No such thing as a free bingo game 26/01/2010

Phil Fraser, founder, Which Bingo

2009 WAS ‘The year of free Bingo’ - or more specifically, ‘free bingo to win cash prizes’.

Putting ‘free bingo’ and ‘cash prizes’ together should, in theory, create the ultimate player recruitment offer. Last February Cheeky Bingo launched promising ‘free bingo for cash prizes’ to great success. Very soon other sites launched copycats; Posh, Costa, FoxyZero and more. But is the concept all that it is cracked up to be?

If we dig a little deeper will we find hidden problems. Firstly these sites are not, strictly speaking, free bingo sites.

When one looks more closely at the free bingo market in the UK, one finds there are only four genuine free bingo sites, led by FreeBingo.co.uk. These other sites are simply using free bingo games as a marketing tool to recruit pay-to-pay players. And the cash prizes? Prizes for these free games are as small as £1.

The problem with using free bingo as a marketing tool to recruit pay-to-pay players is that it is creating trouble for the market.

Firstly the offering is not good; the prizes being played for are miniscule and the rooms are overcrowded.

Secondly, in many cases, should a player actually win they have to deposit to claim their prize. Such player experiences cannot sustain long term player numbers.

Thirdly, these sites are creating an ‘expectation’ from the online bingo-playing public that online bingo should be free. This can only damage the greater market in the long term. Think about it; do you ever pay full price for your double glazing? Do you ever by a sofa that isn’t ‘in the sale’? Me neither. But do we want bingo to go the same way?

Many of the pay-to-play sites that subsequently offered ‘free bingo for cash prizes’ have now dropped these offers, or at least limited them. Why? These free bingo offerings do not create high value depositing players, and in some cases no depositing players at all. Also, many of these sites are reporting complaints from existing players about the free play players damaging their playing experience.

Online bingo is an entertainment product, and if customers are not enjoying their experience, there are many other sites at which to do so. This is the operators’ real fear.

Thoughts? EGR welcomes pitches for blog posts of 300-400 words on topical issues in egaming. Email online editor Jon Parker for details.

Thoughts? EGR welcomes pitches for blog posts of 300-400 words on topical issues in egaming. Email deputy editor Stephen Carter for details.

Posted: 26/01/2010