Playing Bingo
Play now!

Bingo's Core Problems - And Some Potential Solutions - Old News Archive

Posted On: Saturday, 06 January, 2007

I've already mentioned the importance of the coming year to the bricks and mortar Bingo industry in my last post. If you're new to the subject you may be wondering why there's so much panic and concern given the fast approaching smoking ban. Brand Republic have a great article entitled 'Bingo faces core problem' which is well worth the read to bring you up to speed.

It looks at the range of issues that are expected to cause problems, and some of the attempts to improve the audience for Bingo. Now personally, I still think the industry is struggling to come to terms with the idea of gaining a new audience and revenue streams ahead of this ban, and is instead looking at tax relief and complaining as the solution to staying in business.

I realise it's easy for me to say, I don't have a stake in the industry beyond my site here. I do feel that the industry should be embracing this ban as a chance to broaden it's range, and improve its customer base beyond the core of frankly unhealthy players it currently relies upon.

Gaining That New Audience

Young Bingo playersI still maintain that there's a large demographic of young and cash rich potential players out there waiting to be scooped up and made to feel at home in Bingo clubs. I've seen it myself time and time again, youngsters afraid to go to halls on their own due to a lack of knowledge of the culture.

At times I've taken parties of 10-20 complete Bingo virgins from my places of work to Bingo. They've loved, it and a number have gone on to become semi regular players. I'm talking about groups of people between the age of 20 and 40, both male and female - a bracket under-represented at your typical hall. What's more, it has never been a case of cajoling them to go either, they've all said something along the lines of 'Bingo? I've always wanted to go!' or some similar excited declaration.

Once the word gets out that an experienced player will be on hand and they'll get a full walk through and a print out of my beginner's guide to Bingo to ease the fears, it's a case of fighting them off. There's usually requests for more of the same afterwards as well - Bingo has that appeal once you get to know it. Let's face it - Bingo offers a fun environment, it makes a great pre-club activity, the beer's cheap and the grubs great value. I'm yet to hear someone complain that it was a naff night out.

Ok, so initially there's the novelty value - I realise that, but after just a couple of trips, the comfort factor slips in, and you've got yourself a regular, albeit weekly or monthly, player. I can point my finger to a number of people who are still going after one of my introductory nights.

The clubs could be tapping their existing members to do something similar off the bat. Appoint some hosts for newbie Bingo nights, go out into the wealth of offices with planned Bingo night events and services and get more of a presence. If activities like Paintball or Go-Karting can do it, so can Bingo. Personally, relying on the branding kudos of having someone like Sharon Osbourne on the posters won't cut it - they need to be more proactive in their quest and take it to this new audience. And, the beauty is, a lot of this work can be done without upsetting the core members too much.

It doesn't stop there - the industry needs to start thinking on its toes. Put some time aside, get some people together, both players and staff and brainstorm. There are elegant solutions waiting to be found and developed. The online industry is doing it - why can't the high street?

The time to act is fast running out - it less than a 100 days to the ban here in Wales. If you're a club regular, ask your manager what he's doing to get new players? If you've had a thought then tell him your suggestions. We as much have the solutions as the clubs - maybe it's time they started asking the players as well. Either way, arses need to be got in gear.

No Comments

Comments are now closed on this post

Previous Posts

Old news blog archive: 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |

Old Blog section index

Old News section index