Bingo is an expanding and highly profitable business in the UK, with many companies competing for the customers money.

As well as offering the familiar bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of cash bingo. (Coin slots.) This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical ake of fifty percent of the stake.

Another universal feature of British bingo halls is the presence of fruit machines. These things combined mean that the unwary customer can easily spend hundreds of pounds in an evening.

As well as bingo played in house, the larger commercial operators play some games linked by telephone across several, perhaps dozens, of their clubs. This increases the prize money, but greatly reduces the chance of winning due to the much greater number of players.

Yet another operator provides games across all the major chains for the largest prizes of all..