Mecca Raffles Vanish From Mecca Bingo

Published On 14th July 2022

Back in January we wrote the below article about Mecca Raffles as following a site revamp the raffle section failed to return. Within a few weeks however the section had returned! However fast forward to July 2022 and it looks like that once again the pay to enter prize draws channel on Mecca Bingo has gone AWOL yet again. We don't know whether this means that it's taking a temporary time out or whether that's it once and for all. Either way it's not a great indictment of the popularity of the raffles if they come and go more often Tory Party Leader hopefuls. Pay to enter prize draws are a strange mechanic with some platforms (e.g. McKinney Competitions and Omaze) being incredibly successful whilst others - many others in fact - struggle to attract sufficient paying players to generate profits. Will Mecca Raffles return? Let's wait and see!

Goodbye Mecca Raffles?

Whilst checking in on Mecca Bingo we noticed that one part of the site has now gone and it looks like that the Mecca Raffles channel has now been removed. The page which used to host the raffles has also gone and redirects to an error page. As far as we can tell there's been no announcement from Mecca regarding the departure of the raffles and nothing has been mentioned on social meda. We don't think that they're just missing because of the recent outage though and we suspect that after a difficult run they've been removed. Regular readers will know we've mentioned the raffles a few times recently and concluded that "players haven't quite taken to the giveaways". We also questioned their future although we did think that maybe they'd get more time to bed in.

A Brief History Of Mecca Raffles?

Mecca Raffles launched in April 2021. We were particularly excited about this development because it brought together pay to enter prize draws (incorrectly dubbed raffles) into a brand with a gambling license. Raffles are quite popular and a number of established sites exist but none - as far as we are aware - have to abide by UKGC gambling rules. This means things like responsible play, self exclusion tools and deposit limits are overlooked which is not good. In theory a player can spend £100s on a raffle site and not face the same scrutiny if that same player spent the same money on slots, casino, sportsbook and bingo. What we also liked about Mecca Raffles was that the prizes were good and ticket prices reasonable (50p to £1). Prizes were also awarded regardless of the number of tickets sold. Other sites, including those that like to giveaway houses will usually extend closing dates or offer cash alternatives.

The Writing On The Wall

When Mecca Raffles launched they hosted half a dozen or so different draws. When these draws concluded then they were replaced by more of the same. They even gave players the chance to win a brand new Mini. However as time ticked on the number of draws diminished and in recent months there was usually only one raffle every few weeks. This led us to question their future in November. We also noted a few periods where no prizes were on offer. When you look at successful raffle sites they're constantly churning through prize draws and maintaining player interest. As soon as you reduce the number of draws then player interest starts to fall. We've seen this countless times with raffle sites that have launched in a blaze of glory only to discover that the mechanic is a lot harder to sell than the owners may initially have realised. Whilst it'd be nice if the mantra "build it and they will come" worked for raffle sites but it just doesn't.

What Can We Learn About Mecca Raffles

If a big brand like Mecca Bingo can't get pay to enter prize draws to work - given that it should have an interested audience - then it's going to be a tough ask for smaller brands. However we do think that the raffles weren't well advertised and perhaps needed a bigger push. Highlighting winners and providing transparency on the draws was also a big omission from the site. Who won the Mini Cooper for example? The successful prize draw sites use live social media draws to pick winners and provide all the details about previous giveaways such as tickets sold. This gives entrants confidence that things are being done properly and to the letter. We don't think anything untoward was going on with Mecca Raffles but they just overlooked the importance of providing a winner archive. We're sad to see the raffles experiment fail but massive kudos to Mecca for giving them a try.

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