I think the word ‘bingo’ still has connotations with land-based bingo clubs and old ladies, but the industry as a whole is doing a lot to reach out to a younger audience, particularly in the retail sector, where events, party nights and live entertainment are becoming more prevalent.
What’s interesting is that bingo is simply an RNG game and online games such as Slingo and Keno are essentially based on bingo so the actual game itself can be packaged and presented in a variety of ways. I think this will help move bingo games away from these dated perceptions and become broader in their appeal.
Is bingo currently seeing a resurgence?
I think it has done, certainly during the pandemic when casino, poker and bingo benefited due to the absence of sports. Te social nature of bingo also certainly helped, but the last six-12 months have certainly been tougher as the country has, fortunately, come out the other side. Te UK is becoming a much more challenging place for casinos to operate due to tightening regulation and marketing restrictions. Tis will inevitably become even harder for sports and casinos with the impending new white paper and review of the gambling act.
Bingo may fare better than other verticals with its low stake, softer gaming model as they are already well placed to adapt to any restrictions in stake limits, game frequency etc, so we may well see another boost for bingo in the next few years.
Do you think that bingo has shed its somewhat old fashioned image? Or is its old fashioned image some of the appeal and charm?
is available on most sites, but paid tickets can start from as little as 1p. Plus, most bingo games are scheduled every five or six minutes meaning that players’ budgets can last much longer. Many games have a cap on the number of tickets you can buy in a game, or cap the amount you can spend.
In contrast slots can be spun every 2.5 seconds, so therefore bingo is considered a much ‘softer’ form of gaming and more a form of social entertainment and recreation. For
instance, most bingo players wouldn’t consider themselves gamblers. Lastly, bingo rooms invariably have chat moderators present who can monitor player activity, their comments and, if they feel it’s appropriate, can advise about taking breaks, reminding players of deposit limits and the safer gambling tools available.
Do you think perceptions of bingo are changing? Does bingo appeal to a younger audience today?
I think it’s starting to given some of the game innovations that are being created now - particularly online. Players might be playing and enjoying a game, not realising it’s actually a form of bingo or in fact based on a bingo engine.
Te traditional bingo calls (two fat ladies, two little ducks etc..) are now phased out both in land-based and online, partly because of political correctness, but mainly because of speed of play with players and operators wanting quicker gameplay, especially for mobile users.
Tese bingo traditions are now more likely to be referenced in SEO
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P67
content rather than being used to call the numbers in games.
How important is the social aspect of bingo?
Still very important which is why virtually all bingo operators who consider bingo an integral part of their product offering have chat, and chat hosts, available within their bingo rooms. Whilst less than half of all players actively engage in chat, there’s also many more that like to watch and read it. Because it’s a multiplayer game, players are ultimately competing against each other, but bingo players never see it like that; they see it more as playing together, and most of the time players will congratulate each other on wins and encourage those who maybe haven’t won yet.
Players also play an important role in welcoming new players to the site, explaining the basics, sometimes acting as ‘pseudo customer support’ and also policing the chat rooms themselves when the occasional negative player comes in and starts to disrupt a harmonious chat room.
“The UK is becoming a more challenging place for casinos to operate due to
tightening regulation and marketing
restrictions. This will inevitably become even harder for sports and casinos with the impending new white paper and review of the
gambling act. Bingo though may fare better than other verticals with its low stake, softer gaming model as they are
already well placed to adapt to any
restrictions in stake limits, game
frequency etc, so we may see another boost for bingo.“ Andrew Steddy
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