Bingo remains in the midst of a financial boom, with key markets across the world benefiting from a massive resurgence in the popularity of this iconic game.
The emergence of online sites has transformed the image of bingo, helping it become a mainstream entertainment activity that appeals to adults of all ages.
The UK bingo scene is a great example of bingo’s success in the 21st century, with more than three million people playing the game there on a regular basis.
Once viewed as a pastime for senior citizens, bingo now attracts a much broader demographic who love the challenge of trying to win a bumper jackpot.
The internet has made bingo much more accessible, while advancements in technology have sparked a rise in the number of players who play on mobile.
Those trends are unlikely to slow down any time soon, thus helping to ensure that bingo will remain on an upward curve for the foreseeable future.
With land-based venues also benefiting from the explosion of online sites, these are undoubtedly exciting times for the bingo industry as a whole.
In such a burgeoning sector, it comes as no surprise to find that there loads of positive new stories about the game right now. We take a look at what has been occurring in the bingo world.
Wink Lands Prestigious Industry Award
Wink Bingo has had cause to celebrate after picking up the ‘Best Dragonfish Bingo Site’ for the fourth year running at the WhichBingo Awards 2020.
The event is one of the annual highlights for the UK online bingo industry and is a collective celebration of the best brands in the iGaming business.
Almost 200,000 votes were cast across 18 categories, with the Dragonfish section featuring many of the leading brands in the business.
Founded in 2007 as an independent arm of gaming conglomerate 888, Dragonfish has grown into one of the biggest names in the online bingo sector.
More than 100 different sites now use the software, highlighting the depth of competition that Wink were up against in this category.
Stuart Simms, CEO of XLMedia PLC Group who organised the event, offered his congratulations to each of the winners and nominees.
“The WhichBingo Awards looked very different this year as it was impossible for us all to come together and celebrate the many bingo accomplishments of the past year,” he said.
“Online bingo’s future looks very promising as we head into the second half of 2020. As the industry continues to welcome new players to the online space while simultaneously embracing the latest regulations, we are confident that online bingo will continue to flourish and rise in popularity.”
Gaming Giants Ride the Bingo Boom
As one of 888’s primary brands, Wink Bingo plays an extremely important part in the ongoing success of the global gaming giant.
The latest financial figures for bingo for the first half of 2020 paint a positive picture, with the group recording year-on-year revenue growth of eight percent to $21.1 million.
Deposits and active players both increased during the period, while new customer acquisition saw a 43% increase to build a healthy customer base going into the second half of the year.
Itai Pazner, CEO of 888, said: “This outcome reflects the group’s continued strong levels of customer acquisition, general consumer trends towards increased use of online services especially during the lockdown period and our relentless focus on product leadership.
“We are pleased with our continued progress in the US where revenue increased by 90% year-on-year, reflecting the group’s outstanding B2C growth in New Jersey as well as strong performances from our B2B partners. We remain excited by the potentially significant medium-to-long-term opportunities in the US market.
“We are continuing to invest in safe gambling tools and will begin the roll-out of a new customer-centric safe gambling feature called the ‘Control Centre’ later this year that will offer customers an improved interface to help them understand better their gambling behaviour.
“As a result of the group’s continued momentum, as well as its strengths as a product-centric, responsible and diversified operator, the Board believes that we have a unique platform to deliver continued strategic progress during H2 and beyond.”
Key Regions Delivering Results
In addition to the progression made in states such as New Jersey, Wink’s owners have also continued to enjoy huge success in other jurisdictions.
The company extended its exclusive iGaming contract with the Delaware Lottery this summer for a further two years and the latest financial figures highlight the lucrative nature of the partnership.
Delaware’s online gambling operators put up record numbers during August, generating revenues of more than $800,000.
The figures represented a 263.4 percent increase from August 2019 and took the annual gambling revenue in the state up to $5.7m.
The revenues are particularly impressive when considering that less than one million people live within Delaware’s borders.
The healthy state of play in Delaware further demonstrates how well 888 and its associated brands have generally been performing across the globe.
All countries and territories posted year-on-year growth during the first half of the year, aside from Spain were revenue fell by 2.1%.
The largest single market was Great Britain, where revenue grew 45.7% to $142.2m, while the Americas rose by 63.7% to $40.6m.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa region (excluding Britain and Spain) was up 35.4% to $156.3m, with $36.2m coming from the non-European markets, up 73.2%.
The group’s successes are reflected in their share price, which were as low as 68.4 pence during the early part of 2020.
They recently reached a yearly high of 273.5 pence, to completely outperform the rest of the market during a time of massive economic uncertainty.
That is great news for brands such as Wink, who should benefit from further increases in revenues when innovations such as virtual reality (VR) bingo become commonplace.
