A Review Of Online Bingo 2024
Published On 9th January 2025
A start of a New Year is always a good time to reflect on events of the past 12 months. However in the case of online bingo 2024, pretty much 2023, 2022 and so on and so forth the past 12 months can't exactly be descibed as memorable. In many ways it feels like there's been further erosion of the bingo space with sites and games closing, some often without any notice to players. 2024 hasn't been a great new for brand new bingo brands but is has been a year of reboots and relaunches. Not all of them were successful though with Dream Bingo making it's return before deciding just four months later that they were better off with their doors closed. On a positive note the year did end on a high with the arrival of Bullseye Bingo from Buzz. Read on below to enjoy our 2024 in review.
Dreaming Of New Bingo Brands
If you're a fan of new bingo brands then 2024 was quite simply dreadful. As mentioned above Dream Bingo made a return to the sector after deciding that they were better off without a bingo product following Microgaming's decision to close their platform several years ago. Dream chose Jumpman Gaming for their reboot and the brand was pushed heavily across several established portals. Then out of the blue it was announced that Dream Bingo would close, presumably because it wasn't a viable set-up (or affiliates were sending the wrong kind of players). Whilst Dream's Jumpman stay turned into a nightmare other brands seem to be happy with the platform. Max Millions, Deal Or No Deal and Bingo Aliens are amongst the new launches. Jumpman Gaming use Pragmatic Play for their bingo product and it's also the plug-in of choice for other platforms. Grace Media - formerly Nektan - made a surprising return to our screens with reboots for Chit Chat Bingo and UK Bingo. Their sister site, Jazzy Spins, turned to ProgressPlay and was joined by Pots Of Luck returning to the fray. Bingo isn't available on these brands just yet but ProgressPlay are hoping to launch it soon. We're unconvinced that rebooting a brand is a good move but in the absence of anything new it's better than nothing, only just!
Life On Broadway
Dream Bingo weren't the only brand to close in 2024. At the start of the year Treasure Bingo, Rio Bingo, Season Bingo and Wish Bingo joined many of their old sister sites in redirecting to 888 Ladies. These brands were acquired by Broadway Gaming alongside Costa and Sing but only the main sites have survived. The Broadway Gaming platform continues to be a bit of an enigma for online bingo. During 2024 we saw the closure of Tau Gaming - after they sold off or closed all their old Dragonfish brands. We did initially think that Broadway's aim was to sweep up old bingo sites, such as those owned by Silverspin and Maxi Affiliates, and eventually close them down. That doesn't actually seem to be the case because the likes of Pink Ribbon Bingo, Bingo Barmy and Bid Bingo all found new homes with Digital Partners and continue - at least for now - running with Broadway Gaming. Back in March 2024 we did think that the days were numbered for brands like Quality Bingo and Bonnie Bingo but they're still running. Overall though we're still waiting for Wink, Costa, 888 Ladies and co to bounce back into contention alongside Mecca, Buzz, Tombola and Jackpotjoy. We suspect that that wait is going to go on and on a lot longer.
Bingo Affiliates
The lack of new brands, site closures and platform changes don't just effect bingo players, they also effect bingo affiliates. That's folks like us who review, comment and write about the industry but in turn get paid for advertising etc. Early on in 2024 we were told that William Hill were the latest big brand to cull UK affiliates. Whilst this was a frustration for us - we've mostly enjoyed promoting them over the years - it was at least a more amiable end than those instigated by Betfair and Paddy Power (no we won't let it lie - if companies treat people badly then customers need to know). Departures in affiliate marketing aren't limited to operators waving goodbye to portals. Occasionally it's necessary for tables to turn and in 2024 we decided that it was time to drop Jumpman Gaming sites from our roster. Prior to Dream Bingo's closure we were told we were sending the wrong kind of players. In brief it was apparently our fault that players only deposited once and didn't return to various Jumpman powered brands. Nothing to do with the fact the platform lacks bingo promotions, bingo welcome offers and that there are better sites using Pragmatic Play's product.
New Bingo Games
One big surprise of 2024 was the closure of Masked Singer Bingo on PlayOJO but it wouldn't be the only departure during the year. Rainbow Riches Bingo which had been a cornerstone of Virtue Fusion's roster was quietly dropped but replaced with the 50 ball game Clover Rollover Bingo. Entain's version of Fluffy Favourites Bingo also ended up in Room 101 during 2024 but in it's place came another 50 ball game Fishin Frenzy Bingo. Pragmatic Play also added to their roster during 2024 with the arrival of Animingo. It's yet another 50 ball game but to make it exciting Pragmatic Play replaced numbers with animals. It's better than the awful Bingo Blast but doesn't get half as much hype. The highlight for 2024 though appeared right at the end of play when Buzz Bingo added Bullseye Bingo to their set-up. Launched to coincide with the new series hosted by Freddie Flintoff, Bullseye Bingo took advantage of Buzz's Live set-up to add extra game features such as Prize Board Live. Buzz should be everyone's site of the year for 2024 just because of Bullseye alone but they also enhanced their Live Bingo games so that could be enjoyed online and in club at the same time - a fabulous innovation and a much needed step forward whilst many brands seem to be driving in reverse.
Britain's Biggest Bingo Site
Tombola usually feature quite heavily in annual reviews because for many years they've been the lead innovators when it comes to online bingo. Whilst they did upgrade some of their classic bingo games we don't think that they added anything new bingo wise. Slots on the other hand did see many changes and they are now a major part of both Tombola and Tombola Arcade. It'd be easier if both sites simply combined to become one. Anyway Tombola did hope that they'd start 2024 with the UK's biggest ever bingo winner - £250,000 - but as it happened fate got in the way and two winners shared the jackpot. Interestingly Britain's Biggest Bingo was then quietly dropped from the platform's roster. It doesn't look like it's going to be making a return any time soon. On a positive note though it was nice to see the return of Free Fivers after a hiatus and as ever it's great to see the brand's involvement with I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. Tombola's lack of innovation has paved the way for others to step forward but other than Buzz there's not a lot to get excited about. Jackpotjoy added Sportsbook to their channels whilst Wink Bingo added Express Buy Bingo Options - but not prebuy options.
Looking Ahead
At the end of our 2023 review we hoped that online bingo had "something big up it's sleeve for 2024 and that in 12 months time we're still here to review it". The good news is that we're still here but sadly there definitely wasn't anything big up bingo's sleeve. To be brutal there wasn't anything small either! Whether that's down to cost of living issues, lack of profit for operators, taxation issues thanks to The UK Governement, uncertainty over future legislation, costs of marketing etc we just don't know. Our view is that in 12 months time our review of 2025 will be quite similar to the above. We'll see a few more brands close and a few others may try again with new owners or on new platforms. We might even see the eventual launch of ProgressPlay's bingo product. It'll need to be good to disrupt the status quo though. And finally let's hope that online bingo has something (big or small) up it's sleeve for 2025 and as ever that in 12 months time we're still earning a living so that we can review it.
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