Looking for somewhere new to play bingo? You’ve come to the right place! New bingo site launches for 2024, hidden gems and online casinos that have added bingo – if online bingo is your passion you’re bound to find something you like here.
Full T&C's apply. New successfully registered customers only. One offer per customer of Small Screen Casino Ltd. Deposit 20.00 get 50 x 0.10 stake value, no wagering free spins. Qualifying deposit must be wagered x 2, 2 day expiry on free spins once awarded. 18+ *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
New players only, £10+ fund, free spins won via Mega Reel, 65x bonus wagering req, max bonus conversion to real funds equal to lifetime deposits (up to £250), T&Cs apply *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
18+. Open to new players who have not previously deposited. £5 bingo credit. Promotion period 01 Mar 2024 - 31 Dec 2024. 1x wagering requirement, 7 day expiry upon redemption. Available to play on all bingo products. one claim per player. Full &C apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
18+. Only available to new players. Minimum £10 first deposit required. 20 Bonus Spins on Big Bass Splash. No Wagering Requirements. Winnings credited directly to cash balance. Neteller and Skrill deposits excluded. Expiry: bonus spins expire 2 days after deposit. Further terms apply *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
New players only, £10 min fund, deposit matchup % credited via bonus wheel, £2,000 max bonus, 65x wagering requirements, max bonus conversion to real funds equal to lifetime deposits (up to £250), *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
Chat Mag Bingo moved to the Dragonfish platform in 2020, effectively becoming a brand new site. If you had an account there before that, you can sign up afresh and claim the welcome offer.
New players only. Valid until further notice. Code ”CMB” Min dep £10. 200% Bingo Bonus [BB] max £20, WR: 4x (BB) + 200% Game Bonus [GB] max £20, 35x (GB) + 25 Free Spins [FS] valid for 3 day, wins cap £6.25. FS wins granted in GB & valid on Shaman’s dream 2 only, WR: 35x FS winnings. GB valid on selected games only. GB wins cap: £100 + initial bonus. UK: deposit balance can be withdrawn at any time. Country restrictions apply. 18+. Withdrawal restrictions & Full T&C apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
UK Bingo was one of those little known old fashioned Dragonfish bingo sites that ticked along quietly for years. It’s now moved to Grace Media, bringing along the exclusive bingo room and promotions that are its USP.
First-time depositors only (+18). Valid until further notice. Min Deposit £10. Max rewards: £30 Slot Bonus & 20 Bingo Tickets. Slot Bonus x35 wagering. Slot Bonus wins cap:x4 the initial bonus amount. Bingo Tickets are granted to the Country Road bingo room and are valid for 28 days. Country restrictions apply. UK Only. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
Chit Chat Bingo has moved from Dragonfish to Grace Media with Pragmatic Play bingo, taking the exclusive Royal Room and many exclusive promotions with it. The new welcome offer is largely slot focused and you can claim it even if you’ve played at one of the previous versions of the site.
First-time depositors only (+18). Valid until further notice. Min Deposit £10. Max rewards: £50 Slot Bonus & 20 Bingo Tickets. Slot Bonus x35 wagering. Slot Bonus wins cap: x4 the initial bonus amount. Bingo Tickets are granted to the Country Road bingo room and are valid for 28 days. Country restrictions apply. UK Only. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Wonga Games is a Jumpman bingo and slots site done in rather striking shades of purple, with a welcome offer that awards a deposit bonus (if you’re lucky) rather than the usual slot spins.
New players only, £10 min fund, £2,000 max bonus, 65x Bonus wagering requirements, max bonus conversion to real funds equal to lifetime deposits (up to £250), full T&Cs apply *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
PlanetSport Bet is a UK sportbook and casino with a new no wagering spins welcome offer. It’s one of only a few UK facing sites to have live casino games by Ezugi as well as the ever popular Evolution and Pragmatic Play, and has now added some bingo rooms as well.
