Here in the UK, there are certain things synonymous with our wonderful island. Fish and chips is one, a nice cool pint at the local is another, and cup of tea is obviously a given, but what about bingo?
For decades now, we’ve been enjoying the fabulously fun game that is bingo, yet recently it’s safe to say that the game has received quite the makeover that has forced it to come screaming into the 21st century.
You see, when people used to think of bingo, they’d imagine quiet seaside towns, smoky bingo halls, and table after table of elderly bingo players, bingo dabbers in hand, all eager to start playing and hopefully win themselves some prizes and beat Elsie and Ethel sat on the next table.
Whilst bingo was once upon a game commonly associated with older players, lately, things seem very different. Nowadays, when people think of bingo, they associate it with younger players enjoying online bingo instead.
Here’s a look at a few ways in which bingo has been modernised over the years.
Online bingo
Despite the internet having been around for many years prior, it wasn’t until the 1990s that households up and down the nation started to install the internet in their homes.
The internet changed modern life as we know it today, and in truth it’s hard to imagine life without it, due to the fact that we rely on it for so much.
The internet didn’t just change modern life, though, it also breathed new life into a quintessentially British game that was sadly on its last legs and dying out. The game in question was of course bingo. Bingo was losing popularity, bingo halls were closing down, and experts predicted it would soon die out. Instead, what happened next made the game more popular than ever.
Developers took a chance and decided to create online bingo games that players could enjoy at home via the internet through sites like Trusted Bingo. Instead of having to leave the house, they could just sit down in front of their computers and play the game from home.
More and more people discovered online bingo, and as websites became more advanced, people began spending their own money on games of bingo in the hopes of winning a cash prize.
Online bingo wasn’t predicted to be much of a hit, yet many consider it pivotal in the rise in demand for online casinos and gambling.
Smart technology
In the early days of the internet, online bingo was a revolution, but as the years went by, sitting in front of a computer at a desk proved to be an inconvenience for many, and the number of people using online bingo sites dropped sharply.
Worried that the online bingo trend was dying before reaching its full potential, developers began looking into the possibility of gaming on the move. The solution came in the form of smart technology such as phones and tablets.
As soon as smart technology took hold, people’s online browsing behaviour changed dramatically. More and more people began buying smart phones and started using them to browse the web instead of laptops and computers.
The smartphones and tablets allowed people to play online bingo using their phones when visiting the sites. Soon, developers were forced to optimize their websites for use on mobile devices. Once popular online betting sites and online bingo sites became mobile optimized, online bingo’s popularity really shot up.
Now, people could play bingo literally whilst sat on the sofa, laid in bed, on break at work, or anywhere else for that matter.
This really helped to breathe new life into the online bingo industry, and once again, its popularity increased, as did the profits of the online bingo site owners.
Online bingo apps
As awesome as it was to be able to visit a fully optimized bingo website on your phone or tablet, for some users, this wasn’t enough.
With more and more apps being developed covering a wide selection of different games and subjects, it was inevitable that sooner or later, we’d see an app designed specifically to play bingo.
Sure enough, online bingo apps entered development and were rolled out on mobile devices to give players an even more effortless and streamlined bingo experience.
A new target demographic
As mentioned previously, bingo used to be a game that was primarily enjoyed by the older generation, and in truth, they still do.
However, as soon as bingo made the jump online and proved to be popular with smart device owners, we noticed a distinct change in the demographic of bingo players.
Whereas in the past, bingo was a game associated with the older generation, nowadays it is commonly associated with those in the 18 – 35 age range.
Younger individuals are more tech-savvy, and as a result, bingo ads and websites were created to appeal to a much younger demographic and from a much younger generation. Now, more 18 – 35s are playing bingo than ever before, with the majority of them using their smart devices.
What is the future for online bingo?
Right now, the online bingo wave is looking healthier than ever, but who’s to say that that will be the case ten years from now.
With modern technology changing and evolving at an alarming rate, where will online bingo be a decade from now.
Just how advanced will smart technology be, and in fact, will it still be around at all, or will we see a new innovation instead?
Already, virtual reality is being used in the gambling business, but many predict that, as VR tech becomes advanced, that, along with augmented reality, could be where online bingo and casinos are heading.
