Not content with the hive of activity in 2009 which saw the online bingo world start shacking up with each other, it seems this summer is continuing the mass consolidation, with online gaming companies getting cosy left right and centre. Yup, it seems history is repeating itself once again, with PartyGaming leading the way, merging with Bwin to create the biggest online gaming company since… well… since ever! As a result, it seems the rest of the online bingo world is starting to look for potential partners. Sure enough, just the other day, 888Holdings announced it was “aware” of new partners that it could merge with to take on it’s now supersized rival. So, what does this actually mean for the average online bingo fan that in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t give two hoots about the share price of a gaming conglomerate??! Read on roomies – it’s about to get interesting…
First, a little bit of history. About 18 months ago, the online bingo scene had quite a few operators that were going it alone. As the industry got bigger and more roomies started to discover the delights of online bingo, companies began to merge, as it makes sense to take over the competition rather than beat them down into the ground. Perhaps the biggest move towards this mentality came from PartyGaming, who ran Party Bingo. To strengthen their position, PartyGaming took over Cashcade, the beloved darling of the online bingo world who run Foxy Bingo, Think Bingo, Bingo Scotland and Cheeky Bingo.
A few months later, 888Holdings (of 888Ladies Bingo fame) announced they had acquired Daub Media, the brains behind Wink Bingo, Posh Bingo, Tasty Bingo and recent new superstar, Red Bus Bingo. And then there were other deals behind the scenes which started to create these much bigger companies… but then things quietened down a little. Until recently, when PartyGaming recently upped the ante again, announcing a merger with Bwin. Cue enormous pressure on rivals to
So, now we are up to speed, here’s why it’s interesting for us mere roomies. See, there are some good points – take for example the relaunch of ITV Bingo, which used to run on the PartyGaming network and now has been given the magic wand treatment thanks to Cashcade, which has a bit of a knack for creating great online bingo sites. The combining of forces can have a happy ending, and it’s always reassuring to go to a site that you know comes from “good stock”. In this sense, the seemingly endless world of online bingo sites becomes a series of much easier choices – if you like the look of Foxy Bingo for example, you may find yourself liking other sites run by the same people.
But the element of competition is always important, and so is the idea of a bingo site having it’s own personality. And the flipside of monopolies is the danger of a carbon copy bingo world, where all sites run on the same software, have roughly the same look and feel, and have promotions which more than ever place the interests of bingo companies high above those of their players. Now, whilst we are not up to that stage just yet, it’s an interesting development seeing these giants being created. We reckon there is a big challenge for these big gaming companies to not forget about the ones that made them what they are – and whilst many operators could easily meet it, it’s going to be interesting to see if they will.
