Industry Gaming Website tombola.co.uk Number of locations 3 Type of business Privately held company | Key people Phil Cronin CEO Founded 1999 Number of employees 300 | |
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Headquarters Sunderland, United Kingdom Areas served United Kingdom, Spain, Italy | ||
tombola Ltd is a British online bingo company. The headquarters are based in Sunderland in the North East of England, with additional offices in Gibraltar, Milan and Madrid. Founded in 2000, its main site, tombola.co.uk has become the largest bingo website in the UK, with more players than any other company, as well as being number one in Spain and Italy.
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tombola produce original bingo software and games, created by an in-house development team, and is one of the largest employers of game and web developers in the North East of England.
tombola history
Tombola was established in 1999 by Phil Cronin. He had previously worked for his family's business Edward Thompson printers, until 1995. Under the Edward Thompson company name, the Cronin family have provided printed paper bingo tickets to bingo halls since the 1960s.
Since founding tombola, Phil Cronin has been awarded Durham & Wearside Business Executive of the Year 2011. He has also expanded the tombola business into Europe with tombola receiving gaming licences for Spain in July 2012 and later Italy in December 2012.
tombola arcade
tombola arcade is an instant win game site, launched by tombola on 25th July 2016. The site features 6 unique games: spin, scratch, flip, bubble, emoji and pick. All games are built in house and are exclusive to tombola. The site has adopted a low stake strategy to mirror its sister site, tombola.co.uk.
Awards
tombola has won thirteen awards since re-launching in 2008:
• 2009: Most Online Bingo Prizes Won, Best Chat Host Team award
• 2010: EGR Awards Online Bingo Operator of the Year,Online Bingo Awards Online Bingo Operator of the Year, Most Popular Online Bingo Site, Most Online Bingo Prizes Won, Best Online Game Innovation.
• 2011: Most Popular Online Bingo Site, Best Chat Host Team,
• 2012: Best Bingo Chat Hosts of 2012, Bingo Operator of the Year 2012, Best Overall Bingo Operator
• 2013: Bingo Operator of the Year 2013, Socially Responsible Operator
Sponsorship
tombola has undertaken a number of sponsorship deals.
In November 2009, the company began sponsoring ITV soap opera Emmerdale in a deal that ran until March 2012.
In April 2010, tombola agreed a deal to sponsor Sunderland AFC for the 2010/11 and 2011/12 English Premier League seasons.
In September 2014 tombola began sponsoring the ITV daytime television show, Loose Women.
Charity and Community Work
In 2012 tombola became the main sponsors of Sunderland AFC Keroche, an African football club supported by Sunderland AFC fans in England. tombola paid for fifteen boxes of football kits to be shipped to Africa for the team.
In July 2014, tombola launched the tombola Academy, a scheme that recruits the most talented young graduates and apprentices from the surrounding area into full-time training at their headquarters in Sunderland.