Multi award-winning online bingo portal WhichBingo.co.uk has announced details of the 2016 WhichBingo Awards, the biggest awards event dedicated solely to the online bingo industry.
Last year’s awards saw over 14,000 online bingo players vote to determine the winners of nine award categories, including the coveted ‘Best Online Bingo Site’ and ‘Best Mobile Bingo Experience’.
This year WhichBingo have expanded the number of award categories from 10 to 14, including six new awards for the best site on each of the major software platforms. There is also a brand new ‘Fair Play Award’ which will be decided by an independent panel of judges.
Ron Finlay, Chief Executive of responsible gambling watchdog The Senet Group, and John Hagan, Chairman of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling and Deputy Chairman of GamCare, are among the seven-strong panel of independent judges overseeing this new category, which is an expansion of the previous year’s Most Socially Responsible Operator award.
“This year’s Fair Play Award seeks to recognise and reward those top bingo operators who conduct their business in a socially responsible way – in a manner that your average online bingo player can understand and relate to.” said Wayne Howe, Head of Projects at WhichBingo.
“We believe that responsible gambling should be more than just offering players spending limits and the ability to self-exclude. It should be about being fair to players; ensuring that ticket prices, game settings, withdrawal and wagering rules are fair and easy to understand and not set up to simply maximise the profits for those operators.”
“We are absolutely delighted with the breadth of knowledge and experience that each of our seven judges brings to the panel. Each has a different perspective on the market and on the issues around social responsibility and problem gambling. We are sure they will select a deserved winner at the end of this process.”
Nominations are open to WhichBingo members until 21st March. The final shortlists in each of the 14 award categories will be announced on Monday 4th April. Winners will be presented with their award trophies at an exclusive awards ceremony to be held in London on Thursday 19th May.
For more information, or to nominate your online bingo brand for the awards, please contact Wayne Howe on [email protected] or telephone 0113 393 0500.
About WhichBingo
Founded in 2001 by Phil Fraser, WhichBingo is the longest running and most respected independent online bingo portal, providing reviews and information for players across 400+ online bingo brands.
In 2003 WhichBingo established an annual ‘Site of the Year’ poll on its website, asking visitors to vote who they believed were the best online bingo sites that year. In 2014 this poll was re-launched as the WhichBingo Awards, with the aim of creating a bigger and better awards event for an evolving industry.
The new WhichBingo Awards expanded what was a simple poll into a fully fledged awards event, with multiple award categories, nominations round and an industry event hosted at the annual Online Bingo Summit.
The first new-look WhichBingo Awards took place on 15th May 2014 at the Millbank Tower in London, attracting over 150 industry guests. On June 9th 2015 this increased to over 200 guests, who boarded the dazzling HMS President (1918) at London’s Victoria Embankment for the second WhichBingo Awards.
WhichBingo was recently crowned ‘Best Bingo Affiliate’ at the 2015 EGR Operator Awards, and ‘Best Bingo Website’ at the 2016 iGB Affiliate Awards.