New Casino customers only. 18+, UK & Ireland only. Deposit & bet £5+ cash on Gold Horsey Winner and get 50 x 10p free spins. To qualify, customers must use the promo code spins50 . *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
OnlineBingo is a new for Spring 2023 Jumpman bingo and slot site, with bingo rooms from Pragmatic Play. The welcome offer is the usual spin the wheel affair.
New players only, £10 min fund, 65x bonus wagering requirements, max bonus conversion to real funds equal to lifetime deposits (up to £250) full T&Cs apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Bally Casino is a UK facing slot and casino site which also has a number of bingo rooms and a sportsbook. You’ll need to play through your deposit to collect the welcome offer spins, which are on an exclusive slot game, but after that there’s no wagering requirements and no limits on what you can win.
New members only, must opt in. Min £10 deposit & wager (excl. sports betting). 30 day expiry from deposit. 18+. Free Spins: on Secrets of the Phoenix Megaways. Spins value: 20p each. Game availability & restrictions apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Bingo Loft is a complete revamp and relaunch of a little known Dragonfish site, and very nice it looks too! We have a great new welcome offer for you with bingo bonus and spins.
1st-time depositors only. Min Deposit £10. £30 Bingo Bonus [BB] + 60 Free Spins [FS] on FLUFFY FAVOURITES. Must use promo code: SUPER. FS are valid for 3 days, FS winnings capped at £0.25 per spin. 20 FS will be credited over 3 days. FS wins granted in GB after all FS used. GB must be wagered 35x. Max GB winnings £100 + value of initial bonus. BB Wagering Requirements [WR] 4x. Country restrictions apply. Valid until further notice. 18+. General withdrawal restrictions & Full T&Cs apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Happy Tiger is a bingo and slots site on a standalone platform with unique games that have been designed to maximise entertainment value! They also all have a very decent Return To Player.
New customers only | Minimum deposit £20 | Bonus = 2 x deposit | Maximum bonus = £300 | 40x wagering applies to bonus funds before winnings can be withdrawn | Bonus/winnings lost if initial deposit is withdrawn within 30 days | 10 Bingo tickets and 25 Bonus Spins on Diamond Express issued 4 days in a row when logging in each day once £10 deposit has been wagered | Bingo tickets and Bonus Spins must be wagered 1x before winnings can be withdrawn | Winnings from bonus play capped at 7x deposit (except jackpot winnings) | Play responsibly | BeGambleAware.org | Further T&Cs apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Lottogo has bingo rooms by Pragmatic Play. To claim the bingo welcome bonus, please use the Get Offer button on this page (or read review to see the slots welcome offer)
*18+. New Players Only. Minimum Deposit £10, Bingo Bonus -20x Wagering in 7 days, Qualifying Deposit played first, Max Bet £5, Bonus Cash to be used on Bingo only, Max Win applies, Spin value £0.1 each. 40x Wagering in 7 days. Terms & Conditions Apply *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
NRG Bet has recently added bingo rooms by Pragmatic Play. To claim the bingo welcome offer, please use the Get Offer button on this page (or read review to see the slots welcome offer)
18+. Deposit £10 and get 10 Free tickets for Bingo and 50 Free spins. To qualify, use the promo code "bingo50". 10x wagering requirement. T&Cs apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
New players only, £10 min fund, 65x bonus wagering requirements, max bonus conversion to real funds equal to lifetime deposits (up to £250) full T&Cs apply *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
New players only. Min dep £10. 150% Bingo Bonus (max £50) + 50 Free Spins on Shaman’s Dream. Each free spin value is 25p. Free spins winnings capped at £12.50 & paid to games bonus. 4x bingo, 35x games bonus wagering required. 5-day expiry. 18+ GambleAware.org. T&Cs apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
Rhino is a UK facing sportsbook and casino which has recently added a full range of bingo rooms by Pragmatic Play. To claim the bingo offer please use the Get Offer button on this page (or read review to see a slots offer)
Majestic Bingo are a well established operator of retail bingo, with 13 bingo clubs across the UK. They chose the very popular Dragonfish software for their online bingo operation which opened in 2021.
