ONLINE BINGO

Online bingo is the game of bingo (US|UK) played on the Internet. Global Betting and Gaming Consultants estimates the global gross gaming yield of bingo was $0.5 billion USD in 2006; they forecast it will grow to $1.0 billion USD by 2010.[1]

Unlike balls used in regular bingo halls, online bingo sites use a random number generator. The online bingo play works almost exactly like playing online poker or online casino games with everything being virtual. Most bingo halls also offer links to online poker and casino offerings. One notable feature of online bingo is the chat functionality. Successful online bingo sites foster a sense of community and interaction between players.

How to play

Playing bingo online, players can make use of optional features which make playing the game easier, such as auto-daub. Auto-daub automatically marks off the numbers on cards as they are called, so players don't have to. Most software providers support other gaming features as "Best Card Sorting" and "Best Card Highlighting" where players cards are sorted and highlighted by closest to bingo. Some of these features are designed to free players to enjoy the communal pleasantries of the chat features.

There are also a great variety of games to play to suit just about every interested bingo player. Most of the top sites offer several bingo games. Some inexpensive game rooms appeal to the player who may want to play for just a 10 cents or 10 pence. Some bingo games only allow players to purchase the same amount of cards so you are not constantly competing against the "high rollers" out there who buy many cards for the same game.

According to the Internet Bingo Blog, there are over 357 online bingo sites currently operating. The most popular country for online bingo is the United Kingdom followed by the United States, Canada, and Sweden. Growth in online bingo is spurred by many countries banning smoking in public places as a high percentage of bingo hall players are smokers. With online bingo, smokers can smoke while playing bingo online.

Online bingo stats

Some 50,000 of the estimated 3 million land-based bingo players now play bingo online. 90% of these are below the age of 50, dispelling the myth that bingo is for the older generation. 85% of online players are women.

If you go into an online bingo site and enter the chat room, you will find that there are significantly more female players there than male players. That's why most online bingo sites target women aged 35-54 with their advertising.

A recent survey commissioned by St Minver Ltd, showed that the UK was third in a list behind the US and Japan of countries with the highest propensity playing online bingo.

One of the biggest bingo software providers, Parlay Entertainment undertook a survey of the bingo market together with UK bingo players. It derived from its product that of the $150 million global market, the US provided 85% of revenues, whereas the UK was the fastest growing online market.

While the market is growing fast, still only 1% of UK land-based players played online, showing that many have still not made the transition to online bingo.

There are now over 250 UK online bingo sites. This makes the UK the largest market for online bingo in the world, far exceeding the numbers in the US and Scandinavian markets.

Bingo players

According to Bingo Hideout, the current age demographic of online bingo players is as follows:

18-25 = 11.5%, 26-35 = 23.5%, 36-45 = 28.8%, 46-55 = 24.1%, 56-65 = 9.8%, 66+ = 2.3%. It is worth noting that over a third (36.2%) of the survey population that play at online bingo sites in the Bingo Hideout survey are over 46 years old, in contrast to the under 35 age group which accounts for 35% of the survey population. Certainly the ‘silver surfer’ is proving to be a significant market and bingo sites may be missing significant opportunities if they do not recognise the prospects that this age group presents..