John Orchard is a 60 year old who “ was looking at working for another five years at the Jobcentre” but now said the win “will change my life completely.” After the factory he was working in closed when its production center was moved to China, John and Linda were financially devastated. They could not pay their large mortgage, so according to John, they simply stuck a pin in the map and ended up in Long Sutton, a town with an average property value of £147,000 ($236,000 US). Orchard is only one of thousands around the world who have recently caught the online bingo fever, as the pastime has exploded in growth and popularity the last few years. The grandfather of three won the money on the ButlersBingo website. He waited several hours the day of his win before telling his wife, because he simply was not sure that he wasn’t dreaming, he said.

One of the first financial decisions he made was trading in his “sensible” Renault Clio and purchasing a £40,000 ($50,000 US) Jaguar XF. He and his wife Linda plan to visit their great-granddaughter in Canada, as well as extravagantly celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary next year. Mr. Orchard said he expects Christmas this year “to be a blinder!” Though he made the historical win a few days ago, he waited until December 13 to resign from his job because he just couldn’t believe that good fortune had come his way.

The particular game he played at the online bingo site was part of a progressive jackpot that grows as global players jump in and play the game. His world record win beats the previous Internet bingo jackpot record of €6.30 million ($8.24million US) won by a 36 year old businessman from Greece. The previous UK online bingo record was held by Soraya Lowell, 38, who won £1.20 million ($1.93 million US) in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 2008. And earlier this year in the United States a U.S. Marine won £1.7million ($2.74 million US) on a Las Vegas fruit machine.

His wife Linda simply did not believe him when he told her that he was certain he had won the life-changing amount of money playing online bingo. When the company which owns the website called them to confirm his win, he said they would have to speak to his wife because she thought “he was making it all up.” The head of promotions at ButlersBingo, Ian O’Farrell, said that his company was thrilled to help Mr. Orchard become a record breaker and that they “cannot wait to deposit” the money that would make him an instant millionaire into his bank account.

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With tens of millions of players every month in the United States, the casino and poker games currently popular at online social networking sites allow players to “gamble” with play money. But if the other forty-nine states follow Nevada’s lead and pass some type of regulation allowing for online gambling with real money, casino and poker game developers like Zynga will be sitting pretty, as they have already cultivated a massive player base. New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii and California are pushing hard for legalized online gaming regulation as well, and Nevada’s gaming commission recently stated that online poker licenses would be on sale in the next 30 to 60 days.

For years federal law dictated that online gambling in the United States was illegal, but last year the Justice Department gave the go ahead for online gambling at the state level. They basically have given their blessing for each state to dictate its own online gambling situation, with a few caveats. No online sports betting may take place, and when a state passes online gambling regulation, only the residents in that state’s borders can legally gamble online.

That green light from the Department of Justice came late last year, and as you can imagine, partnerships have already begun to develop between social media game developers and casino and gaming bigwigs. Casino goliath IGT in January purchased DoubleDown for $500 million, a sum of money which shows just how serious real world and brick-and-mortar gambling institutions are taking legalized online gambling in the United States.

Even social media game makers like Kabam, who specialize in online role-playing games, are sneaking gambling type activities into their gaming experience in the hopes that more states will adopt Nevada’s pro-online-gaming posture. Obviously, established casino entities like Aristocrat and Shufflemaster don’t have the first clue about how to develop or produce social games, and online games and apps developers don’t understand regulatory issues or casino management. Marriages between serious casino players and successful social media game developers just make sense, and you can bet that you will see social gaming become social gambling at your favorite social networking site in the very near future.

In essence, much of existing online gambling can be a very social experience, such as playing bingo online where you can get in on really fun chat room side games, as well as live dealer table games where you can interact with the dealer and the other players, and even playing online poker can be very social with the various tools available to interact with other players. Find out more about the social components of existing online gambling options at Bonusgeek.com.

At 4% of all respondents, an incredible 300% year over year increase was seen in the number of Americans who claimed they placed a wager online in 2011. The same surveys showed that only 1% of all Americans polled said they placed an online bet in 2010, and while the limited number of respondents may keep this staggering jump from indicating across-the-board increased activity in the American online gaming community, it is still too significant to be ignored. At BonusGeek.com we would love to get your input on the subject. With states like California, Illinois, New Jersey and Nevada pushing for legalized online gaming in the United States, what would legalized online wagering in your state mean to you? Did you place an online wager in 2010 or 2011?

As you probably know, the Department of Justice last April went after the three largest offshore poker room operators in the United States, and shut them down, accusing them of banking malpractice and other charges. While that instantly removed the three largest viable gambling options for the American online gamer, the research above by a very credible organization seems to show that Americans found a legal way to play, and wager on, their favorite games. Given such numbers, it is no wonder that Nevada and California are moving forward in an attempt to pass legislation that would allow them to be the first state to offer web-based poker.

As intriguing as that 300% increase is, more evidence of the desires of Americans to stay home and play online is evidenced in the pattern that survey respondents showed concerning their brick-and-mortar poker play. 7% of those responding claimed that they preferred attending live poker at a brick-and-mortar casino as their favorite gaming avenue. That number was unchanged from 2010, and coupled with the 300% uptick in reported online 2011 wagering from American gamers over 2010 activity, seems to offer politicians and prospective US poker players much-needed ammo in the fight to have legalized stateside online poker play. We would like to know what you think.

Do you believe that proponents for online poker and casino gambling in the United States may read too much into this most recent evidence, or do you believe this is proof positive that Americans want to game online? Just drop us a line in the comments field below to let us know your thoughts, as your opinion on this sensitive and timely topic is well respected and desired here at BonusGeek.com.