1st time depositors only (18+). Valid until further notice. Min Deposit £10. No promo code required. FS are valid on Irish Luck, for 5 days. FS wins cap: £1. FS wins are granted in games bonus after all FS are used and must be wagered x35. Max bingo bonus awarded is £20. Bingo tickets are valid in following rooms: FAB50 and Mocktail Party. Tickets will be allocated to rooms according to the full offer T&Cs. Wins generated from bingo tickets are granted in bingo bonus. Bingo bonus must be wagered x4. Country restrictions apply. UK only - Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time. General withdrawal restrictions & full T&Cs apply. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Offer is valid until 31/12/24 23:59 GMT. Players must deposit £10 and use the full deposit on Bingo Tickets. Mini games are not included. Offer can be redeemed once per player. Bingo Bonus and Free Spins are valid for 7 days from being credited. Players are required to wager Bingo Bonus amount 4 (four) times. You must wager £120 to meet the wagering requirements within 7 days of the bonus being credited. Bingo Bonus can be redeemed on Bingo Tickets only. 30 Free Spins can be redeemed on Big Bass Bonanza only. In the event of any malfunction or voided games tickets purchased will be refunded. This promotion can only be claimed once per customer. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C's Apply
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At Best New Bingo Sites all of our reviews are completely honest and written by industry experts. We aim to present all our offers as transparently as possible with a full explanation of the terms and conditions. We receive commission from the sites we feature and this may affect how prominently they appear on our site and their position in our listings.
*18+, BeGambleaware.org Minimum deposit £10, maximum bonus £20. You must wager your bonus 40x to make it withdrawable. Bonus will expire after 7 days of opt-in. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
Automatically credited upon deposit. Cancellation can be requested. First Deposit Only. Max. Bonus £25. Maximum amount of Free Spins is 25. Game: Book of Dead, Spin Value: £0.10. WR of 30x Deposit + Bonus amount and 60x Free Spin winnings amount (only Slots count) within 30 days. Max bet is 10% (min £0.10) of the free spin winnings and bonus amount or £5 (lowest amount applies). Spins must be used and/or Bonus must be claimed before using deposited funds. Deposit/Welcome Bonus can only be claimed once every 72 hours across all Casinos. Bonuses do not prevent withdrawing deposit balance. Bonus Policy applies. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
First deposit only. This offer is only available for first time depositors. Min deposit is £10. 80 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza. Spin Value: £0.10. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. This offer is only available for specific players that have been selected by PlayOJO. If you have arrived on this page not via the designated offer via PlayOJO you will not be eligible for the offer. OJO’s Rewards and Game Play policy applies. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
18+. Only available to new players. Minimum £10 first deposit required. 20 Bonus Spins on Big Bass Splash. No Wagering Requirements. Winnings credited directly to cash balance. Neteller and Skrill deposits excluded. Expiry: bonus spins expire 2 days after deposit. Further terms apply *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C’s Apply
First-time depositors only(+18). Valid until further notice. Min Deposit £10. Mad reward: £100 Slot Bonus & 7 days of Free Bingo x35wagering Slot Bonus wins cap x4 the initial bonus amount. Free Bingo available in the Newbie Room. Maximum of 6 Tickets per game. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad
New cust only. Opt in & deposit £10+ in 7 days & wager 1x in 7 days on any eligible casino game (excluding live casino and table games) for 50 Free Spins. Wagering contributions vary. Free Spins worth 10p each on Big Bass Splash. 3 day expiry. 18+. *18+ GambleAware.org Please play responsibly #ad Full T&C’s Apply
New Bingo Sites 2024
New bingo sites 2024! How many will there be? And what will they be like?
In 2024, the type of new bingo site we are likely to see launched is quite different to what it would have been ten years ago. Then, new bingo sites focused on and were built around the bingo product. Now (largely thanks to the rise of Pragmatic Play’s bingo software) the bingo is usually just a small part of the range of games. Essentially, rather than new bingo sites we’re talking new slot and casino sites with bingo, or even old slot and casino sites with newly added bingo. And indeed, the first new bingo site launch of 2024 comes in the form of Rhino adding bingo rooms to their excellent casino and sportsbook site.
