Live Bingo was touted as the next big thing in online bingo, with many sites clambering on board to give us roomies the thrill of your usual bingo club with all the great features of online bingo. But as we look back over the last few months, we’ve yet to see bingo fans fully embrace the live bingo trend. So what exactly is Live Bingo? And when it comes to us fans, is it really a turn on – or more of a turn off?
Perhaps one of the sites nearest and dearest to our hearts is live bingo pioneer Crown Bingo, who launched their Bingo Studio Live in March 2010. Well, technically they didn’t – Bingo Studio Live is a separate product, which although most associated with Crown Bingo is also linked to other sites like Bingolore, Bingos.co.uk and the aptly named Live Bingo. The guys have seen relative success with the idea – there are live bingo games from Midday until Midnight, with real life presenters adding a human touch.
Other sites like Bingo Playground have also made use of 24/7 live bingo, with the main pull of the idea being that roomies get to feel a little more welcomed (and relive feelings of being at the bingo hall). Go into any standard busy bingo room, and your main source of interaction will be through the chat feature, which is (no matter how down you are with your bingo lingo) somewhat limited to how fast you can type and keep up! With live bingo, the combination of online bingo’s speediness and a friendly face can really work wonders. There’s no obligation to chat, but you automatically feel more included. With this in mind, there are also sites like Bingo Cams, who have taken things a little further with their video chat technology, allowing players to see their fellow roomies (and friends) face to face.
And yet, we hardly see any of the big bingo boys stepping up to the live bingo plate. Partly this could be down to players themselves – although we like live bingo, the convenience of having a quick game of bingo without the faff is also something we treasure! For as much as us bingo players are a sociable bunch, the anonymity of a quick game of online bingo can also be mighty attractive. For operators as well, the costs involved came sometimes outweigh the benefit of offering live bingo.
That’s not to say live bingo is dead and buried as an idea. It’s been interesting to see that in the last few months, other software platforms have picked up the live bingo idea, with sites like Bingo Hollywood, 888Ladies Bingo and Wink Bingo all trialling games featuring live presenters (fun fact – the same presenters!) throughout April. Players have been invited to give feedback, and we reckon that this could be a bit of a test for other household name bingo sites. If live bingo turns out to be successful at somewhere like Wink Bingo, there is every chance a site like Foxy Bingo may also pick it up, a move that would definitely bring live bingo more into the mainstream of online bingo. Live bingo’s fate is not sealed yet – so why not share your thoughts and let us know whether live bingo is a turn on, or turn off!?
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