New Player Welcome Offers Are Not Bingo Friendly
Published On 24th October 2022
Earlier in the year Broadway Gaming (Butlers Bingo, Rosy Bingo etc) purchased the Dragonfish platform alongside a whole host of top brands like Wink, Costa and 888 Ladies. We're still waiting to see what will happen with those top bingo destinations but activity is starting to happen elsewhere. Maxi Affiliates are a small group that have a number of brands on the Dragonfish platform. These include Bid Bingo, Bingozino, Pink Ribbon, UK Bingo and Chit Chat. The latter is probably the most well known but it's slipped way down the charts after a chequered history across multiple software providers. Anyway all these sites have introduced new welcome offers which includes the launch of bonus wheel element. But is this good news for bingo players?
Slots Welcome Offers
The first thing we've noticed about all the sites with new offers is that the main welcome element is slots related. Pink Ribbon for example offer new players a 200% slot bonus up to £20, UK Bingo give you 15 free spins on registration whilst there's a £5 slots bonus for new players at Chit Chat. Wagering terms and conditions apply to these offers and these do include a x65 gambing bonus term. As these are all bingo destinations - determined by their brand names - then we find this pretty disappointing. It gives an impression that the brands are looking to attract slots players and not bingo. Something we see at the likes of Jumpman who despite offering our 30, 75, 80 and 90 ball variants care of Pragmatic Play don't seem to like offering newbies anything bingo related when it comes to bonuses. However it's not all bad news for bingo players who may fancy signing up at Bingozino, Bid, Pink Ribbon, Chit Chat or UK Bingo. This is because of a new spin the wheel game that's also been added into the welcome offer mix.
Spin The Wheel Bonus
All sites involved give new depositing players the chance to win up to 150 slot spins on first deposit. From what we can gather there are six segments on the wheel and a spin could win you: 25 free spins, 150 free spins, 50 free spins, 100 free spins, 35 bingo tickets or 75 bingo tickets. As you can tell the wheel is skewed towards slots and no wonder because any wins come with a x65 wagering term. Bingo bonuses on the other hand have a x4 term. It's also worth noting that if you win a spins bonus then they are valid on a specific game for just one day. Wins from the spins are capped at £1 per 10 free spins and wins are granted in games bonus after all of them are used. On the other hand if you get free bingo tickets then these are valid for the £50 Daily Treat game only but they are also valid for 30 days. Wins generated from these bingo tickets are granted as a bingo bonus. It'd be interesting to know if the odds of achieving a given segment are equal or if the wheels - which are essentially pre-determined instant win games - are skewed towards one bonus over another.
Limited Bingo Appeal
Whatever the odds we're of the opinion that these new welcome bonuses aren't particularly attractive to bingo players. If you don't like slots then you could literally end up with no reward for your deposit. For example if you joined Chit Chat you might not want to play the no deposit bonus. If you then won more spins after spinning the bonus wheel you might then choose to reject them. Even if you are a fan of slots then you're still getting saddled with a x65 wagering concern which puts these brands on par with Jumpman - and we're not convinced that they appeal highly to bingo fans. Of course you might end up with 35 or 75 free bingo tickets but these have limited use in a single room. Unfortunately it does seem that more and more brands are pushing bingo to the back burner and focusing on slots. They still naturally offer the game but it now comes with limited welcome offers, player promotions, prizes and innovation. It's perhaps no surprise to see many bingo rooms empty whilst the likes of Tombola thrive with ideas such as Britain's Biggest Bingo Game that currently has a £180,000 jackpot.
What Next For Dragonfish?
When Broadway Gaming acquired 888's Dragonfish platform we expected that they'd close unprofitable sites, improve the bingo platform, focus on the likes of Wink and Costa, and possibly move Butlers et al from Pragmatic Play to their new purchase. To date we've not seen any developments that are noteworthy. However Maxi's decision to focus their welcome offer to slots perhaps doesn't bode well for bingo. Up to the sale it's safe to say that Dragonfish's bingo had become tired and in need of a spruce up. Whilst it might never be able to compete with Tombola, it should easily be able to be better than Pragmatic Play, Entain and Virtue Fusion. But it seems no one wants to build a quality bingo brand on this platform, invest in good promotions and market it to appeal to players. Did ideas like Quizingo, Prize Land Bingo and Bingo All Stars struggle because of their unique selling points or because the fundamental product supporting them just isn't up to scratch? Perhaps it's a mixture of both but we're not sure that focusing welcome offers on slots isn't the way to build up a bingo audience. It'll be interesting to see how Maxi's sites develop in the coming months and whether other Dragonfish incumbants follow a similar path.
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