The results are in and they make for interesting reading! Our bingo player survey was both timely and interesting.
We surveyed online bingo players* who visited our website between 1st and 31st of October 2020.
At the time of the survey and the writing of this summary, most areas in the UK were experiencing levels of social restrictions due to the ongoing spread of the global pandemic known as Covid-19.
How often do they play online bingo?
- Over 50% of online bingo players surveyed said they played bingo every day.
- 30% said they played just a few times per week.
- 20% played online bingo about once a month.
It would seem that playing online bingo in the UK is still an appealing pastime, but this could be down to more social restrictions with more people working and staying at home.
Which is the most favourite bingo site amongst players surveyed?
The most favourite bingo site for players was tombola, however 30% of players said they didn’t really have a favourite.
Tombola is still the most talked about and played online bingo site in the UK, and our survey confirms this. However, it’s interesting to learn that a relatively high number of players don’t have any brand loyalty at all.
Maybe there is still an opportunity for bingo brands to up their game and try to steal some of the limelight from the bingo giant that is tombola?
What do players look for?
When asked the question “What’s the main thing you look for in a bingo site?” the following responses were recorded:
- 25% said the main thing was the types of bingo games available
- 25% said regular promotions are important to them
- 19% said the welcome offer was the most important thing to them
- 17% said slot games available
- 14% said fair wagering requirements were the most important
Looking at the responses, it’s clear that bingo games and promotions are high on the list of must-haves for bingo players. Whilst the welcome offer favoured some, slot games available and wagering requirements were high on the list of others.
With the latest online bingo games software from Pragmatic Play now powering over 100 Jumpman Bingo Sites, maybe this is another trend that other bingo software operators should look to address. With innovative bingo games like Bingo Blast from Pragmatic Play and Bingo Millions available from a few of the bigger operators, there’s still room for others to bring more levels of bingo gamification to the table.
Do bingo players understand wagering requirements?
Over 70% of players surveyed said they fully understood what wagering requirements were on deposit bonuses, with 20% not full understanding and 10% said they had no idea.
Whilst this is an encouraging statistic to see most players understand what wagering requirements are, there is still an education opportunity for the industry to get those who don’t fully understand or have no idea.
Not understanding the rules of any game, is a fool’s errand in our opinion. Operators promoting high bonuses and high wagering requirements need to take heed and look at how they’re recruiting new players with confusing and sometimes eye-watering wagering requirements. Maybe that’s why the “challenger casinos” like PlayOjo and others are taking the lead with no wagering requirements.
What do they play on?
When playing bingo on different devices, a massive 75% said they only played on their mobile phones.
This will come as either no surprise or a big surprise to some reading this. Mobile technology has come on leaps and bounds over the last 5 years so it’s no surprise to us. However, there are still some bingo software games out there that are just not suited to playing on mobile phones. We’re not naming names, but I think you know who they are!
Where do they play?
Asked if they’d played bingo in different places and situations, the following interesting statistics were observed:
- 43% surveyed said they’d played bingo in bed
- A larger number said they had played bingo whilst on the toilet or in the bath
- Only a small number confessed to playing bingo whilst working
Ok, we were just looking for sensational headlines here! We could have asked a question like “would you rather play bingo than have sex with your partner” but that would have gone to far!
What is interesting though is a high number of people playing in bed. We don’t think they’re doing this on their laptops, hence the high number of people saying they only played bingo on their mobile phones.
And playing bingo on the toilet or bath is just play silly in our book. Yes, we asked the question, just for a big headline, but really, come on people get real!
A bad bingo experience?
When asked if they’d ever had a bad experience playing at an online bingo site, over 75% of those surveyed said they hadn’t. The rest confessed to specific issues with bonuses at certain bingo sites which we can neither comment on nor investigate further.
This is certainly an interesting response from the survey. When you look at some of the bigger review websites like Which Bingo, they seem to be littered with people complaining about this site or the other. Issues around bonuses and “those players always win” will never change, or will they?
What about land-based bingo clubs?
With the pandemic restrictions still in place across the UK at the time of writing, it was interesting to learn that 50% of players surveyed said they had visited a bingo hall or club in the past 12 months.
Where this will leave the bingo industry at large as we move into more restrictions on how we can socialise, time will tell. When Buzz Bingo announced they were closing 26 bingo clubs in July 2020, this sent a shockwave through the bingo industry. Maybe bingo will only survive online as we move into 2021, but we hope it doesn’t.
If you’ve never been to a bingo club or hall in your local town or city, you’ve never really experienced “real” bingo!
Got any comments? Leave us a comment.
*The Best Bingo Websites Bingo Player Survey 2020 – 60 online bingo player responses were recorded between 1st and 31st October 2020.
