Online gambling payment processor, Neteller, has confirmed US players will have access to their accounts in order to withdraw funds frozen for over six months starting Monday, July 30.

The US players’ accounts were frozen in January when the e-wallet exited the US market after its founders were arrested by US authorities and subsequently pleaded guilty to charges lodged by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that he would be happy to meet with bingo companies to discuss problems in the bingo industry and the levels of taxation.

Bingo firms have long complained that bingo is taxed twice as VAT is charged on the price players pay for each bingo game (participation fee) while gross profit (the participation fee minus the money paid out in prizes) is also taxed.

The 2nd Annual Online Bingo Summit will be held in London on 25 / 26 September this year. The rise and rise of online bingo has been connected to the rise in broadband penetration, high impact online marketing, the UK smoking ban in bingo halls and word of mouth creating hype around the simple yet fast-paced gambling game.

Phil Fraser, the chairman at this year’s Summit, says: “Increased awareness of online bingo in the mass market, driven by the big land-based bingo brands and media owners’ bingo sites, means that there is still much room for growth.

The Rank group announced it would spend an extra £2 million on improving its Mecca Bingo gaming facilities, in readiness for the upcoming smoking ban. Chief executive Ian Burke said that the company would use the money to focus on the “changing needs of the customers”, adding that it would be adapt its product accordingly.

Rank will develop outside gaming facilities for around 80 per cent of its bingo estate, which Burke said would be a rolling programme. The investment in the new outside facilities is not expected to materially add to the group’s projected annual capital spend of between £50 million and £60 million this year.