Bullet Business Bingo Summit looks to mobile and social to shape 2013

The Bullet Business Online Bingo Summit took place in London at the beginning of May, and the organisers expect to see mobile bingo play a major part in the industry’s evolution over the course of 2013, while social bingo is predicted to bring the online game even closer to its bricks-and-mortar equivalent.

Brands represented at the summit range from Mecca Bingo and Bingo.com to Facebook and Google, an opportunity for companies operating within the industry itself to meet with those that are helping to shape the web as a whole.

Google sent representatives including eGaming industry manager Marie Despringhere and head of eGaming Fintan Costello to discuss topics including mobile bingo, and how bingo operators can optimise and market their mobile products to keep pace with the rest of the market’s development.

Facebook’s strategic partnerships manager Will Collins and EMEA gaming manager Bruce Bale were also present to talk about the social network’s plans to position itself within the gambling industry in the future – a potentially controversial topic given the current lack of regulation in the social bingo space.

And in its related Industry Insight on Mobile and Social Bingo report, the two disciplines again come under focus, this time from industry figures including Mecca Bingo’s head of digital operations, Claire Osborne.

Bullet Business say: “Whilst bingo has been slow to move to mobile platforms in comparison with other gambling verticals, 2013 is the year in which mobile bingo makes its mark.

“Also, with bingo’s inherently social nature, the rise of social networks and social games is set to have a significant impact.”

Of course, the two are not totally separate issues, as many people access social networks via mobile devices – and online bingo must ensure it can cater for this mix of methods, if it is to retain its position as a leading form of web-based gaming and socialising.

Google’s day-one session, Making the Most of Mobile Marketing, took this into account, and built on the prediction from comScore that, in 2013, more people worldwide will use mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to access the internet, than will use laptops and PCs.

With this trend presenting “unique challenges” for marketing to mobile devices, Mr Costello’s talk looked at adapting social media marketing strategies to be suitable for “the mobile-social mix”, based in part on a better understanding of how consumers search for information on mobile devices, as opposed to on a desktop or laptop computer.