Given the advances made in online poker in the United States, it is inevitable that US players will be looking to Europe and the UK for pointers on how their online gaming industry may grow and expand. This is definitely a case of looking ahead into the distance but this goes some way to highlighting the optimism and excitement that is palpable in the US these days. There is a lot of focus on the US online poker industry at the moment but with online gaming being such a big thing across the UK, it may be that bingo is the thing to look towards.
Bingo is big in the United States and it would probably be fair to say that there are more bingo players in American than there are in Britain. However, there is no doubt that Britain has more bingo players per head of population and it is likely that British players are a little bit more focused in their play. The number of British players playing bingo in bingo halls across the country is falling but the number of online bingo players is booming. This indicates that there is a huge love for the game and that there is an opportunity to actually grow the audience.
Bingo demographics have changed
In the United Kingdom, it used to be the opinion that a bingo player was a woman beyond her prime of life. Nowadays, with online bingo becoming the norm, bingo is a game that everyone can enjoy. Men and women, young and old, as long as there are no legal restrictions for someone to enjoy bingo, they are more than welcome. This is an area where US poker sites need to get their head around. There is an opportunity to reposition yourself in the world of online gaming and there is a distinct chance to make a new market for yourself. This has always been something that businesses have considered.
Your first step as a business is to reach your audience. If the audience isn’t listening or there isn’t enough, create a new audience for yourself. Online bingo has achieved this in the United Kingdom and there has been a crossover between online poker and online bingo players in the country. Some people just view it all as online gaming and they are more than happy to jump around between different games.
There will always be a hardcore of poker players but poker sites should be aware that as online poker becomes the “in-thing”, it will open them up into different audiences and markets. Even US friendly poker sites could do with expanding their audience and bringing in more punters, which is where the influence of bingo sites could become apparent.
In the UK, so not of direct importance to the US but something that should be kept in mind, comes the news that Zynga Plus are bringing a real money poker app to UK players. This follows on from the fact that the company has produced real money bingo apps and games for Facebook. Clearly the knowledge and skills that have been developed working with bingo players has provided companies with the platform to tailor their services to poker players as well.
In the world of online gaming, one player’s money is just as good or as important as another’s so why shouldn’t the skills developed for certain players be used to reach out to others. Things are starting to get exciting in the US online poker industry, but they may be getting even more interesting, You might not want to say it out loud but the influence of online bingo could help to shape the future of US online poker.
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