Are they any good? It depends what you are looking for in a new bingo site.
If you just want somewhere different to play bingo, fine.
If you want a bonus you can play bingo with, maybe. A lot of these casinos with bingo have an offer that is for slots not bingo (and even some more traditional bingo sites have purely slots offers now).
If you’re looking for a community to be part of, not so much – many of these new sites have no chat in their bingo rooms at all.
Why play at a new bingo site?
If you’re completely new to online bingo, you’ll probably want to go for one of the big name bingo sites for the reassurance of a household name (although as will be seen from our page about trust and safety at iGaming sites, the size of the brand does NOT necessarily guarantee that your money is safe). Quite a lot of players choose to stick with just one site if they are happy with the range of bingo rooms, prize money, player promotions and slot games. There are lots of potential reasons, though, why you might want to sign up with a new for 2024 bingo site (if you can find one, of course):
In search of a better bingo experience – bingo rooms that hit that elusive sweet spot between being boringly quiet or so busy that you never win anything, better player promotions, new people to chat with
In search of a better player experience overall – usability on your preferred device, more payment options (but not credit cards as they can’t be used for any gambling transacions in the UK), better RTP on slot games, more player friendly terms and conditions, better customer service
And of course, you get to claim a fresh welcome offer and in some cases play in a dedicated free bingo room for newbies.
All new bingo sites are not equal
Once you’ve played at a few different bingo sites you will soon notice that some of them (well, let’s be honest and say most of them) have exactly the same bingo rooms, slot games and promotions as each other, with only the home page looking different. For example, the majority of Jumpman sites have the same Mega Wheel welcome offer, and all Dragonfish bingo sites have the same basic 75 and 90 ball bingo rooms (though some have extras).
This is because Jumpman and Dragonfish provide an off the shelf product for anyone who wants to open their own online bingo site quickly and easily – otherwise known as a white label or skin site. The licensing, account verification, payment processing and other technical matters are all handled centrally and this explains why all Dragonfish powered bingo sites have a licence from Broadway Gaming Ireland DF Limited, and many of them have the same customer services telephone number. Opening a new bingo site on one of these platforms is not as quick and easy as it once was, though; due to increased regulation both Dragonfish and Jumpman have become a whole lot fussier about who they will work with.
Most new bingo sites are skins, but the quality of skins can vary. For example, a new Dragonfish skin site with added extras such as exclusive bingo rooms and promotions ticks many more items on our list than a new Jumpman skin site does (especially as the Jumpman bingo rooms aren’t even unique to Jumpman but are networked with every other site on the Pragmatic Play bingo software).
Every now and again, however, a new bingo site is launched that is neither a skin nor or Pragmatic Play bingo being added to a slots site, and offers something special. This most recently happened with Happy Tiger which launched in 2022 and proved very popular with our users despite having just one bingo room (they’ve since upped it to two, adding 90 ball bingo to the original 75 ball). The unique slot games plus the £2500 prize which can drop in any bingo game probably have something to do with it!
2024 has also produced something new and innovative in the form of BingoPlus.
When is a new bingo site, not a new bingo site?
Happy Tiger wasn’t just the most innovative new bingo site launch of 2022, it came close to being the ONLY truly new bingo site launch of 2022. It wasn’t until December of that year that another new bingo site finally showed up in the form of Bingostars. The only brand new site from 2023 is a Jumpman skin (there were some others but they have already closed). So where did the rest of the brands on the page come from? Some are relaunches and some are casino, slot or lottery sites that added bingo. Then there’s the other bingo sites you’ve probably never heard of and the sites you probably didn’t know have bingo.
