Bingo demographic shifts to online

Quoting the UK Gambling Commission and other data sources, the UK newspaper The Sun reported over the weekend that the main bingo playing demographic has shifted to the online environment, with one-in-five of 55 year-olds preferring to play online.

300,000 players made the switch over the past year, the newspaper claims, noting that this corresponds to a 14 percent drop in physical bingo hall visitation numbers over the same period.

Over the past decade the impact of the internet, along with bans on smoking and high taxes, has been responsible for the number of physical bingo halls in the UK falling from 600 to 350.

News UK, the owners of The Sun offer internet bingo action through its Alderney-licensed Sun Bingo, founded in 2006. In November 2015, News UK and Playtech signed a five-year deal to operate Sun Bingo as part of Virtue Fusion, Playtech’s Bingo division (see previous reports).

News UK also operates the Sun Bets online gambling site in partnership with Australian gambling group Tabcorp. The enterprise is struggling at present and is under review, having posted A$47.6 million (approximately GBP 29 million) in losses last year.

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