GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 9 - June 2009

32 Logan says that this has also “started to changeabitasonlinebingomoves further into themassmedia.” Also, unlike the typical casino player, a bingo player usually deposits and rarely asks for awithdrawal,whichmeans a rev- share payout structure is more beneficial as compared toaCPA. “The value of themoney you retain from a bingo player’s deposit is quite high be- cause of the lack of payouts,” Fraser ex- plains. “For instance, say a casino player goes into his account and deposits $300 or $400. They’re probably going to burn through it in aweek or amonth and then theymaynever comeback. “Meanwhile a bingo player is quite happy todeposit $500 and let it sit there forever, dropping small amounts on a very regular basis. Sowhat youactuallywindupwith is a low cost per player but a better lifetime value– it just takesa lot longer toaccrue.” GPWAmember “Casino Jack” is an affili- atemanager atAff Corner andagrees that the typical bingoplayer isn’t interested in going through thewithdrawal process. “Bingo players come for the social aspect rather than tomakemoney,” says “Casino Jack,” who adds that the average bingo player commission is almost $100 per year. “This is why they keep playing and hardly ever take a payout. Most payouts are requestedwhen a higher thannormal jackpot is hit, but usually they’d just rath- er leave themoneywhere it is.” Anotherdistinguishing traitofbingoplay- ers is that they typicallywon’t convert into poker players or try other casino games. Instead, they either remain bingo players andbingoplayers only, or they’ll try their handat slotmachines. Logan says that 50 percent of revenues for online bingo sites come fromnon-bingogames like slots. “Many bingo sites survive on these side gamesand theyhavenowbecomean inte- gral part of almost all online bingo sites,” he says. The reason for this goes back to the psy- chologyof abingoplayer. “Bingoplayers reallydon’t thinkofbingoas gambling,” says Mason, who has 25 years experience inbroadcast televisionand con- tentcreation. “They tend tostayon the ‘soft’ end of the gambling spectrum. They’ll try the slots, they’ll try scratch cards or video poker. Theymayevengiveagame like rou- lette a try. But that’s as far as it’s going to go. You’re not going to see toomany bingo playersdecide tostartplayingpoker.” And this, according to Fraser, is precisely the reasonwhymany of themajor online casinoshaveyet toembracebingo,despite thepotential profitmargin. “It’s rather easy to cross sell a sports- book, poker and casino games,” he says. “But bingo is a different animal. The standard casino player is a young male with money in his pocket. The bingo player is an older female and generally less affluent. It’s just two totally differ- ent markets and I think that’s why the big online casinos have shied away from it for themost part.” Thefutureof onlinebingo Last year at the 3rdAnnual Online Bingo Summit in June, Warwick Bartlett, the Chairmanof theGlobal BettingandGam- ing Consultants, predicted that “by 2012 onlinebingowill account for25percentof theworldwide bettingmarket anddeliver profits inexcessof $2billion.” AsFraserwaspreparing to chair the2009 OnlineBingoSummit inmid-June,hesaid thatacoupleofdifferent factorswouldde- cide whether or not Bartlett’s prediction could come to fruition. GPWA Times | Online Bingo SourceWhichBingoUKDirectory (http://www.whichbingo.co.uk/online-bingo-directory/) Number of U.K. Bingo Sites byYear