The Changing Demographics of Online Bingo: A 2011 Outlook

01 February 2012

Bingo was traditionally portrayed as a game for old ladies, the blue-rinse brigade who frequented their local bingo hall on a weekly basis. Note that I said was; the demographic has dramatically changed to include ladies and gentleman of all ages from all walks of life.

There are still some trends though, granted these are new ones which have been created by the ever evolving nature of online bingo. We split our research down into three categories to see if there were any significant patterns; these include age, gender and country demographics.

Age Demographics

If you stepped back two decades the average age for a bingo player was in the mid 60’s with the only outlet for bingo being the local bingo hall. Since the world wide web explosion in the late 90s and developments throughout the noughties this average age has reduced to an average age of 47.

Recent polls of UK players has revealed that 3.4 million people play online bingo turning over £600 million each year. 20.5% of these players (roughly 700,000) are aged between 18 and 25, many of which are in stable employment with well paid jobs.

The Gender Demographic of Online bingo

Bingo has always been heavily skewed toward in the gender stakes with woman typically accounting for 90% of land based bingo games. The online game reduces this figure to an 80/20 split in favor of women. Clearly men do enjoy the game but would prefer to do it in private.

The female audience can be further split down into those with a college education and those who have children. Interestingly 30% are educated to a university level and 50% of the 2.72 players have children.

Interestingly the average age of male players is ten years younger, 36 compared to the average 47 of women bingo players.

The hottest countries

The UK is the busiest country for online bingo with the amount won online tripling since 2008, players are enjoying new features and the growing trend of cheap and free bingo on the larger bingo sites. Other emerging markets include the majority of Europe with a particular emphasis on Spain.

Interestingly the US is still an emerging market due to recent legal legislations which may or may not change in the future.

Conclusion

So women still rule the roost but online players are younger and bingo is definitely a popular and fashionable game. The allure of social gaming, slots and instants will help sites grow further. Our research has shown that bingo still has room to grow which is great news for players and operators alike.