Online Bingo Immature?

by Hollie Sanders

The Chairman of the UK Based “Global Betting and Gaming Consultants”, Warwick Bartlett, has said that online gaming executives still consider the online version of bingo to be relatively immature in comparison with Internet sports betting and casinos, and they estimate that by the year 2012, online bingo will be accountable for 25% of the entire betting market in the world, delivering profits of more than $2 billion! These are some remarkable numbers indeed. I was of the opinion that the online bingo market was growing and expanding, but had no idea that it was considered to be immature.

Mr. Bartlett came out with this mind boggling statement at the Online Bingo Summit held recently in London. Their belief is that as broadband penetration increases, together with the price of petrol, people will realize that the cost of going to a land based bingo club is becoming prohibitive and they will receive more value for money, playing bingo online. They are also (fortunately still) able to smoke in the comfort of their own homes and this in itself makes the prospect of playing online bingo more attractive.

There are also some risks for the online bingo market, in that some of the areas that have large potential for growth are not necessarily legal to operate in for instance Turkey and France. There have been incidents in both these countries where online bingo executives have been arrested and details for participating in illegal activities, and several other European markets are fighting to keep out online gaming companies and to stop these operators from offering services to their citizens.

I suppose that eventually demand will exceed supply and when this happens these Governments might just have to listen to what their residents want, we may end up calling it the Great Bingo Revolt!