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In an effort to reach out to the UK’s 10m disabled persons, the Gala Coral Group has worked in partnership with Direct Enquiries, the Nationwide Access Register, to create bespoke marketing collateral aimed at helping disabled people find and access the Gala Bingo club that best suits their needs.

A bingo hall in Partick, Glasgow has been integrated into a new 79-flat housing development after refusing to move for the project. The Carlton bingo hall refused to sell out to the developers which caused a rethink in the plans and the subsequent integration. Now the flats are being built round the art deco bingo hall entrance and will 'disappear' once the construction is completed, creating a uniform facade for the whole development.

Carlton Bingo's managing director Peter Perrins said: "Carlton will have an enhanced entrance foyer into the bingo hall and while we see that during the construction phase there will be some disruption to business, we see that once the development is completed it will be beneficial to our business."

BetonSports has shut down its Costa Rican operations by firing all of the 800 employees based in the country and agreed not to market to U.S. customers any longer following a legal strategy outlined by the company's U.K., U.S and Costa Rican legal teams. All adverts aimed at the U.S. facing business were terminated and BetonSports were preparing a .co.uk suffix to its website for international users. The online betting company is also currently holding talks with bankers over returning money to it's customers, but reports suggest this could take anywhere up to six-months . BetonSports has also reiterated that it is not involved with founder Gary Kaplan, who is still on the run having been last seen in Spain.

Oncourse bookmakers at Ireland's Galway Race Festival experienced a bumper meet this year after reporting takings of over euros 21 million during the seven days, an increase of nearly 16 per cent from last year. Paddy Power told the Galway Independent that turnover was 'through the roof', while Galway based Mullhollands Bookmakers reported an increase of takings of between 13 and 15 per cent and were reported to be 'very happy' with its takings. "We would expect at least a five per cent increase because of inflation but we secured another ten per cent on top of that," said a spokesperson for the company. The Tote was the only bookmaker to report a loss with a euros 200,000 decrease from the euros 7.7 million taken at last years event. John Moloney, Galway Races Manager, acknowledged that it was only a slight decrease, before going on to say that the overall increase in takings "was not exactly unexpected after watching takings rise all year."

A couple who won £2.5 million on the National Lottery have vowed not to move because they want to stay close to their local bingo hall. John and Pat Davies, who are described as 'bingo mad', even said they would still drive there in their Vauxhall Astra despite the win. "We might be millionaires but we still want to do what we did before," John told the Sun newspaper.

As the popularity for online casinos continues to grow, more and more people are trying their luck for the first time. For Christian Todte, a German student, it was definitely a case of beginner's luck.

Christian, who had only been playing poker for three months, was stunned when he won five straight $5 + $1 Maui 'Jackpot Sit 'N Go' tournaments to claim a $25,000 Jackpot Prize at Titan Poker.

Speaking after the tournament, Christian said, 'I started to play at noon and only stopped in the evening after winning five consecutive tournaments. After succeeding on the 4th tournament, I felt special and I knew that I was very close to getting the jackpot.

'I was so excited at this point that I had to take a break of 15 minutes before I was able to start the last one. I was stunned after I won the 5th tournament and I just couldn't believe that I had done it!'

Winners at Titan Poker's jackpot sit 'n' go tournaments are also in the running for big jackpot prizes if they win enough consecutive tournaments in a similar manner to Christian Todte.

The Rio and Maui Sit 'N' Go Tournaments offer starting jackpots of $25,000 and $15,000 respectively and grow progressively each week if no player manages to win enough consecutive tournaments to claim the jackpot prize.