Relaunches
To be listed as a relaunch, a bingo site normally needs to have moved to completely different bingo software and/or have a new bingo welcome offer that is open to everyone even if they’ve played at that site before. For example, Kitty Bingo moving from proprietary software to Virtue Fusion and Lovehearts Bingo becoming a No Wagering site. If everyone is able to sign up and claim the welcome offer regardless of whether they’ve played there previously, it’s effectively an entirely new site. We also list some relaunches on the same software, but only if there has been a really major design change.
Casino, slot or lottery sites that added bingo
This trend started when the excellent Pragmatic Play bingo software was first launched back in 2019 and has been gathering steam ever since. Perhaps the highest profile example is that of PlayOJO, which had been around for many years as a well known online casino prior to adding bingo back in 2020, but there have been many others, Peachy Games for example. Lottery sites such as Lottogo have also added bingo, again thanks to Pragmatic Play.
A few of these sites add a bingo related welcome offer at the same time as adding the bingo, but many of them don’t. We add them to our New Bingo Sites listings regardless. to give players as much choice as possible.
We expect to see even more of this sort of thing in the coming months, especially if either of the new bingo products that have recently acquired a UK licence are launched in the UK (see below).
Other bingo sites you’ve probably never heard of
There’s quite a few bingo sites that have been around for a while but have had little or no publicity in the last few years – we feature a selection of these in a section of their own below all the properly new sites, to give you as many new places to play as we possibly can.
Sites you probably didn’t know have bingo
Quite a few casino and slot sites have quietly added Pragmatic Play bingo rooms almost as an afterthought. The welcome offers at these sites don’t include any bingo bonus and the bingo rooms don’t have any chat, but they can be ideal for players who like to play slots and a bit of bingo.
When do we remove bingo sites from the New Bingo Sites listings?
That’s an easy one! We take them off when player interest wanes and we can see that hardly anyone is following the link. How long that takes is pretty variable; MrQ, as a unique brand, was still attracting interest more than a year after launch and so is Happy Tiger. Whereas with a skin site, the interest drops off very sharply as soon as a newer site appears on the same platform.
The state of online bingo in 2024
New Bingo Sites – Dragonfish & Jumpman
New Bingo Sites – Others
New Bingo Software?
Where’s The Growth?
Mobile First
New Bingo Sites – Dragonfish & Jumpman
Online bingo boomed during 2020 and 2021 but it was inevitable that as people got out and about more than they were able to do then, they’d spend less time on online activities. This means that it has been largely a case of consolidation rather than expansion in the online bingo world over the last two years, with the two largest networks of white label bingo sites Jumpman and Dragonfish contracting rather than expanding, especially the latter where there was also a change of ownership.
Unfortunately there have been quite a lot of closures of Dragonfish bingo sites, including all four of the new ones that opened in 2022 and 2023, and there may well be more on the way. Players from the closed sites have been encouraged to switch to better known sites like Wink Bingo. Dragonfish have also reduced the total number of bingo rooms, removed most of their jackpot games (including the monthly Big £10K) and merged what used to be a number of separate networks together so all Dragonfish sites have the same core bingo rooms. In a nutshell, Dragonfish bingo sites are now even more all the same as each other than they used to be, the bingo rooms are quiet, the prize money extremely underwhelming and there haven’t been any new ones (that are still open) since 2021.
As if this wasn’t enough, Dragonfish made further changes so that players could only have accounts at a maximum of 20 Dragonfish sites and that all bonuses and rewards would be voided without warning if a player didn’t log into their account at least once every 5 days (previously it was 90 days). This is exactly the kind of thing we were talking about earlier that makes players want to move on. You only have to peek into the bingo rooms at a Dragonfish site to see that all of these changes have not gone down at all well with players and not many of our users seem to be interested in Dragonfish bingo sites these days.
Jumpman have a similar inactivity clause (in their case it’s 7 days) and went through a period with very few new site launches, but we are now seeing some new Jumpman sites; the problem there is that they are largely focused on slots and live casino, and have no bingo bonuses or promotions. Nor is there any chat in their bingo rooms.
