Busy Bees

How to play Busy Bees

The reforms, announced at the end of August, introduced a package of what it referred to as “evidence-based” legislation. 

As well as a statewide exclusion register, the package also set out to reduce the number of poker machines from the current figure of 87,000 across 2,100 clubs and hotels. 

The government said it aims to achieve this by increasing the forfeiture rate when gaming machine entitlements are traded from one in three to one in two. 

About Busy Bees

With no jackpot win materializing, the game’s top prize has continued to grow, reaching $332 million ahead of the Wednesday drawing. A hypothetical winner would be able to either claim the annuity option for the full sum or the one-time lump sum option of $141.7 million.

The $1 million win in the UK comes shortly after a lucky player in New York won a similar prize after matching the five white numbers for the Saturday, September 19, drawing. The same drawing also saw 30 players win tier-three prizes. Of these, 23 won $50,000 each, while the remaining 7 won $100,000 each thanks to Power Play.

A week before that, Powerball awarded not one, but two Match 5 prizes. One of these incredible payouts was a $1 million win in Georgia, while the other one was a $2 million windfall in Ohio.

What is Busy Bees?

In October 2024 the then-prosecutor general ordered the freezing of e-wallets and the suspension of mobile lines used by betting agents. Separately, in February this year, officials said regulators were working with the telecoms authority and the media council towards blocking about 80% of betting applications by the end of that month.

Ahmed Badawi, who chairs the House communications committee, said in May that the government would amend the anti-cybercrime law to name online betting explicitly. Life imprisonment was discussed for the gravest offences. No bill number or text has been published.

A separate private member’s bill was tabled by MP Martha Mahrous in January 2025. It proposed prison terms of two to five years and multi-million-Egyptian-pound fines for promoters, agents and payment facilitators. It has also gone nowhere.