One bingo manager at the Mecca Bingo club in Telford has revealed to the local media how bingo is on the increase and players at his club walked away with £1.3 million in prize money in 2010.

While general manager, Craig O’Neil claims players had declined after the smoking ban this has bottomed out and numbers are now rising again. The club is now seeing more than 1600 bingo players a week.

“To give away £1.3 million worth of prize money to our club customers in only one year is just fantastic.

“Bingo is as popular as ever and the chances of winning a life enhancing amount of money are huge.

“I think people new to the game always find it surprising how frequent the wins can actually be with bingo, whether in clubs or online,” said Mr O’Neil.

“And with our new promotion running for the next two weeks we hope to give more people the reason to smile.”

Mecca Bingo clubs in the West Midlands paid out more than £33 million in prizes in 2010 which was just under 10% of the £300 million paid by the bingo brand payouts for the nation.

The other bingo club in Telford, the Globe Bingo, also recently told us that admissions had risen by 10% in the last three months.