The UK's shortest professional bingo caller has been unveiled as the mascot for FreeBingoHunter.com, a new information portal that helps players find the best sites for free bingo.

At four-foot in height, 25-year-old Jason Owen is a former finalist for Bingo Hall Caller Of The Year and will also soon help establish a second site at BingoMinis.com aimed at those who enjoy shorter games.

Owen stated that the new sites are hoping to cash in on the growth in young females affected by the credit crunch who stay in to play free bingo. The game used to be the domain of the over-60s but recent figures have shown that 48 per cent of all new players are women aged between 18 and 34 attracted by rewards in excess of one million dollars.

'Women of whatever shape or size love bingo and online bingo gives them the chance to carry on their busy lives while socialising and winning prizes,' said Owen.

Owned by English firm QuickThink Media Limited, FreeBingoHunter.com stated that the online bingo market in the UK has grown by 80 percent over the past six months to be worth in excess of one billion dollars a year. In addition, figures released by the National Bingo Association indicate that four out of five of the three million people playing bingo in the country are women and Owen even has his own groupies, Jason's Bingo Bunnies.

'The Bunnies love FreeBingoHunter.com because it helps them find the best value free bingo games and prizes all on one website,' said Owen.

'The Bunnies were the ones who spurred me on to go for my dream. We may be in a recession but bingo has bucked the trend since the days of the Romans. While bingo halls maybe closing online bingo is here to stay. I'd bet my hat on it.”

A report released recently by leading information portal BingoPort.co.uk indicates that the number of players in the UK online bingo market has increased by 80 percent over the past six months.

The increase relates to the average number of free bingo players that were active at any one time from the beginning of May to the end of October and BingoPort.co.uk stated that the figure was in line with its predictions.

“We have been tracking the UK online bingo industry for over 18 months now and we are starting to see some fascinating and positive trends coming through,” said Scott Logan, Director for BingoPort.co.uk.

“We are, of course, watching the UK and global financial crisis closely but our data suggests active online bingo player numbers should continue to rise in the foreseeable future.”

BingoPort.co.uk is also gearing up to hold its Players Choice Awards 2009 in London in January, which will celebrate some of the industry’s best. The Awards draw upon data collected by the bingo information portal along with survey information from its membership base of online players.

“BingoPort.co.uk collects a huge amount of information in the UK online bingo industry,” said Logan.

“The volume and variety of data collected allows us to measure playing bingo trends using a number of different methodologies. One of the key measures we do focus on is tracking the number of online players actively playing in a bingo room at any one time.”

“Overlaying this data with analysis of live promotions, jackpot data and other marketing campaigns also allows us to measure what techniques work in the industry and, more importantly, what players respond to. With this data, we are now able to accurately recognise the best online bingo operators through the trends and behaviours of the online bingo players themselves.”

Independent Technology Ventures, owner of Think Bingo, one the oldest established UK bingo sites, and Bingo Scotland, has announced plans to launch its third standalone UK Bingo site in the form of Think Bingo Plus.

The new website is set to be a venture into uncharted territory for the group, who has previously restrained from offering its bingo customers any non-bingo orientated distractions.

However, the new site will offer players a selection of online slots and other instant games. A Think Bingo spokesperson explained, 'Most of our members at Think Bingo and Bingo Scotland love the fact that there are no slots to tempt them. Of course some free bingo players do want the option and this is one of the reasons why we are launching the new plus brand.'

Think Bingo Plus is set for release in October this year on the back of a significant advertising campaign, developed through companies My Front Room and Target Media, and will also be the first site to launch using Aqua Bingo’s new online bingo software (Version 2).

Pre-registration is now underway at ThinkBingoPlus.com, with the company also announcing that it will be re-branding both Think Bingo and Bingo Scotland later this month.