Bingo is bigger than it has ever been, but nowadays most of the play is taking place online rather than in bricks and mortar bingo halls. One effect of that shift into the digital world has been that competition within the industry is greater than ever too.
Think about it: in the old days a company could launch a bingo hall and anyone wishing to compete would need to be able to purchase an empty property and convert it before they could do so. By comparison, it is easy for someone to set up a new online bingo site to try and compete with successful existing ones like RedbusBingo.
That means that the companies behind the top online bingo websites must find ways to retain their dominant position in the market. Perhaps the most potent of the options available is bingo promotions.
Adaptability essential to survival
Many of the reasons why promotions are prominent for providers is due to the hyper competition of the online gambling market.
The online gambling industry that bingo is a part of is huge business in 2024 and is expected to be worth around USD 92.9 billion by next year. When we consider the fact that three years ago, it was valued at USD 58.9 billion, we can clearly see just how rapidly and steeply its valuation is climbing.
Online bingo is a large and important slice of that market and one that is also expanding at a fast pace. The global online bingo sector is predicted to have a valuation of approximately USD 128 million within the next six years, but the rise of the sector brings pressures for bingo providers.
A market that is burgeoning in this way inevitably attracts new providers as well as players, with more and more online bingo sites starting to appear to capitalize on its popularity. That means bingo brands must constantly monitor industry trends so that they can adapt to them quickly and avoid losing ground to rivals.
These can be trends towards particular types of themed bingo games, or they can be innovative new promotions and bonuses.
The role of bingo promotions
Promotional offers are absolutely essential in the world of online bingo, just as they are in other forms of digital gaming such as casino. If you visit any bingo site you will notice promotions being advertised very prominently on the main page of the site.
The role that promotional offers play in retaining existing users and attracting new ones has been extensively analyzed. This analysis describes promotions as rewards that function as ‘extrinsic motivation’ for players.
What that basically means is that they encourage people to play online bingo in pursuit of the reward – usually financial in this sort of case – offered by the promotion. This is contrasted with ‘intrinsic motivation’ which is when players are driven to play by the challenge and enjoyment of the actual bingo games rather than monetary rewards.
There are certainly plenty of people who fall into the latter camp, which is why bingo providers also have to keep delivering engaging new games to keep those sorts of players interested.
How promotions benefit players and providers
The role of promotions in bingo sites starts as soon as a player signs up, because almost all of them feature a welcome bonus. An example of this is the one offered by Redbus Bingo that provides new players with free cash to start playing with when they make a first small deposit with the site.
Virtually all bingo welcome bonuses work in that way, boosting a players’ first deposit to enable them to play for longer when they first sign up. The free cash offer is a standard digital marketing strategy and has proven as effective for bingo sites as it has for other types of online gaming.
This sort of simple welcome promotion helps players by adding to the money that they have to play bingo games when they first sign up – and through that their chances of winning some money. It helps the providers by enticing new players to sign up to their sites.
The role that promotions play for both the bingo providers and those signing up to play the different games becomes more complex when it is about retaining players rather than just winning new ones. That is because established bingo players have a different relationship with promotional bonuses of this kind.
Research into how bingo players respond to promotions indicates that they prefer offers that provide rewards for achievement. That could be for winning part of a bingo game – which would link the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators referred to earlier – or wagering a particular sum of cash. The main benefit of creating promotions that work on this sort of ‘reward’ system for providers like Redbus Bingo or Wink Bingo is that it encourages people who have already set up an account to stay rather than switching to a rival.
In any area of business, holding on to the customers that you already have is just as crucial to lasting success as bringing in new ones. Bonuses of this kind were not a part of bingo in the pre-digital era, but they have helped to make it more popular than it has ever been before in the age of the internet.
The creation of new and exciting variations of bingo and adding enticing promotions are how the bingo industry has adapted to the modern age and brought in younger players.