New Bingo Sites – Others
Without the frequent new bingo site launches seen in the past from Dragonfish and Jumpman (and the now defunct Cozy), only a few new bingo sites have launched since 2021. Apart from the previously mentioned standalone bingo and slot site Happy Tiger (whose games are all proprietary) and the Gamesys site Double Bubble Bingo (which was a rebrand) all of them have made use of the Pragmatic Play bingo product. The beauty of Pragmatic Play for operators is its versatility; it can be implemented as a full fat bingo product with hosted chat and exclusive bingo rooms and promotions as seen at Heart Bingo, PlayOJO, bet365 bingo and Bingostars or as a simple plug in of networked bingo rooms with no chat (as at Jumpman sites). Pragmatic Play bingo sites can therefore be very different from each other and which ones you prefer will depend on what you are looking for in a bingo site.
New Bingo Software?
BingoPlus runs on its own software with its own live callers and is genuinely new and different.
Two other new bingo products are possibly coming to the UK but frankly we’ll believe it when we see it.
End2End are a bingo software provider from Argentina. Back in 2021 they were granted a UKGC licence for their bingo product and subsequently signed a deal to integrate it into Pariplay’s Fusion platform. Pariplay are owned by Aspire Global (who have had a UKGC licence for remote bingo since 2019 when they were planning to add Microgaming bingo). Shortly after that, Aspire Global bought 25% of End2End’s shares, with an option to acquire the rest in 3 or 5 years’ time, so it seems likely that we’ll see the End2End product at Aspire casinos eventually. End2End and Aspire were exhibiting together at ICE London in April 2022, and later that year the product went live in various Latin American countries on Salsa Technology‘s casino platform. In December 2022, End2End secured a Malta Gaming Authority licence but since then it’s all gone very quiet. We spoke to End2End at ICE London in February 2024 and they told us that they won’t be coming to the UK with Aspire after all. They are super successful in other countries, however, and at that time still had a UK licence so it is not impossible they might show up with some other operator. Don’t hold your breath though!
LiveG24 exhibited at ICE London and SiGMA in 2022 and have also signed an integration deal with Pariplay. Their product is rather exciting and a bit different – it’s live bingo, with a caller drawing balls from a lottery style machine. Their UK licence was granted in June 2023 but again, since then it’s gone quiet and they seem to be mainly interested in Brazil rather than the UK. The latest news on this particular product is that they no longer have a UK licence – their register entry has gone from the Gambling Commission website and mention of the UK has gone from their own website. So that’s the end of that!
One group of bingo sites that is actually booming is Entain’s and while the brands themselves have all been around for donkey’s years, their proprietary bingo software is relatively new. An evolution of the old Cozy Gaming bingo product which they bought back in 2017 and slowly refined over a couple of years at Foxy Bingo, it really started to come into its own in 2020 when Coral Bingo and Ladbrokes Bingo joined the party, and finally flagship brand Gala Bingo made the move to the new software in summer 2021. Since then, Entain bingo has been quietly going from strength to strength with the introduction of new bingo games including Slingo Bingo, free to play slot tournaments every day, a monthly £150K bingo session and many other engaging player promotions.
Mobile first
It’s clear from our own visitor stats that not only are more and more of you playing bingo and slots on mobile, an increasing number never play on any other device, and that means that the way people play has been evolving over the last 10 years and will continue to do so.
If you’re playing bingo on your phone you’re highly likely to be doing something else at the same time – watching TV, chatting, scrolling through social media, paying attention so as not to miss getting off the bus at the right stop or possibly even a phone call. This means that mobile content works best if it is snackable i.e. delivered in bite size chunks. A single bingo game is about the right length for that and so are a few slot spins.
It’s not just about duration though, it’s about usability. To make a traditional bingo game playable on a mobile phone screen is quite difficult as there’s so much going on, and over the last few years operators have responded by developing single ticket multi stake bingo games and other variants – such as Battle Royale Bingo at Foxy Bingo – which have a “mobile first” design.
