill games including poker dice, gin rummy, multiplayer blackjack and Backgammon from UK games provider GameAccount has been recently launched by online sportsbook BlueSquare.com – the third licensed sprotsbook operator to join the GameAccount’s network this year (the other two are StanJames.com and Gala Coral’s Coral.co.uk.). all skill games from GameAccount offer multi-table tournaments, a first for skill-based gaming and head-to-head cash games.

“GameAccount was chosen after an exhaustive process investigating the potential for these emerging games, the player liquidity levels already present, the experience of potential suppliers and the technical capabilities of their respective platforms,” said Angus Nisbet, Head of Gaming for BlueSquare.com.

Various upgrades such as navigation enhancements for the games lobby, moderated chat rooms, information for tournament players and new side games are the software features offered by GameAccount.

Horse Racing Simulation LLC in partnership with PaceAdvantage.com are reported to have launched the Pace Advantage Horse Racing Game. The game will make it possible for users to experience horse racing through a virtual 3D experience. Horse racing fans will be able to jockey, bet and compete with other horse racing fans in free online tournaments for gifts and prizes.

The game features more than 300 fictitious race horses with players having the ability to compete head-to-head as jockeys for the best racing times at various distances and at racetracks all around the world.

Jockey mode, horse race betting mode, horse racing trainer mode, and horse racing tournament mode are the five basic modes of play presented there.

Michael Calderone, President of Horse Racing Simulation LLC admits: “Our free virtual horse racing game provides the realism for the true horse racing enthusiast and a simplistic level of play for the novice or beginning horse race fan”.

PaceAdvantage.com is also supposed to act as a distribution point for SIM2WIN™, a horse racing software program allowing users to simulate upcoming major horse races hundreds of times under multiple scenarios looking for the most probable race winners at the best possible odds. This software program looks for the best betting opportunities in a given horse race. The simulations are done in a full-screen, 3D, visual presentation. Both novice and experienced players can use this great horse racing software program.

Popularity of bingo is proved by the number of people (660 entrants) who took part in PaddyPower.com’s inaugural European Championship of bingo in June.

Robert Robinson from Nottinghamshire (England) became a winner and walked away with a Chevrolet Aveo car which was a top prize.

There was a weekend in Paris, a home makeover, a year of free flights and bingo, laptops and flat screen televisions among other prizes.

However, Robinson admitted that it had been hard for him to qualify online for the final event on June 29.

PaddyPower.com has announced that the event will be held next year.

Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, UltimateBet’s owners, have admitted the second time in less than a year that cheating has gone on in their poker room. What happened is that UltimateBet security had been breached by former employees and accounts with access to opponent’s hole cards that were used to cheat in high-stakes games. The fraudulent activity took place from March 7, 2006 to December 3, 2007.

The investigation was launched in January after the online poker room was notified that the “NioNio” account might be involved in unfair play.

In February preliminary findings indicated high winning statistics for the suspect accounts. Later on, it was confirmed that the suspected accounts were associated with the individuals who had worked for UltimateBet under the previous ownership, and the online poker site discovered the unauthorized code that allowed the perpetrators to obtain hole card information during live play. The unauthorized code was removed.

In March, six player accounts were confirmed to have participated in the fraudulent activity, and it was noticed that some account names had been changed several times. NioNio, Sleepless, NoPaddles, nvtease, flatbroke33, ilike2win, UtakeIt2, FlipFlop2, erick456, WhackMe44, RockStarLA, stoned2nite, monizzle, FireNTexas, HeadKase01, LetsPatttty, NYMobser, and WhoWhereWhen are the account names that have been used un the fraudulent activity.

Finally in May Gaming Association has certified that the software code that enabled unfair play was removed from UltimateBet servers in February of 2008. Moreover, they have identified customers affected by this incident, now, UltimateBet is able to refund them.

To note: UltimateBet customers will no longer be able to change account names unless they’ve suffered from “abuse” in the chat rooms.

Sportech, a football pool site, attempting to attract a younger market and enlarge a customer base, has partnered with 888 – industry giant.

In the opinion of industry experts, this deal is a massive move for Sportech. In accordance with the agreement, Sportech’s New Football Pools games have to compromise the historic Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters brands, marketed across all of 888’s online gaming sites.

Sportech Chief Executive Ian Penrose said: “This is a strong strategic partnership for Sportech. This fits exactly with our strategy of reinvigorating the pools business and delivering an enhanced and modern product for today’s gaming customers.”

888’s C.E. Gigi Levi called the deal a “milestone agreement”.

The Association of Tennis Professionals is fed up with the scandal from its sport after a series of online gambling debacles involving questionable matches. It was revealed that many players had heard or had information that players were often approached to throw matches. More than 45 matches have been identified as suspicious. Many of the players involved in suspect matches are international stars.

To solve the problem, first, the Association decided to form an agency investigating corruption, and second, strict new rules to curb match fixing will be enforced.

If players are involved in illegal gambling, the Association may ban them from three years to lifetime. Besides, fines exceeding $50,000 will be applied.

In case of a revealed attempt or invitation to fix matches, players will face harsh consequences.

Players, trainers, coaches, and all family members will be barred from any form of tennis wagering.

The association is increasing the number of security guards at tennis sites and in locker rooms. Access to players will be limited. Match information will be guarded until released to the public.

Online bingo is getting more and more popular all over the world. The amount of players taking part in it speaks for itself.

Thus, e.g. BingoPort.co.uk reports that Brits are spending more than £600 million per year on internet bingo tickets.

According to the site information, Sun Bingo hosts the most traffic. It is followed by Gala Bingo, Foxy Bingo, Jackpot Joy and Mecca Bingo. Other bingo rooms also get their share of the traffic.

There is one more fact indicating at how much the industry has grown in the last year alone – it is the huge variety and amount of promotions offered by internet bingo sites.

The demand for this type of entertainment could not but create sharp competition among bingo rooms.

Intertops.com is offering a full range of odds and propositions for the Euro 2008 Championship.

This time Germany is favored to claim the Euro title.

Intertops.com offers odds on who will win the final match, every preceding quarter and semi-final pairing. Besides, there are odds on whether or not it will rain Vienna for the final; whether Germans will get a tax-free day should their team triumph, etc. Information about other odds is available on the site.

Who will win the final is the most popular bet, but there is also a lot of action on the games leading up to the final.

Customers are able to wager until just before the final whistle with the odds changing according to the action on the field.

“Intertops.com stated that, going into the tournament, its bookmakers are hoping for a final pairing of Austria versus 2004 champions Greece. The site’s worst-case scenario would be a final showdown between Germany and Italy with the Germans winning after a penalty shootout”.

LeapfrogGaming.com is launching a new MegaBingo room on its network which includes KingJackpot.co.uk, BingoLiner.co.uk and BingoCafe.com sites.

The first networked bingo games with guaranteed prizes of up to $20,000 a week will be held on MegaBingo room. The first game took place on June 14 at 11 pm with a top prize of $4,909 out of jackpot of $19,636.

A minimum of three tickets for $1.96 each is required. Players will be able to buy tickets well in advance – at least one week before the actual competition.

New games have also been added to the variety of side games by LeapfrogGaming.com. Thus, e.g. Cash Fiesta and Crack the Safe are among them – these are three-reel slots featuring wild symbols, that multiply wins up to nine times.