Global Popularity of Bingo
Sunday, June 15th, 2008Bingo is an outrageously popular game, played across all age groups and regions of the world. It is the general assumption that Bingo is played in majority by seniors and religious minded individuals. On the contrary, when including online Bingo into the equation, a significant portion of players fall into the 25-35 age group.
Bingo fans are not just limited to adults, either. My 8-year-old nephew returned home from school just yesterday to announce that his 3rd grade class played ‘Musical Bingo’, and found it thoroughly enjoyable.
There are several popular variants of Bingo. In North America, the traditional game of 75-Ball Bingo is the favored version. All across Europe, Australia and the UK, 90-Ball Bingo is most popular. There is also an 80-Ball Bingo, as well as educational versions of Bingo designed specifically to help children have fun and learn at the same time.
In North America, Bingo is most often played in as a charity event in assorted forums, but most commonly associated with religious organizations. All across Europe, especially in the UK, Bingo has become a favored pastime. There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of Bingo halls spanning England, Ireland and Scotland.
Online Bingo has always seen its fair share of participants, but even more so in recent months. Last year, the UK government passed a law that prohibits smoking inside Bingo halls. As it turns out, the majority of Bingo fans are in fact smokers, and this new law doesn’t sit too well with them, forced to bare the elements for a quick smoke, or miss a game of Bingo to support their habit. This has led to an influx of new online Bingo players in the UK.
As the case may be, the exact same operators of many Bingo halls in this region are the same operators running today’s most popular online
Bingo sites; Gala Bingo and Mecca Bingo topping the list. As such, the transition from land-based Bingo halls to online Bingo sites is much less traumatic for most players. Online bingo is played in the exact same fashion as traditional bingo, but does not require players to travel, and is constantly available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over the Internet.
I can’t say for certain what it is about the game of Bingo that drawn so many people to play it for nearly 7 decades now, but if I had to guess, I would say it’s the camaraderie. All walks of life joining together to accomplish a common goal - have fun, cheer each other on and win cold hard cash. Bingo has brought people together for so many years now; young and old, regardless of race, creed or gender.
This fact holds true for both online and land-based Bingo halls. Ask any online Bingo player what 3 things they enjoy most about the game, and at least 95% of the time, the “Bingo chat”, or “friendships” will appear on the list. Topping the list, of course, would be winning! But who doesn’t want to win a little extra cash now and again?