In the past five or ten years, bingo has undergone a facelift more drastic than anything Sharon Osbourne has ever had. Until this point, bingo was seen as an older person’s past time and this can certainly be said to be true when it comes to the popularity of the game in old people’s homes. Also, the large percentage of senior citizens frequenting bingo halls gave rise to the perception that bingo was for older folk. Not true any more. The rise and rise of online bingo means it is now accessible to a global audience, and while it is still mainly females who play, the demographic of players has changed drastically since the days when ping-pong ball machines were used to call the numbers.
Recent market research has revealed that there are around 100 million bingo players globally, with up to 3.5 million in the United Kingdom alone. The average age of players has plummeted and now it is estimated that around 700,000 of these players are between the ages of 18 and 24. With trendy marketing campaigns, such as the Foxy Bingo fantastic Mr Foxy character, enormous and enticing prizes like cars and cruises, and lucrative signup bonuses, it’s no wonder that bingo is now appealing to a much younger audience.
The majority of the ladies who play online are stay at home mums, who can’t get enough of their favourite online bingo sites because of the intense social aspect. All bingo sites offer chat room facilities, which means women from many backgrounds can get together and do what they like best: gossip. Moreover, bingo chat rooms enable players to make friends, have fun and stay in touch with the outside world. Furthermore, it means they can keep an eye on the children, and stay at home while they still have fun. Think of the bingo chat room like a group of excited mothers outside the school gates… are you getting the picture?
Playing bingo at home offers an attractive alternative to getting ready to go out down to one’s local bingo hall. Since the smoking ban, attendances at venues has fallen dramatically. The current recession has also hit bingo hard, and the fact that players have around 200 to 300 Internet sites to choose from means that bingo halls could soon be a thing of the past. Is it possible that the amount of online bingo sites in existence could be finally reaching saturation? Or could it be that there is still a vastly untapped market of players that have yet to be converted? Here’s hoping!
This news post was written by Tracey Trevors on August 5, 2010