Slot Games Get Top Billing at tombola

For many years, tombola have resisted mixing bingo with slot and casino games.

Originally the site was strictly bingo only. In 2016, after it became apparent that many bingo players also like to play slots and instant win games, they introduced tombola arcade. It’s a separate site, playable with the same login and wallet and featuring their own proprietary games.  The games on tombola arcade are notable for their low stake levels (5p – £2) and high RTP (as compared to other popular slot games).

Whatever their rationale was behind keeping the products separate, it has now come to an end.  Although tombola arcade still remains as a separate site with its own exclusive promotions, a significant number of the arcade games now appear on the menu at tombola bingo.

• There’s a section for casino games below the list of bingo rooms, comprising bingo roulette, regular roulette and 15 different bubble, flip, scratch and spin games
• The tombola arcade link appears at the top of the list of bingo rooms above bingo90

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  Five of the newest games are at the top of the menu above the arcade link – and only one of them is a bingo game, tombola’s (excellent) version of Deal Or No Deal Bingo. Another spot is taken by tombola’s latest daily free game, the Deal Or No Deal Free Game.  The other three spots are all given over to arcade games.

  • fiesta – This is tombola’s latest spin (i.e. slot) game and it’s right at the top of the list.  While other spin games at tombola (cosmos, for example) have Return To Player as high as 98%, fiesta has RTP of 96.96% which is much closer to what you’d normally expect from a slot game.
  • Deal Or No Deal Banker’s Bonus – This is a branded scratch game with Return To Player of 96% (again, lower than most of their other scratch games)
  • Deal Or No Deal Banker’s Vault – This is a branded spin game, also with Return To Player of 96%

It’s easy to understand why these Deal Or No Deal games are given such prominence – it’s because of tombola’s sponsorship deal with Endemol.  It’s putting a non branded arcade game at the top of the list, however, which very much signals a change of direction for tombola.

It’s not just putting fiesta in the top spot either – the tombola home page (for logged in players) now features some very in-your-face banners for arcade products and arcade promotions.  Could the next step be to phase out the separate arcade site altogether and bring all of the games together under one roof?

What do YOU think about tombola putting slot games on the bingo menu?  Are you a bingo purist who views slot and instant win games as an unwelcome intrusion?  Or do you welcome the extra choice that comes with having these different types of games all in one place?