The online bingo industry has seen explosive growth in 2009 so what does 2010 hold for bingo players and gaming executives? Bingo News explores the likely trends.
1. Bingo companies will continue to be acquired/merge - One of the final stories of the year was 888's acquisition of Daub Ltd, owner of Wink Bingo and Posh Bingo. Last summer Party Gaming acquired Cashcade, owner of Foxy Bingo, Think Bingo, Cheeky
Bingo, Bingo Scotland and operator of Mirror Bingo. It is clear that major online gaming operators need to have bingo as part of their mix yet many do not have a presence in the market. Bwin, Sportingbet and the Mangas stable (BetClick etc) spring to mind as potential acquirers while potential targets include Crown Bingo (and their stable of valuable European bingo networks), Tombola and that old perennial target Gamesys/Jackpot Joy. Software providers with a bingo specialism will also prove interesting to companies like Playtech; Virtue Fusion and Cozy Games are the most likely to be acquired.
Where small operators start to struggle to run their operations we expect them to hand over their operations to the more experienced and better organized rivals, taking a profit share on the sites but leaving day-to-day operations to the experts.
2. New bingo sites will continue to launch - Although most people agree that the market is swamped in the UK, new sites continue to be launched. It is surprising how many software providers are willing to provide sites to partners with a very low marketing budget and no obvious strategy to enter a highly competitive market. While some launches such as Tea and Bingo may work because of their ownership of media sites such as Bingo Base, others look certain to be a waste of time and money for all involved. Expect
3. New markets will not be as successful as many people hope - Three years ago everyone expected Spain to be the next big thing in bingo. Ask anyone in that market how they are doing and most will answer that it has been a major disappointment. Poor credit card penetration, low broadband use among the target demographic, a lack of marketing outlets and an economy in a state of collapse are all cited as reasons. But perhaps the Spanish market is just very different from the UK? Sweden and Denmark seem to be doing better for some operators while a lot of bingo executives are keen on the chances of Italy and France, especially the former.
4. Tax is going to go up - Most governments around the world are up to their eyeballs in debt. The UK government has an interest bill in excess of £40 billion a year to pay off and while cuts in public service employment will help reduce costs somewhat the easiest way to pay the bill is to increase tax. And gambling companies are easy targets. Don't be surprised if gaming companies who want to target
the UK market are required to return to the UK and pay UK taxes.
5. Innovation is going to be key - Whether it is social networking, live bingo broadcasts or some other technology innovation, the leaders in bingo are going to embrace new technology solutions. Very few bingo sites use Face book or Twitter effectively and while this may currently be a niche area for gambling operators now, understanding technology is going to be key for the foreseeable future. Software developers and bingo operators are going to have to work together to increase the community element of their sites, because of all gambling operations bingo is far the best suited to social networking.
It will be interesting to see which of these trends is the most dominant in 2010 - but it is clear that it will not be a year of standing still.
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