Bingo Sites Set To Close In September

Published On 3rd August 2023

Just 24 hours ago (2nd August), three Tau Gaming bingo brands closed their doors to players for the final time. Dinky, Tickety and Pizazz Bingo are no longer operational and players are advised to head to another Tau owned brand at Bonnie Bingo. Sadly this isn't the end of the closures as today Tau Gaming have announced that a further three of their brands will be shutting up shop. Cracker Bingo, Bounce Bingo and Queen Bee Bingo will all cease operations on the 5th September 2023. Players will still have access to the slots and bingo rooms until the 4th but we advise that you withdraw or play any remaining funds as soon as possible.

It Was Never A Cracker

Cracker Bingo launched in November 2018 as a kind of seasonal themed site along the lines of Season and Jingle. To highlight it's festive brand the original site featured a lady in a santa hat but she was replaced by another "roomie" who we described as "sucking on lemons or doing a duck face for a selfie". We felt that it had nothing to do with the brand or bingo. Like many of it's predecessors Cracker was part of the Dragonfish Real Money Network but not once did it venture off piste and do anything exclusive. Interestingly one popular bingo portal rates Cracker as a 4.5/5 bingo brand but players only give it 1.5/5 (based on 4 reviews). The site rating of 4.5 is actually higher than that of 888 Ladies Bingo which for 2023 won the site's Best Dragonfish Bingo Site award. That kind of makes you wonder just how their ratings are derived. For the record we felt Cracker was just an average site and rated it 2.5/5.

Queen Bee Bounce's Off

Possibly named after the number call for 73, Queen Bee Bingo was our favourite of the Tau Gaming brands. Mainly because it was our go to site to check in on the latest games, promotions and updates. This particular brand launched in July 2017 and again, like Cracker, occupied a place on Dragonfish's Real Money Network. When the site buzzed into view it did feature a charismatic bee character but thanks to UKGC rules and regulations that had to be dropped. There were no such character issues however with Bounce Bingo who arrived on the scene in August 2019. Again they opted to use the Real Money Network and like it's departed and imminently departing sister brands offered nothing exclusive to players. An interesting fact about Bounce is that when we wrote our review they had accumulated 5 followers on Facebook. As they head towards their end they'll be departing with a massive 11 followers. Now that might be a tad unfair in that they may not have been using social media, but it shows that players weren't actually looking for them too.

Real Money Failures?

When The UKGC got everyone excited about bonuses and displaying terms around 2017, Dragonfish had the notion of creating a network of sites that offered their bingo games but with no wagering terms. It was a brave decision but in our view it had several massive flaws. Firstly players didn't seem as bothered about wagering terms as the suits at The UKGC. Buzz Bingo for example changed their welcome offer from no wagering to wagering because it was more appealing. Additionally players who like no wagering brands have better options on other platforms to consider (e.g Heart Bingo). Secondly the Real Money sites that launched on the network were actually pretty rubbish and didn't offer anything of note to stand out from the crowd. Some brands have tried to offer exclusives as part of a network offering (e.g. Loadsa Bingo) but no one has tried to become the new Foxy, 888 Ladies or new Wink. And finally the actual bingo was on a platform that was in decline and has stayed in decline. At time of writing brands on Dragonfish are suffering from reduced jackpots, bingo rooms and free games.

What Now For Tau?

However when we look at the brands that are still open with Tau these include Yay, Quality, Bonnie and Blighty that are all still part of the Real Money Network. In addition other groups still have brands running on that platform. So this suggests that either closures are being done in a slow deliberate way or the closing brands were just no longer viable. In the past Tau Gaming have switched sites from Real Money to the standard Dragonfish set-up (Hunky Bingo for example) but that's not occuring here either. Of course this is all speculation but there are a few things we can safely say. Churning out bingo brands and doing nothing with them may be a good model for a business but it does nothing for bingo players once the novelty of a new brand wears off. We'd also suggest that swapping any of the recent closures for another Tau Gaming bingo brand is a risky move. Those that remain aren't doing anything different to those that have closed. If Broadway Gaming are considering closing the Real Money Network then these sites are at risk. Finally if you let your competitors develop a better bingo product then it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to see players switch platforms.