GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 9 - June 2009

30 “TheUIGEAwas a shock to everyone. Butweall knew that therewouldbeother markets forbingo, so that’s whatwe set our sightson.” —Phil Fraser,WhichBingo.com Theonlinegamehasalsoseen tremendous growth in recent years. BingoPort.co.uk reported that the number of players per month doubled during 2008 (500,000) as compared to2007and that thenumber of active players increased by 80 percent during a six-month period between May andOctober2008. Asocial experience Bingo became an instant hit for Lowe for many reasons. It was simple, it was fun and maybe most importantly it allowed a community to comeout and enjoy thegame together. Decades later, that same concept is what drives theonlinegame. Simply put, online bingo players are friendly, chatty and congenial. A trip to a bingo site can be culture shock to someoneused to the cutthroat atmosphere of an online poker room or casino. Thecolorsaretypicallysooth- ing – thinkmauve, purpleor pink–and theatmosphere is relaxedandamiable. Players post actual pictures of themselves and their fam- ily instead of silly avatars. And you’re just as likely to receiveanewpot roast recipe or a congratulatory message on your newest grandchild as you are towinmoney. It’s almost as if thenumbers and letters being called every 10 seconds serve as background music. A survey conductedbyBingo Hideout in March further proves this point: 75 percent of 2,000onlinebingoplayers said that they regularly use the chat room feature and50 percent said they had made new friends through their bingo siteof choice. “The number-one key aspect inbuildingandmaintaininga successful online bingo room is the community, which is [the players’] reason for be- ing there in thefirst place,” saysScottLo- gan, co-founder of BingoPort.co.uk and LiveBingo.com. “Online bingo players will show intense loyalty to their favorite sites if those sites can engageand include the player in their community through the use of excellent chat managers and innovative communitypromotions.” Fraser agrees, saying that the psychology of a bingo player and your typical casino orpokerplayer is “completelydifferent.” “A casino or poker player is there to win money,” explainsFraser, theowner of Fo- cus Online Management, which in addi- tion to the twoWhichBingosites,alsoruns FreeBingo.co.uk,LiveFreeBingo.com,Bin- goVIPClub.com and TopBingoSites.com. “And bingo players want to win money, too. But thedifference is that if they losea littlemoney andhave fundoing it, they’re completelyOKwith that. It’s not as black andwhite to them. It’smoreof a social thing.” So inorder tocater to thebin- goplayerwhowants tobe so- cially engaged, the chat room feature is vital. “Thechatmaster reallyhas to understand who their audi- ence is,” says BingoLore.com founder and director Debbie Mason, who in 2002 created and launched the largely suc- cessful interactive bingo TV channel AVAGO, which aired on the Sky platform and was ultimately bought by Gala Bingo. “They need to be like- minded and create a commu- nityaround thegames. “At theendof theday theyare thepersonalityof the siteand therefore the key to driving revenues.Youhave tomake it fun for the players. You have to remember that thesearen’t hard core gamblers. They are there fordifferent reasons.” Thebingo demographic While bingo players aren’t “hard core gamblers,” they have proven to be profitable over the long term. They are also typically women, al- though recent studies have shown thatmoremenareget- ting into thegame. According to Logan, every countrydifferswith itsdemo- graphicsbut in theU.K.bingo players are 70percent female and aged between 25 and 45 years old. They are also typi- cally on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, but GPWA Times | Online Bingo