Bingo Worldwide

There is no doubt that the UK is the unofficial capital of bingo. The rise of the UK online bingo game can only be described as amazing. Bingo has become the leading form of online gambling in the UK played by all age ranges and vastly helped by the demise of live bingo and heavy advertising on all UK media. I will say though that bingo is not restricted to the UK only. America has an extremely strong live bingo presence although the online bingo scene has been stifled by the online gambling laws which class many of the existing online bingo sites as unlawful. Throughout the states though you will find thousands of bingo halls and if the online gambling laws are changed in the future there is sure to be a boom online.

Spain also has seen a massive surge in online bingo. Spain is only second to the UK for the growth of the online game. During 2008 there has been a major increase of Spanish online bingo sites fighting for the large volume of Spanish players. This has not gone unnoticed by the established UK online bingo giants and already Mecca have launched their own white label bingo site Bingo International which is strictly targeted at the Spanish market.

Italy has also seen rapid growth in the online bingo scene and is ranked third behind the UK and Spain. In many ways Italy is way behind but analyst predict strong growth in Italy during the next couple of year. Perhaps one of the surprising countries where bingo is popular is Japan. Japan has always had a thriving live bingo scene with thousands of bingo parlours throughout the country. As with the UK the game has transferred rapidly online creating a booming industry. The live game in Japan mirrors the live bingo scene in the UK where it is a very social event.

Australia and New Zealand also have a strong live bingo community and once again there seems to be growth in the online bingo scene. Australia has many bingo halls through the country as does New Zealand.

Many wonder why the UK has taken the lead in the online bingo world. My theory is this is simply due to a few factors. The main factor is that online gambling in the UK is fully legalised and regulated unlike online bingo in many other countries. Secondly the live bingo scene in the UK was badly hit by the smoking ban. In the UK you are no longer allowed to smoke in enclosed public areas and since the introduction of the smoking ban many players simply stopped playing live. Thirdly the credit crunch in the UK as hit everybody hard. The simple fact is that it is much cheaper to play bingo online than live and as you are playing against more players online the prize pools are vastly increased online. The final factor is the heavy promotion of online bingo by the UK media. Prime time TV is flooded with bingo commercial which are endorsed by well known celebs such as Katie Price and many others.