Many have asked me about the UK online bingo market so I thought I would take a few minutes to discuss the leading UK operators. Let me start by saying that the UK bingo market is the most developed in the world by far.
Every town and city in the UK has at least one bingo hall. Remember in the UK gambling is legal. If you walk round any UK city centre you will find several gambling establishments such as betting shops, bingo halls and even casinos. Add to this that most newsagents sell UK National Lottery tickets and scratch cards and even football pools. Gambling is built in to the culture of the UK.
Getting back specifically to bingo there are two major chains that run bingo halls which are Mecca and Gala. You will find Mecca and Gala bingo halls in every city in the UK. Mecca is owned by Rank who also own the G-Casino chain whilst Gala Coral Group owns the chain of Gala bingo halls plus casinos and betting shops. Mecca and Coral are household names in the UK plus trusted brands.
Both Mecca & Gala have done a great job building up their online bingo business. Remember though this has been easy for them as they started with a database of millions of players from their bingo halls. Foxy Bingo is another major player in the online bingo world and it came as no surprise that Party Gaming purchases Foxy last year. Over the last couple of years Foxy Bingo have been flooding UK prime time TV with adverts that feature a bloody stupid irritating fox that for some reason seems to have hit a sweet spot with the UK public. In the UK, Foxy Bingo is far more popular than Party Bingo.
The major player in the UK online bingo market though is none of the above. Jackpotjoy have done a sterling job in online marketing and almost silently become the most popular online bingo site. To increase their exposure even further, last month Jackpotjoy launched a major multi million pound UK TV campaign featuring Barbara Windsor who is one of the most popular UK actresses.
Other major players in the UK online bingo world are Wink Bingo, 888 Ladies, which of course is part of 888.com, Ladbrokes Bingo, Bet365 Bingo and William Hill Bingo. There are many more other established and trusted online bingo companies in the UK all fighting for new customers.
For the last few years all UK advertising media has been swamped by bingo promotions, severely so in the last couple of years. There is simply no escape from online bingo TV ads on UK commercial TV, which of course is great for online bingo affiliates as these ads drive potential sign ups online looking for the offers they have seen on TV.
Perhaps surprisingly many of the top US gambling affiliates have steered clear of promoting online bingo, although perhaps this is because they simply don’t understand the culture of online bingo in the UK. The online bingo sites that accept US players simply don’t have a chance of establishing themselves in the UK as they would have to spend millions on brand awareness. Compared to the likes of Jackpotjoy, Foxy Bingo and most of the UK online bingo brands the sites accepting US players are simply 3rd rate.
If you take the time to visit Youtube to check out the TV ads from the leading UK online bingo brands you will find that most push a “free bingo” promotion. This varies from site to site but most free offers require a deposit. Key phrases such as free bingo convert extremely well for potential UK online bingo players.
