Since it became a more permanent fixture in the online bingo world, free bingo has naturally established itself as a firm favourite amongst online bingo fans. 2009 was most certainly the year of free bingo, with the arrival of Cheeky Bingo as one of the first sites dedicated to free bingo. Then in June 2009, Costa Bingo launched, providing some healthy competition for Cheeky Bingo’s free bingo crown. Add to that a wealth of sites that quickly included free bingo, no deposit offers to their online bingo mix, and it’s easy to see why fans have been going free bingo crazy over the last year. But as we look to 2010 in terms of profits, the online bingo industry has to find new ways to avoid losing the financial steam that allowed it to thrive in 2009. So will 2010 be the year that free bingo moves from being the friend to the foe of online bingo?
When it was first introduced, it seemed like many were sceptical about the opportunity that free bingo presented. The idea of playing with nothing and winning something seemed a little… well… mad to many bingo operators. But nevertheless, free bingo seemed to gather pace, and certainly, the example of Cheeky Bingo shows that free bingo would obviously work from a player perspective. From it’s introduction in February 2009, the Cheeky Bingo site went on to scoop award after award for it’s product innovation, leaving parent company Cashcade more than a little pleased. Initially, for operators, a free bingo site provided a useful means of hooking new players into the world of online bingo. For players, free bingo not only gave them something for nothing in terms of cash pots, but free no deposit bingo was also established as a great way for bingo newbies to brush up on their bingo skills – a sort of practice ground.
And so the market has boomed. As well as Cheeky Bingo, Costa Bingo burst onto the scene becoming another player favourite, and many sites including Posh Bingo offer plenty of free bingo choice to keep fans of free bingo entertained. Even the big boys like Foxy Bingo, Wink Bingo and Sun Bingo began temporary free bingo promos. In the face of the recession, free bingo seemed like a great thing, and also led to the proliferation of “value” bingo such as penny bingo and tuppence bingo that players can still find at sites such as Little Big Bingo. And as more free bingo competition appeared, jackpots on free bingo games began to grow, with both Cheeky Bingo and Costa Bingo offering prize pots of £50 on some free bingo games. And most recently, Moon Bingo seems intent on throwing its towel into the ring, launching a brand new free bingo room in the last few days.
But it is this success of free bingo that seems linked to the idea of it’s downfall. For although there has been a free bingo gold rush, after a while, it seems economically impossible for a site to constantly offer relatively large sums of money for nothing. As fans became more tuned in to the free bingo proposition, some free bingo offerings have dried up, with operators worried that although free bingo can bring them more players, it is hard to convert them into the type of roomies that would also part with their cash. And these are necessary for sites to continuing making profits that will continue to lead free bingo to bigger and better things.
So looking forward to 2010, does it seem likely Cheeky Bingo and Costa Bingo will end up a distant memory to players? Well, in short, no. We don’t think 2010 is the absolute end of free bingo, but we think that it’s ascendancy will slow, and eventually, plateau. Free no deposit bingo may well have to be thought of as “nice while it lasted”. But this does not mean necessarily players will never experience the joy of free bingo again. We just feel there will be more conditions, and that operators will start to use free bingo offers as incentives.
It’s not necessarily a bad situation for free bingo fans, more an adaptation of the idea of something for nothing. We think there will be more bigger money games that will grant free entries to players, providing they are funded. This idea of filling conditions acts as a bit of a compromise, and in 2010, should give both operators and players a way to have their slice of the free bingo cake- and eat it as well.
