Analyzing the Growth of Online Bingo in 2011

Online bingo was one of the few growing markets in gambling in 2011.  Unlike online casinos, poker and sports betting, which shrunk last year due to the FBI’s seizure of some of the biggest US-facing gambling sites (and others voluntarily closing their services to US players), bingo continues to be a popular market for European customers.

Some of the biggest bingo sites, such as Foxy Bingo, Mecca Bingo (owned by the Rank Group with more than 6 million registered customers) and Jackpotjoy.com recorded growth of 5.4% in 2011.  A lot of this growth was from online and TV marketing campaigns for bingo sites and jackpot games.

One of the areas where online bingo operators had most success was through the creation of side-games (also known as “soft games”), which were cleverly marketed towards players.  Soft games such as slots, video slots, scratch cards and arcade games allow bingo players to try other types of games outside bingo rooms.  Soft games are slightly different to casino house games because they tend to have much higher odds of winning, with players able to play from as little as 1p per game.  Scratch card sites such as Scratch2Cash.com for example state they every 1/3 game wins a cash prize.

Bingo has also seen improved technology in the market.  BingoCams.co.uk won the EGR 2011 for ‘Most Innovative Online Bingo Site”.  BingoCams.co.uk is unique to other bingo sites because it allows players to see themselves and record winnings on their webcam – a mix between chat roulette, skype calls and online bingo.  Overall this is meant to improve the social and community aspect of the game, as well as making it more exciting when you win!  BingCams.co.uk was also voted best new bingo site of 2011 by the affiliate website WhichBingo.co.uk.  Although the bingo site is very new and still in its infancy, it’s technology and innovative games are likely to be taken up by more bigger bingo sites in the future.

2011 was also a year in which a number of new bingo sites launched on the internet.  The number of online bingo sites for new players nowadays is probably in the 1,000’s.  A few great examples on some new bingo sites for 2012 are Fabulous Bingo, Bingo Funland, Naughty Bingo, Hit Bingo and Benidorm Bingo.  Each of these sites offers special bingo bonuses such as £5 no deposit bonuses, 200% up to £200 deposit bonuses and tons of other reload and VIP offers.