Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2014 Edition

14 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory POKER BINGO So as country-by-country regulation progresses, bingo players will continue to lose access to a global player pool. But because most bingo rooms are made up of players exclusively from one region or country, the impact of ring-fencing is minimized. SOCIAL MARKETING Bingo was social gaming before social gaming. Before Facebook, iPhones, iPads, MySpace, and even Google, people were sitting around a hall, socializing and playing bingo. As the game migrated online, so did the social component of the game. Bingo players like talking with each other. They like interacting with hosts online. They enjoy the companionship of other players. And they’re looking for a fundamentally social experience. As a result, social marketing is a great way to reach online bingo players. And only recently have operators really begun to take advantage of platforms like Facebook to attract and retain players. In its 2012 annual report, bwin.party made a point of singling out Facebook as an important marketing tool for bingo. It doubled its followers of Foxy Bingo and Cheeky Bingo to 32,000 and 35,000 respectively and is committed to continuing its use of Facebook as a social marketing tool. As online gaming revenues continue to evolve, one area to keep an eye on is pooled liquidity. For example, if Spain and Italy agreed to combine player pools for poker, would they do so for bingo? And how would that change both play and operations? These are critical questions to consider as online gaming’s regulatory landscape evolves. BINGO INDUSTRY OVERVIEW