A rise in online bingo but will bingo halls return soon?

Bingo has always been a popular game in Britain. It’s one of the great British traditions in fact.

But it’s fair to say that there has been a decline in the number of people playing it in bingo halls since the mid-2000s. 

What was once a game and industry which saw millions of people flock to their local bingo hall every week in the 1970s and 1980s became rather tired and uninspiring at the turn of the Millennium, with many enjoying the fruits of technology and the online version.

However, that began to change and over the last few years, the rise in online players had also helped contribute to more people visiting bingo halls, particularly from the younger generation.

While we’d often associate bingo with the over-50s, the number of players aged 20-30 has risen significantly and it was beginning to have a knock-on effect as they became intrigued and began to visit halls across the country.

A YouGov poll found that almost 30% of online players are aged between 25 and 34, and it’s inspiring them to take advantage of the nights out available to them offline, with the likes of Bongos Bingo and then the more traditional halls. Or at least that was the case.

The past few months has put a halt on the resurrection of bingo in bingo halls, and it’s now unknown as to whether it will pick up where it left off, whether they will have to start from scratch, or whether it could spell the end for bingo halls completely.

In the case of the latter, that could be down to players now finding that playing online is easy and much safer.

Despite the huge drop in older players from 2nd July, prominent bingo halls were still seeing revenues of 70%, and while that is of course not ideal, it wasn’t the hit they had been fearing with many younger people swiftly returning to halls.

It is hoped that will be the case once again from early December, and it could of course go a number of ways though, and with Christmas always a popular time of year for bingo halls, who knows how it’ll play out?

There is a chance that reluctance could play a part and people don’t return en masse as bingo hall owners are wanting and stick to the online variant.

However, there is also the chance that if bingo halls see out this period, they could thrive even more so than before as we edge closer to normality. As was seen prior March, the influence of online bingo was starting to see more younger players visiting bingo halls across the country. 

Now, playing online bingo has seen a significant jump over the last few months and many sites have seen the number of players jump by a third.

If these players then continue to enjoy online bingo over the coming months, as they seem to have been doing, then it could ultimately mean even more people will be influenced and inspired to take their new found hobby offline and into bingo halls with friends.

This could mean that while bingo halls are hugely suffering now, over the long term they could indeed benefit. It may not be a happy Christmas this year for bingo halls, but should they survive, it could mean many happy returns for years to come.

Or at least that’s the hope...