William Hill Bingo Makes The Move To Vegas
Published On 9th November 2022
Online bingo has been going through quite a big transformation this year. The completition of the Dragonfish sale by Broadway Gaming has impacted many sites but other little scenarios are also playing out across the board. One big surprise, at least to us, was the decision by Bet365 to switch their Virtue Fusion bingo offering to Pragmatic Play. On top of that we have bookies like Paddy Power and Betfair giving hard working bingo affiliates the bird. The ultimate result is a once overladen table of goodies reduced to a desperate table of scraps. The shine that once gloriously lit up the numbers game is rapidly diminishing. And there's more evidence of that this week over at William Hill. They haven't left the Virtue Fusion platform like their Bet365 counterparts but they have kind of shuffled bingo to the back of the burner.
Bingo Heads To Vegas
For many years William Hill Bingo had it's very own channel with it's own welcome bonus and promotions. In recent times the welcome offer for new players was dropped completely, something that we've never quite understood. For a long time it was the only brand that we knew of that didn't offer new depositors some kind of bonus. Interestingly the new look Bet365 Bingo also seems to be on the same wavelength. This seems very strange to us because why join a site without a bonus when there are plenty with the same games (e.g. Mecca on Virtue Fusion and Heart on Pragmatic Play). Anyway we digress! Although the welcome offer was dropped, William Hill still had a bingo channel and regularly updated promotions. Notably these became less and less prevalent and the ones that were featured were all network related. A pretty significant drop in player excitement when compared to the car giveaways and prizes offered in previous years. Today though we've spotted that William Hill Bingo is now essentially part of William Hill Vegas - as are poker and live casino.
Good Or Bad Move?
William Hill have been gradually developing their Vegas section and it's pretty much taken over from the lesser used William Hill Casino. Vegas we guess has a more relaxed softer connatation about it where as Casino can be regarded as quite a hard gaming experience. Now those looking for slots, live casino games, bingo and poker will find them integrated under one section with one set of promotions. In respect to keeping things organised this actually seems a sensible move. Additionally the brand doesn't need to worry about a welcome offer for each type of player - there's one for sportsbook and another for those looking to play slots, bingo and games. However on the flipside it does feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth for bingo. It most certainly no longer has the same billing as slots or sports and by being shunted into the Vegas channel now gives an impression of an afterthought addition much in the same way bingo appears on Jumpman Slots sites. Existing players who have been regulars at the site may well not be overly fussed by this change but we're not convinced it's great for those looking at new places to play. Again why choose a brand with no welcome bonus or an unappealing slots bonus (if you don't want to play slots) when others are ready to embrace bingo players and their money?
Not All Bad News
The decision by William Hill to shunt bingo into Vegas isn't all bad news, provided you're a fan of slots. First off it means you'll probably never miss any of the slot promos that regularly run on the site. Of course there's also The Bonus Drop free to play game but the brand do love to dish out some free spins on a regular basis. You can also win free spins and bonuses playing The Bonus Drop but our experience of this game hasn't been great lately (still no wins for a very long time). And whilst there may not be a dedicated Bingo Promotions page they do actually get a foot note on the Vegas Promos section. From there you can find out about Daily Free Bingo, Superbooks Saturdays, Penny Bingo and Fluffy Bingo Bargain Hour. These are pretty much the same offers that have been on William Hill Bingo for the last 12 months but at least they're still there. We do hope that the move to Vegas is simply to make things better for the players and not the start of a process which will see bingo depart the platform. But we are fearful for it's future.
What Next For Online Bingo?
Whilst on one hand you have Tombola attracting enough interest to giveaway a £239,000 full house prize, on the other you have a lack of new bingo brands and big established gambling brands diluting their offering. The Pragmatic Play product isn't that great despite being associated with some supposedly big brands; Broadway Gaming may well be trying to improve the old Dragonfish platform but it's safe to say that what we've seen so far isn't good, although smaller brands get a better deal than established stars such as Wink and Costa. All this is actually good news for the likes of Gala, Foxy, Mecca, Jackpotjoy and Buzz who continue to do good things. Tombola also benefit but they're pretty much in a league of their own. The rest though have a battle on their hands to win the hearts and coins of bingo players. Poor products, no promotions and pushing bingo to the backburners isn't going to work. We suspect brands know this so that implies that they've decided that bingo is no longer the cash cow that it once was and it's too costly to get players in. Whilst no one is willing to let it go completely (or in the case of Bet365 see if things improve with another set-up) the focus from here on with many brands will always be slots. For players looking to play bingo that's not great - nor is it great for a site trying to tell you about bingo!
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