Online Bingo in the UK

In 1996, the popular game of bingo joined many other games when it made the leap from the world of brick and mortar to the world of cyber space. Bingo Zone was the first ever game of bingo available on the Internet and it was soon followed by an explosion of interest.

By the year 2006, the game of online bingo had grossed $500 million worldwide and was forecasted to grow as large as $1,000 million by the end of 2010. As you would expect, the online version of bingo works in a vastly different way than its land based cousin but there are some similarities as well.

Land based bingo is a popular pastime for the elder generation and it is the chance to get together with old friends and have a good old-fashioned chinwag, which is part of the pull that Bingo offers. In the online world, the players in the market realise this and include chat functionality in almost every site.

With more than 3 million people now playing online bingo in the UK it has become an important market for the online bingo operators. Not only have big brand online names started to create games of online bingo, but land-based giants have also moved into the virtual marketplace.

Bizarrely, the increase in online bingo participants occurred when the UK smoking ban was introduced in 2007. Players who could no longer smoke in the bingo halls decided to stay at home and smoke in front of their computer screens – nice!