Online bingo booms, club based bingo declines
6th July, 2009
An article from eGaming Review suggests that as more and more people are partaking in online bingo, the popularity of traditional club based bingo halls is decreasing.
A report from Mintel, a large market research company, shows that from 2006 to the end of 2008, online bingo has boomed in growth by 60%, whilst club based bingo has seen a 10% drop in visits.
The report describes that over the past 10 years the demographic of bingo players has changed dramatically, now involving far younger and wealthier participants.
However, with the growth in popularity of online bingo, the newly gained demographic to the game are the most likely to choose to play online, rather than visit traditional clubs.
Gala and Mecca bingo together hold the strongest presence in the club based bingo market, accounting for around 80% of the market, however owning only a 23% share in online bingo revenue– and facing strong competition from the non club based online bingo operators such as Foxy Bingo and Crown Bingo.
With 6% of the current club based players already having experience of online bingo play, it is thought that as more gain exposure, it will create a slow siphon of players leaving the clubs and logging into the game instead.
Mintel points the finger of blame at the smoking ban and the downturn of the economy for the decline in consumer’s visits to bingo clubs.
By Tom
