BINGO CALLER KELLY CROWNED MECCA’S CALLER OF THE YEAR

Winner Kelly, 46, has been a caller at Mecca’s club on Brierley Hill High Street for 17 years. Mecca’s national final, held at Mecca Wednesbury, marked the end of the bingo brand’s search for its top bingo caller, and saw six seasoned callers from Mecca clubs across the UK go head-to-head, havinlattled their way through a series of regional heats.

Callers were assessed on personality and stage presence, bingo calling skills, audience engagement and additional talents. Kelly initially impressed the judges in the heats with her enthusiasm, rapport with customers and interactive line dancing skills. In the final, she called a perfect game of bingo, before getting the crowd up and dancing to a remix of R&B classic, Stand By Me.

Image: Kelly Horton has been named Mecca Bingo's Caller of the Year 2024

On winning Mecca’s Bingo Caller of the Year, Kelly Horton commented: “I can’t believe I’m Mecca’s Caller of the Year! The atmosphere at the final was fantastic. The other callers were amazing and everyone was so supportive. Whoever won, everyone would have been delighted for them.

“I started doing line dancing for fun and a bit of exercise. It’s really accessible - anyone who can walk four steps can learn how to line dance. I was nervous at the final but when I started playing the music, the audience jumped up and joined in straight away!”

Kindhearted Kelly, explained how she started using line dancing to bring people together; “Bingo calling is great fun, and a huge part of my life. In my spare time I also volunteer at the Wollescote Community Centre, and it was there that I realised I could use my line dancing to get everyone moving. Everyone at the centre is really proud that it’s won me the Mecca title.”  

Kelly is now on her way to represent Mecca at the grand final of the National Bingo Game Caller of the Year competition in Wakefield this November. Kelly will be competing with representatives from other bingo brands, independents and holiday parks in front of a panel of judges and fans, for the ultimate accolade of being awarded the title of industry champion.

Kelly hopes that she will be following in the footsteps of reigning title holder, and fellow West Midlander, rapping caller Benj Maycock from Mecca Wednesbury.

“Having competed at Wednesbury against some of the best of the best it’s a real honour to be heading to Wakefield to represent Mecca in the industry’s National Bingo Game Caller of the Year competition. I hope I’ve done Brierley Hill proud and can’t wait to celebrate with our customers,” added Kelly.

Andy Crump, managing director, Mecca Bingo, commented; “Our bingo callers have a hugely important role to play in delivering brilliant entertainment experiences for our customers. They create the atmosphere for every game, make sure that every customer is engaged, announce all our lucky winners and most definitely help to create exciting memories for all our players. In addition to clear voices and top calling skills, the judging panel was looking for big personality and talent for our Bingo Caller of the Year. We found that in Kelly and we’ll be backing her all the way when she represents Mecca at the National Bingo Game Caller of the Year competition in November.”

About Mecca Bingo  

Owned by the Rank Group Plc, Mecca Bingo is one of the largest Bingo and Slots operators in the UK.  

 Mecca provides entertainment across its UK wide venues as well as its award-winning online site and app, which includes free to play and paid games and chat rooms. Both online and retail venues raise money for Mecca’s charity partner Carers Trust.  

 Mecca Bingo has a firm commitment to safer gambling with a range of tools and support services to ensure that customers can always keep it fun. These include deposit limits, reality checks and take a break as well as direct support from the customer care team.  

  For further information on retail venues and online play go to: www.meccabingo.com  

 Rank’s operations principally comprise:  

Grosvenor Casinos – The UK’s largest multi-channel casino operator.  51 casinos in Great Britain;  

Mecca – Rank’s multi-channel community-based gaming brand for the British market.  52 bingo clubs in Great Britain;  

Enracha – Rank’s community-based gaming business for the Spanish market.  Nine bingo clubs in Spain;  

Rank Interactive – Rank’s UK digital business operates a multi-branded strategy, using a combination of its proprietary and non-proprietary licensed software to provide online bingo, casino and slot gaming;  

 YoBingo – A leading online bingo operator in Spain.  

For more information about The Rank Group Plc, visit www.rank.com