Another issue with mobile play occurs when the bingo software doesn’t have schedule buy. The problem is that with only a short window before the game starts in which to buy tickets, it’s easy to get distracted or hit a data blackspot and miss it. With a very simple ticket purchase screen like the one at Happy Tiger it’s not too much of an issue, but it is a big problem at Dragonfish sites where the lobby is mobile first, but the games haven’t changed for years and you have to do a lot of faffing about to select the right number of tickets.
Mobile first, then, is very much the future of online bingo and operators forget it at their peril.
What else to expect in 2024
Stake Limits
Bonuses under threat
Affordability Checks
Different style of promotions
Variable return to player
Surprises M&A and exits
Fewer but better proper bingo sites
Stake Limits
The UK Gambling Act Review White Paper was published in April 2023 and consultations on how to implement its recommendations are ongoing. Stake limits on slot games were due to be implemented in September, with a £2 maximum spin value for under 25s and a £5 maximum spin value for everyone else, but following the General Election this has now been delayed at least until next year. The limits will apply to slot games and Slingo only so (at least for now) you’ll still be free to spend whatever you like on bingo tickets or live game shows.
Bonuses under threat
The White Paper has a whole section about reviewing bonuses, advertising and marketing; the consultation on this finished in February 2024 and we’re still waiting to hear what will happen. Curbs on advertising could mean the disappearance of bingo ads from TV and radio, the end of sports sponsorship by gambling firms, and new rules on what types of promotions bingo sites are allowed to run. The UK has been quite lax about all of this compared to some other countries. so we can expect some action to be taken. In Sweden, for example, operators are only allowed to give players a bonus once – so they can have a welcome offer but no further incentives or bonuses are allowed. In Ontario, Canada operators can give bonuses but they are not allowed to advertise them apart from to players who have explicitly opted in to receive marketing messages – so you have to register at the site and opt in to promotional messages before you can see what offers there are.
The proposals that were being consulted on fall well short of a complete ban but could still seriously affect bonus offers for new and existing players:
They are looking at wagering requirements and whether they should be banned altogether or capped at 1x, 5x or 10x the bonus.
They are considering a ban on mixing bonuses for different products in the same offer – which would mean no more bonus bundles containing slot spins or slot bonus as well as bingo bonus or bingo tickets.
Affordability Checks
The Gambling Commission has been mandating affordability checks on players for quite a while now and we expect these to be standardised during 2024. Players have already become used to (but are still annoyed by) having to send in copies of ID documents such as driving licences and passports in order to get their account verified prior to making a withdrawal, but affordability checks take things to a whole new level as they can involve supplying bank statements, payslips and so on to prove how much spare money you have. Affordability checks typically kick in when you reach a certain spend level or want to increase a deposit limit that has been set for you by the operator.
The proposal is for two levels of affordability check:
Light touch check (similar to a credit check, looking for CCJs and the like) triggered by a net loss of £125 in a month or £500 in a year
Full affordability check triggered by a net loss of £1000 within a day or £2000 within 90 days
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport say that 8 in 10 players would not trigger any of these checks and only 3% of the highest spenders would trigger the more stringent ones.
Light touch checks are now being phased in for everyone and the full checks are going to be trialled by a few operators.
As an alternative to having to send in documents, some operators have been investigating the use of Open Banking technology for affordability checks. This would allow you to authorise your bank to share your data with the operator directly over a secure channel to establish how much you can afford to spend on gambling products, most likely determined by an computer program without a human being involved. While this is both better for data security and less hassle than sending copies of documents over the internet, it’s understandable that players might feel uneasy about it.
Different style of promotions
These days operators have to be really careful that their promotions don’t break responsible gambling rules by enticing players to spend more than they intended. And there’s also the proposed changes to bonuses (see above). We expect to see more promotions that are designed to engage and entertain without requiring a big spend and don’t involve a bonus with wagering requirements – daily bonus games, prize draws and so forth. The very popular daily free slot tournaments at Entain bingo sites are a perfect example of this.
