When it comes to virtual year round sunshine, value for money and great free entertainment, Benidorm is hard to beat. It come as no surprise to therefore hear that Benidorm is the number one hot spot amongst Brits looking for the perfect family getaway. Online gaming giants, Gala Bingo ran a holiday survey, which showed that 57% of Brits had a love affair with Benidorm and given the opportunity, 23% said that they would move over to live here and 20% were influenced to come after watching the ITV Benidorm series.

To tap into that passion, they ran a number of theme related competitions and games, which included giving away 14 holidays to the resort! Each winner could bring a guest and last week I met the group of 28 at the Melia Hotel for the highlight of the prize – dinner and drinks with three Benidorm cast members.

The group had arrived on Monday and were staying at a number of hotels in the resort, including the Sol Pelicanos, Ocas and Rialto. Jake Canuso, Sherrie Hewson and Tim Healy were introduced to the high spirited group on Thursday – they were certainly singing gala-lala like in the advert and were all escorted down to the hotel restaurant by Karina Adrian, PR & Brand Manager of Gala Bingo.

The popular cast members circulated and swopped seating positions throughout the dinner and the guests had the opportunity to have photographs taken after the meal with each one. I spoke with one winner, Chloe about the competition and she told me that some of the winners had only spent 5 GBP playing – so an absolute steal to end up with a holiday for two with everything included! With all being fans of Benidorm – the resort as well as the series, it was a dream prize for them.

Bingo is one of the most popular pastimes both in the UK and here – you can see ´eyes down´,´looky looky´ and ´housey housey´advertised at many British bars around the resort. The reason for this is because it´s actually illegal to gamble outside of authorised gaming establishments. There have, over the years been reports of police swoops on bars where bingo and betting have taken place - so be aware! There is a bingo plaza at the top end of the Avd Mediterraneo and aslo the Casino Mediterraneo for those that like to gamble.

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