While other British industries are anticipating lean if not bleak times in the near future the same cannot be said for online bingo.A leader in the industry says there’s excellent scope for growth in the online bingo sector in the next one to three year specifically.
“Online bingo site launches are expected in Spain in the next three months and also in Denmark, Sweden and Ireland shortly. All are underdeveloped markets that have a history and culture of bingo halls so you would expect them to follow the U.K. market in terms of growth” says Al-Haig Thomas, chief executive of Virtue Fusion, a leading online bingo software provider.
British online bingo sites are keeping their fingers crossed that the success they have experienced here can transfer to neighbouring European nations.
According to Phil Fraser of bingo information site ‘Which Bingo’ the U.K. is the world’s most developed online bingo market. In 2004 punters had just 17 websites to choose from in the U.K. - now that figure is a massive 243, thats an approximate 1400% increase in the amount of sites available in just four years.So in financial terms how has the market growth and increased competition in recent years effected revenue. Well last year alone £650 million was spent on online bingo in the U.K., companies pocketing a substantial £120 million in profits.
With over half a million online players having a flutter each month the game is big business but if differs from other conventional forms of gambling.
Research carried out by Cashcade Ltd. who own the award winning Foxybingo.com website shows that players tend to be female, aged between 25 and 50 and educated to High school level.
This represents a very different demographic group to your regular bookie population on a Saturday morning.
Spread of broadband
While targeting this group is intrinsic to help grow the industry there is another major reason why more and more Britons are flocking to play online bingo.
The spread of broadband internet access clearly helps all forms of online gaming but online bingo seems to benefit more than others.
Going forward Industry leaders in the U.K. believe further growth is inevitable.
William Bartlett, who is chairman of the British based ‘Glocal betting and gaming consultants’ says he believes the future is bright.