Variable return to player on slot games
Over the last few years many slot game providers have moved away from making slot games with a fixed Return To Player and started making games where the RTP can be chosen by the casino from within a range. It’s not just new slot games either – operator configurable RTP has been added to many classic slot games such as Starburst, Shaman’s Dream and Immortal Romance. Starburst for example has RTP of 96.09%, 94.05% or 92.05% depending on where you play it – so quite a difference! Dragonfish did at least warn their players when they sent an email to all registered players in May 2023 warning them of changes in the RTP of around 75 games including the three previously mentioned and lots of other popular titles. We expect more bingo sites to adjust the RTP on slot games during 2023 and 2024 which means it’s always a good idea to check the game help files for the current RTP before starting to play.
Surprises
The last couple of years have thrown up some huge surprises. Big operators changing platform (Entain) and shock mergers and acquisitions (Broadway buying Dragonfish and Flutter buying Tombola) have rocked the world of online bingo and there’s likely to be more in the future, along with more surprise exits from the UK like that of InTouch Games (although these tend to be casino and slot operators rather than bingo operators).
Fewer but better proper bingo sites
We can blame Pragmatic Play for this! As we said earlier, most Pragmatic Play bingo sites (and these days that means most new bingo sites as well as most bingo sites full stop) are basically casinos with a little bit of bingo on the side and no social interaction. If you’re looking for a “proper” bingo site with exclusive bingo happenings and a lively community, these sites are simply not going to cut it.
The reason that this type of bingo site is become more and more common is that exclusive promotions, exclusive bingo rooms and hosted chat are VERY expensive to do properly (and getting very hard to do well now that so many are playing on mobile phones and communicate in emojis or not at all) and operators are clearly coming to the conclusion that if they are unable to do it properly they can avoid wasting a lot of money, time and energy by not bothering to do it at all.
And you know what? They’re right! A half hearted attempt to create a bingo community is invariably dismal for everyone, as was seen at Grace Media when they attempted to market sites such as Blush Bingo and Bubbly Bingo as primarily bingo sites; they put in a bingo bonus offer and showcased the bingo rooms but with no chat and frankly dismal promotions. Both those sites lasted just a few months. Although less than 20% of players (the latest estimate from our contact at a well known bingo software provider) actively participate in the chat, this doesn’t mean that the other 80% aren’t interested in the chat and won’t care if it’s taken away. As anyone who’s ever frequented any kind of online forum or chat channel will tell you, lurkers very often outnumber active participants and they will leave (or fail to join) in droves if you take their entertainment away (or don’t put it on in the first place).
Once an operator takes away the chat, then, there is little point in keeping any bingo promotions or trying to make a thing of the bingo. And while there are many players who quite like the idea of a little bit of bingo now and again and aren’t bothered about social interaction, this type of site is so far removed from what one would normally expect a bingo site to be like as to be barely a bingo site at all; many of them don’t have the word bingo in their name – and rightly so.
We expect this demarcation between proper bingo sites and casinos with a bit of bingo on the side to become even sharper in 2024 and more sites that are trying to do the full fat bingo experience but doing so badly to give up. Which means fewer – but higher quality – truly bingo oriented sites on the market.
And that’s got to be good news for players! Nobody likes to play in a bingo room with very few players or at a neglected looking bingo site as there’s no atmosphere and the prizes are not at all appealing. But everyone loves a big money game – just look at the numbers of players Virtue Fusion get when they do an escalator jackpot! Fewer bingo rooms with bigger prizes at fewer, better bingo sites is clearly the way to go to stop rooms being too quiet.
What does it mean for new bingo site launches, though? We expect more and more of them to be casinos with a bit of bingo, with only the occasional launch of a proper bingo site. Will we see one of those launch in 2024? Time will tell!
Sue Dawson has been writing about (and playing) online bingo and slots since 2013, putting her unique spin on everything. She has written pieces for iGaming industry news sites, appeared on panels at industry events and on podcasts, helped to judge industry awards and is a member of iGB Executive, an industry think tank. In her spare time she enjoys gaming, hiking, dancing, watching motorsport and reading science fiction.
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