AN online bingo operator is creating 60 jobs in the North- East on the back of a boom in the internet gambling industry, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Tombola.co.uk has become one of the UK’s biggest and most popular online bingo sites, with more than 13,000 players winning more than £2m in prize money each week.

Now, on the back of the huge increase in the popularity of online bingo, Tombola.

co.uk has created 30 jobs in the past few weeks at its Sunderland headquarters, with plans for 30 more in the coming months, taking its total workforce to 130.

The company operated the online bingo operations for a national newspaper until August last year, when it decided to establish itself alone.

Since that time, it has invested in a £5m national advertising campaign to increase its profile across the UK.

Dawn Clayton, marketing manager at Tombola.co.uk, said the job creation was proof that the industry was thriving despite the widespread gloom in the economy.

“Sadly, there are few companies who can report positive performance recently, but in the last three months we have added 30 new members to the team and that pattern will be repeated by adding 30 more in the coming months,”

she said.

“We are thrilled with the way online bingo players across the UK have responded to our fun approach to online entertainment and now we’re in a great position to share our success with job-seekers in this region.”

The company is recruiting for a variety of roles at its headquarters, in Sunderland’s Whylam Wharf, including marketing, technical, operations and chat moderator roles.

Over the past six months, Tombola.co.uk has seen player numbers rise by 12 per cent, and its Bingo 90 game is regularly ranked the most played game in the UK.

Ms Clayton said she believed Tombola.co.uk had a unique advantage over its competition with its chat moderator system.

She said: “All of our paid-for games we have available on the site have the opportunity for players to ‘chat’ to each other, so obviously we need people to monitor the chat to make sure it remains friendly.

“So many of the players pass on comments on how welcoming and friendly our chat moderators are.

“It’s one of the key factors in our rise in player numbers.

“It seems our players really feed off that unique North- East brand of friendliness our chat moderators bring.”