As the smoking ban and the recession seemed to bite the heels of local bingo clubs, more and more people turned to online bingo, with the industry seemingly resilient to the financial knocks taken by some of its other gaming siblings. And interestingly, the online bingo game seemed to attract a much more diverse audience. According to bingo site William Hill, the majority of it’s players are mainly 30 year old women, while Simon Collins, director of online bingo giant Cashcade said back in August of last year “Approximately 70% of players who register in Cashcade sites in the United Kingdom are women whose ages are between 25 and 45 years.” With Cashcade holding the reins for some of the most popular sites at the moment, including Think Bingo, Little Big Bingo and Foxy Bingo, it seems like online bingo and the UK really have found a match made in heaven.
Whether you’re an online bingo pro or a relative newbie, you probably can’t escape the fact that the online bingo world has never been bigger. For players, this is a great time to get started with online bingo, as jackpots and certain bonuses look set to increase. But when it comes to choosing your bingo site, you may have to think carefully, as we think 2010 is the year that online bingo competition really begins to bite back.
With statistics pointing towards that growth hitting the $1.6 billion mark in 2010, you’d think the number of online bingo sites will keep on growing. But industry experts are warning companies wanting to hitch a ride on the coattails of bingo to do so with caution. Many would-be operators may find themselves by the wayside. As the industry amasses more money, all aspects of online bingo will become bigger. Especially in terms of companies, with some touting Crown Bingo, Jackpot Joy or Tombola Bingo as potential takeover totty for 2010. This means increased financial backing, meaning greater adspend, greater jackpots, greater bonuses, and greater combined customer bases. A young gun will have their work cut out for them in 2010 – for this year looks set to have quite a few big boys around.
Likewise, it seems credible that some smaller sites will sell up to the larger companies in an effort to stay afloat. We already saw the closure of a small bingo network in the closing months of 2009, and expect the subject of takeovers to become rather newsworthy as we look ahead. But this does not mean the online bingo world is going to be static. Nor does it mean new sites are not going to appear.
For example, fresh out of the 888 Holdings group for 2010 is 888Bingo. With 888 Holdings having recently purchased Wink Bingo and Posh Bingo, the 888Bingo site is being touted as the brother to the already popular 888LadiesBingo site. With similar layout, software and some of the same great offers, 888Bingo is targeted towards a more male market (something to bear in mind is that online bingo may increase its marketshare amongst men in 2010) and it looks set to be just as popular as it’s sister site. But what you can expect is that these sort of sites, released from the same stable, will work together. To coincide with the launch of 888Bingo, 888LadiesBingo is currently running its biggest game ever, with a massive £5,000,000 jackpot up for grabs. The result? 888 manages to get players from all angles. So make sure you choose wisely when picking a bingo site – to make sure you find one that will really match up to the competition in 2010.
