Courtroom Bingo

Courtroom Bingo
Picture the scene: a vicious courtroom battle is being fought between the two halves of a family split by a disagreement so deep and irrevocable that there is no possibility of a resolution that is not decided by a judge. If one was to think of the reasons why such a disagreement would break out I can guarantee that bingo would not be right at the top of that list.
Yet this is increasingly the case. People are taken to court because they have demonstrated the temerity to keep the money that they have won in a bingo game.
Part of the problem is that the stakes involved in bingo have gone through the roof in recent months. The national game, and a few changes in regulations, has allowed for seven-figure jackpots to be won. Of course these stories make the news, and then people see that there is the possibility of winning big money with no apparent skill and so want to get involved, meaning that more money is in the jackpot and the prizes get even bigger.
Recently a judge suspended the awarding of a large prize because the people involved could not agree on how the jackpot would be split. Part of the problem comes from people agreeing to split the sums that they win, working on the assumption that they’re unlikely to ever win something bigger than a twenty pound note, when you start talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds things suddenly become very different.
Precedents, however, have been set. A verbal agreement to split funds that is followed by small winnings being divided equally establishes a precedent that is very similar to a verbal contract, how exactly that is resolved is something for the judges to decide. Though, how they take the whole thing seriously is another matter entirely.
Bingo is big business though, particularly since the evolution of UK online bingo. The company that owns Mecca Bingo announced profits of around £53m for the last year, business has not been great in halls, but has been augmented by the growth in Internet Bingo, which appears to be nothing short of remarkable. One of the benefits (and negatives) is that the social aspect is removed, so maybe there is less interaction, but there is no chance of being forced to split any winnings that you have with anyone else.
For all that these stories make the press and are something of a sign that in many cases money is thicker than blood, not everything is quite so unedifying. The biggest bingo prize in history, won barely more than a month ago in Wales was immediately split by the winner with her friend who always attended bingo with her, no complaints, no arguments, £600,000 given away to honour a verbal contract. For every news story that makes the press about families split over bitter struggles, there is one or two of someone happily giving a fortune to a friend, simply because they said that they would. Maybe the world isn’t such a bad place after all.

Article Source: http://www.articles2use.com - a Rentaccomspain.com company.

Michelle Smithe is author of this article on online bingo. Find more information about bingo

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