The Online Bingo Boom – How this Phenomenon Reached India
The United Kingdom has one of the biggest online markets for bingo in the world. Since 2008, the number of players and the amount won online has more than tripled. Because of this, the British market has seen an influx in big brand names launching bingo games via their already established websites.
Even other industries not connected to online gaming are diversifying their business portfolios by launching online bingo games. In 2012, Iceland Foods, a major supermarket chain in the UK, launched their very own online bingo site Iceland Bingo through the help of Dragonfish Bingo Network and marketing company Quick Think Media Ltd (QTM). In 2013, Gaming Realms acquired QTM along with its bingo brands and even won Best Boutique Bingo site for Iceland Bingo in the 2013 Bingoport awards.
Online bingo has also expanded to other countries in Europe. Although it is still an emerging market in the US due to current gaming laws, the traditional bingo game is still popular in some states through charity bingo. Asian countries like India also have access to online bingo. According to Game Zion, despite the Federal Information Technology Act of 2011 aimed at blocking foreign sites, online bingo in India still operates between being neither illegal nor legal. Various bingo sites hosted in other countries can also be accessed in the country.
Aside from playing bingo over the Internet, another version of the traditional bingo game is being played in India. Tambola, another name for Bingo or Housie, is a game that is normally played at Indian parties. It is similar to the 90-ball UK bingo and the main objective is to mark off numbers on your card until you get a certain pattern or combination lines or strike off all numbers.
Some even use themes for their Tambola game especially in kids’ parties and kitty parties. Instead of using the default numbers, tickets may have pre-defined custom themes to choose from. Here are just some of them:
Historical People
Hollywood
Indian Cricketers
Indian Daily Soaps
Indian Festivals
National Birds
North Indian Dishes
Number Names
Number Nicknames
Rakesh Wadhwa. Ever since, I was a school boy, I knew India was on the wrong path. Socialism was just not what we needed to get ahead. Government controlled our travel; government controlled our ability to buy and sell; and government controlled our freedom to move our money. My life has focused on the inherent rights people have. When I was in college, I never understood, what the governments meant by their "socialistic attitude". If people are free to buy, sell and move their capital themselves without any restrictions by state, then the welfare of people is inevitable & hence the countries they live in will become wealthy. The government has no right whatsoever, to point a finger at me or my business. I am not a revolutionary. I just want to light up my cigarette and not get nagged about it. I believe in non-interfering attitude to attain more. 
The Bastiat Award is a journalism award, given annually by the International Policy Network, London. Bastiat Prize entries are judged on intellectual content, the persuasiveness of the language used and the type of publication in which they appear. Rakesh Wadhwa won the 3rd prize (a cash award of $1,000 and a candlestick), in 2006.
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