All Change For Big Money Bingo Jackpots
Published On 14th May 2024
In October 2022 Tombola turned online bingo on it's head (not for the first time) by introducing a big money game with a guaranteed prize. Britain's Biggest Bingo offered players the chance to play for a £100,000 guaranteed full house for just 50p a ticket. An incredible 171178 players got involved with the first game which saw one lucky player walk away with a record breaking £239,168 prize. Not to be outdone in the big money bingo stakes, Entain launched their own game - The £100K Big Bingo Game - that also played monthly on brands like Gala and Foxy. Whilst Tombola offered just the one full house prize, Entain distributed their prize money a lot more evenly with just a mere £50,000 going to the full house winner. Was this the start of a big money bingo war?
On Hiatus To Gone For Good?
Over the years bingo brands have offered some big prizes. These were either one off specials (e.g. Joy Of Bingo Pots) or gimmicks whereby the top prize was impossible to be won (e.g. Moon Bingo's Sliding Jackpot Millionaire Games). The arrival of Britain's Biggest Bingo at Tombola changed the game because the full house prize was guaranteed and the amount increased as more players purchased. However despite a £239K first winner, the prize pots - which to be fair were still decent - continued to decline and in the summer of 2023 Tombola decided to put their big money game on hiatus. It briefly returned at the end of 2023, start of 2024 as Tombola aimed to create the biggest ever online bingo winner with a £250K guaranteed prize. As it happened the pot was shared so their original BBB Winner with £239K retained the record. Surprisingly once that game had completed in January 2024 all mention of Britain's Biggest Bingo vanished from Tombola. It's not known whether it's back on hiatus or if it's gone for good. Ironically all this happened just as Virtue Fusion with the likes of Buzz, Mecca and Sun Bingo jumped on the big money bandwagon.
Buzzing For £100K
In December 2023 we reported about a £100K game taking place at Buzz. This game offered a £75,000 full house prize as well as prizes for one line, two lines and a few roll-on full house jackpots too. We initially thought that this was a one off special to end 2023, but it's now a monthly feature across Virtue Fusion/Playtech brands. Tickets are cheap at just 10p each. With Tombola out of the picture again this left Entain and Virtue Fusion running in the big money prize stakes Interestingly Jackpotjoy didn't even get involved! However things have now changed again with Entain deciding to launch the £150K Big Bingo Sessions. This means that from June players will be able to enjoy several games with a maximum £10,000 pot rather than play in one big money game. These games will take place on the first Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the month. Meanwhile the next big money Virtue Fusion game is scheduled for the 29th May.
Has Big Money Bingo Flopped?
The answer to the question would be "it would seem so" given that both Tombola and Entain have either dropped their game or changed it. That said both did run them for several months and dished out a lot of prize money. Taking a wild guess we don't think that these games were that profitable nor acted as a carrot to keep players online. Tombola's game - in our view - not only lacked pizazz but the lack of 1L, 2L or any other prizes quickly turned it into a non-event. It's still very strange why BBB came back and then was ditched. Entain at least are still dishing out the prize money albeit across multiple games and with smaller jackpots. This should mean players feeling there's more chances to win and therefore being happier to not only buy tickets but stay online for the next game. It'll be interesting to see whether Virtue Fusion continue with their Big One or take a similar approach to either Tombola or Entain. However as a platform they've always had decent sized jackpots and perhaps also have the brands that can create enough interest to carry them.
Competing For Players
We had hoped that the arrival of some exciting big money jackpot games would give a much needed boost to online bingo. After all there's not been too much to get excited about over the last few years. Many sites have closed whilst those that remain open are pretty much identikits of a handful of sister brands. Prize promotions have all but died out and some brands have shunted their bingo channels to the backburner. Headline games should have attracted new players and re-energised existing ones. Bingo has to compete against many other online gaming services now and it seems to be losing. Bounty Competitions and similar sites offer huge cash prizes on a regular basis; Good Life Plus give players the chance to win cars and other prizes every month for a subscription fee; Omaze offer the chance to win a million pound house every month. Bingo sites offering small prizes in over populated rooms will only appeal to those who really enjoy the game.
Related & Recent Articles
- Is Crystal Maze Bingo No Longer On Jackpotjoy?
- Play The X Factor Bingo - 90 Ball Bingo
- Mecca Raffles Launch On Mecca Bingo
- Paddy Power Bingo Have £10K To Giveaway
- 2's Company Bingo Room Opens At Mecca
- Mecca Bingo Review
- Latest News
