The online world has killed off various businesses and even entire industries during its short reign, with pre-internet ways of doing things now often completely outdated. A good example is the encyclopaedia, which is now a superfluous and overly large book, not required by any household. The internet had threatened to kill other industries as well, only for them to bounce back online in a bigger and bolder way. The bingo industry is a prime example of this, and the game is arguably now in its heyday in an internet setting.
There was a time when it seemed as though bingo would be dead and buried. In the late 2000s after the smoking ban, a vast number of bingo halls across the country were forced to close down. Soon after the 2007 legislation, it was found that sales in bingo halls had dropped by around 15 percent. This hit a lot of the major brands hard, and there was a sharp decline in operating bingo halls. An establishment which had become so ingrained in British culture appeared to be on the way out.
This turned out not to be the case, however. Some of the country’s biggest bingo brands observed the rise of online casinos and realised that there was potential for the bingo industry to go in a similar direction. Bingo was thus transported to an online setting, which gave operators a prime opportunity to rebrand and look to attract a different type of clientele. Instead of only appealing to middle-aged women and pensioners, modern bingo sites are seeking to bring in Millennials and younger generations who are in search of an exciting way to play.
Online bingo sites are offering a greater experience than the halls that preceded them, because they have the capability to provide a much more varied way of playing. When users play bingo online at Paddy Power, they don’t merely have access to the traditional 90-ball form of the game. Indeed, there are brand new variants such as Deal or No Deal Bingo 75 and Rainbow Riches. When playing these games, players can easily use multiple cards at a time because the computer helps check off the numbers for them. There are also special rooms like the Crystal Room.
Online bingo sites excel in the fact that they offer so much more than just bingo. While bingo halls were fairly limited in this regard, online bingo sites are now beginning to feature slot games and other exciting options like scratch cards. One thing that was an issue for online bingo operators was trying to work out how to recreate the social aspect of bingo. Currently, sites perhaps aren’t as social as the bingo halls of old, but there are options for users to chat to one another. In the future, when virtual reality comes to the fore, the social side should be enhanced even more.
Because online bingo sites can offer so much more varied and thrilling gameplay, they can easily be considered superior to the traditional halls that came before. The only thing left for operators to improve upon is the social side of the pastime.
