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一两天前我发了一个帖子说，宾果现在很热。我是从各个上市博彩公司的财报得出这个结论的。
昨天英国电讯报就同样得出了这个结论，分析了888和32red等几家公司，和他们的高管观点。
Online bingo is a mecca for middle classes
Last Updated: 10:57pm BST 09/08/2008
Eyes are down on the bottom line for internet gaming operators as a new breed of gamblers stays in to play, reports Rowena Mason
It is a guilty pleasure among thousands of middle-class, well-off women, once the children are packed off to school and the chores are done. They take their place in front of the computer, top up their account balance and wait for the bingo host to call the first number.
One of the attractions of online bingo is that no one need know these players are taking part in a game traditionally reserved for the chain-smoking, wing-wobbling hordes of blue-rinsers that once packed halls across the country.
In the past year, the bingo club industry has been beset with closures caused by the smoking ban, restrictions on £500 slot machines and the double whammy of having to pay both gross profits tax and VAT.
But the £600m online sector has never been so competitive - nor so lucrative.
This week, gaming group 888 Holdings said revenue from its "ladies' bingo" was up fourfold on the previous quarter, after TV advertising featuring comedian Vic Reeves. So what makes online bingo such an attractive sector for gaming operators?
"Online bingo is booming everywhere," said 888 chief executive Gigi Levy. "But it's a mistake to link it to traditional bingo, because that's a completely different proposition. Our women are young, above average income and typical internet consumers. Land-based bingo is about elderly people, smoking and aggressive slot machines."
Levy said he spotted a gap in the market for an exclusively female-oriented site, since women seemingly have little interest in poker or casinos. He believes even the difficult economic climate will not hold back growth.
"People are cutting back on leisure, but they are staying home and spending only in the low tens of pounds a month with the chance of winning some extra cash. The beauty of it is there are very low costs and a huge number of players, so despite low margins, it is very profitable."
These favourable conditions account for the rush of media and retail companies convinced there is the potential to make more money than a supersize jackpot out of burgeoning demand. According to the Gambling Commission, the number of online bingo players doubled in the past year from 250,000 to 500,000 across 243 registered websites.
Among the new media operators are ITV's Emmerdale-themed site, the Sun's offering and BSkyB, which launched its site last month. At the more risqué end of the spectrum, retailer Ann Summers offers a game targeting young female customers with sex toy giveaways and a series of "outrageous new nicknames" transforming the number 66 from "clickety-click" into "kinky tricks".
Such diversity enticed Nickie Shute, a 38-year-old mother of three, away from her weekly visit to the bingo club. Now she plays online - at her peak a few years ago, up to seven hours every day.
"You have the same aspects of community through the bingo chatroom, but you can make a noise without being shushed by the old ladies, play in your pyjamas and start a game at any time of day," said Shute, who manages consumer website BallsUpBingo.co.uk.
"There are so many free bonuses and prizes. I feel sorry for land-based bingo because it's really suffering, but online has so much more to offer."
As a player outside the usual demographic, James Preece, from Nottingham, said it is less embarrassing to play online than sit in a room full of 400 elderly women. Unlike Shute, the 25-year-old complaints manager is not playing for the social aspect, but financial gains, as he does not bother chatting with the regulars.
"I like winning the money," he said. "And it is really addictive. I don't worry about it being fixed if you go to the big places."
If more players like Shute and Preece migrate online from the UK's 1,650 traditional bingo venues, could it have serious consequences for established operators? While Rank saw revenue at Mecca bingo halls slide 16.9 per cent to £110m in the past six months, revenue from its Blue Square online business rose 3.1 per cent.
However, Steve Baldwin, of the Bingo Association, argues that there is room in the market for both.
"When online bingo was invented, land-based bingo feared the competition," he said. "Now they have realised there is only a 10 per cent crossover of their players."
Although online bingo is thriving independently, Baldwin does see the market as overcrowded. "Within a year, there has to be some consolidation," he said. "People will start to value recognised online brands and recession might not be a bad thing, as the 'me too' brands won't stay the course."
So will the online gaming industry's fervour for bingo last if the market is flooded and profits are small compared with poker and sports betting?
Ed Ware, whose gaming site 32Red launched its bingo pages in February, gives some insight into why such a popular game can be so valuable to online operators.
"Our growth has been seismic, with more than 12,000 new customers a month," he said. "Spending on a game is very low compared with other internet gambling, but our customers feed into other areas of our business. In a land-based club, people flock to the slot machines when there's a break. We also have those slot-machine games online. "
This is the experience of Katie Wilson, 35, a call centre worker from Leeds, whose family do not know how much she spends on bingo - and the associated slot machines - because she no longer goes to her local club. A serious habit is easier to hide, she admitted.
"Online is so easy and anonymous," she said. "I wouldn't ever go back to club bingo. If it was a number, you'd have to call it 28 [in a state], but online bingo is like a number 20 [getting plenty]." |
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发表于 2008-8-11 04:29
