Bingo has been popular ever since Renaissance Italy came up with the game (literally called The Game, or Il Gioco) in about 1530. Not only has it provided many people with some nice monetary prizes over the years, but it’s also given countless people countless hours of fun and entertainment – play online bingo today.
What’s more, it’s educational too! School children and adults alike use bingo for foreign language learning and it has been proven to aid cerebral development in people who suffer learning difficulties.
Entering a new age
Many feared for bingo when the internet came along in the mid-1990s. After all, bingo’s reputation wasn’t exactly cool, and although still popular, the demographic of players was ageing and young people weren’t really interested in it as a hobby.
Bingo halls were mostly full of female players in the 60+ age demographic, and if you were to ask someone in their twenties if they fancied a night out playing bingo, they may well have run a mile.
Even into the millennium, things weren’t looking rosy. The UK smoking bans introduced in 2006 and 2007 almost certainly helped to hasten bingo’s decline, as well as that of many bricks and mortar casinos.
However, the slump was abruptly halted due to a couple of factors. Many games, many of them also stagnating, like slots, all transitioned online. Online casinos became popular, and games like poker, baccarat, roulette, craps, slots, and bingo were all just a click away.
Seemingly, people weren’t necessarily willing to go into traditional casinos or bingo halls so much, but were eager to play them from the comfort of their own homes.
A surge in popularity
Clearly, the advent of the smartphone and its mass adoption in the UK has been pivotal in elevating bingo to its new healthy status as one of the UK’s most popular games again.
According to Gambling Commission data, bingo currently makes up just under 6% of the overall UK remote gambling market.
What’s more, the same report estimates that there are just under four million online bingo players present in the UK today. Not bad for a game that was on its knees just 15 years ago.
Variations of bingo
The great thing about bingo is that it hasn’t just stopped in its tracks. It’s constantly evolving and going new directions that no-one could have imagined 25 years ago.
Take Bongo Bingo for example. It may seem initially strange, but if you love bingo, and you also love alco-fuelled techno-rave music, Jonny Bongo has just the thing for you.
“Bongo’s bingo is a wild shared social extravaganza with the chance to win prizes like giant pink unicorns, Henry Hoovers or a box of coco-pops. It’s immersive, inclusive and incredible. Everyone from 18 to 92 plays and parties together. There are no barriers and no limits.”
It’s a regular bingo game, but interspersed with raves, dance-offs and spontaneous catwalks down tables, right in the middle of the game. It may not be for the traditionalists, but it’s bringing bingo to a whole new audience.
You can drink, dance, and be merry with a farming guide osrs. What’s more it’s becoming a global phenomenon. Bongo bingo is also popular in Germany, Spain, Australia, and even the United States.
Bingo remains the vibrant, entertaining game that it’s always been. Now though, it even wears 21st century clothes!
