Popularity of Online Bingo Soars in Last Year

The number of online bingo, casino, poker and lottery players in the U.K. has grown by 40 percent from July of 2009 to 2010, according to a recent study by Nielsen research. That’s 3.2 million new players to online gambling this year, a higher number than that of those who used social networking sites such as Facebook (which only reached 2.2 million).

The research said that almost half of all users earn over £30,000 and nearly 46 percent of total users were women , therefore quashing the stereotype that betting is for the poor and male. The report suggests that by using pink colour schemes and features like horoscopes, these poker and bingo sites were reaching out to the female demographic more than they had before.

The number of young people with interest in bingo has also increased . “The over-65s and those on lower family incomes have historically been heavy users of gambling sites, but in the face of the recession this profile is ever-changing,” said Neil Beston of Nielsen.

“While the extraordinary development in gambling sites over the last two years has been driven by men and women of all ages, it appears to be driven particularly by middle-aged men, the well-educated and high-earning households.”

Interest in online bingo doesn’t seem to be dropping either. With more sites launched nearly every week, bingo players have many more games to choose from and many more ways to win. Often, bingo sites will offer promotions to encouragemembers to join — up to hundreds of bingo games and even some cash to spend.

Also, much like with Facebook, word continues to disseminate about the fun and attraction of online bingo. As more people find out about new bingo games and join virtual bingo halls, they’ll keep returning, while sending others to these sites with the hopes of winning multi-thousand pound jackpots.