The British have a special relationship with bingo. It’s one of the nation’s favourite pastime, with most people having played a game as a child and hearing stories about their grandparents or parents heading off to the local bingo hall for the night.
Despite the long-term love affair, bingo’s popularity saw a steep decline in recent decades. The 2007 smoking ban is often cited as a big driving force behind this, with more than half of all bingo players being smokers prior to the ban.
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This was shortly followed by the great recession, which saw Brits around the country tighten the purse strings and stop heading out to their local bingo venue, further leading to a huge drop in players around the nation.
However, bingo has not died the slow death many predicted ten years ago. In fact, it has remarkably saw a steady increase in players, with an average 45 million people per year playing bingo in the UK, with one of the main driving forces behind the resurgence being younger players!
But why exactly has this happened?
Online Bingo
Perhaps one of the most obvious reasons for the rise in bingo amongst young British adults is that the internet has made it more accessible than ever. Whether playing desktop games on a laptop or a bingo on a smartphone via bingo sites like Trustedbingo.co.uk, younger players have never had more ways to play the game and on a medium that they enjoy.
For example, millennials make up the largest userbase of smartphone owners and use apps more often than any other generation. This means many more young Brits are playing bingo apps with friends! Many enjoy it so much that they even take to playing at a local bingo hall!
According to YouGov data, the most likely age group to be playing online bingo in the UK is the 25-34 demographic. Many of these players end up heading to a bingo hall too, contributing to the overall rise in younger adult players throughout Britian.
YouGov said “Intriguingly, while one may almost disparagingly characterise traditional bingo halls as being frequented by the older generations, YouGov Profiles data indicates that when it comes to online bingo playing, the age group most likely to playing is the 25-34s.
Indeed, of those that have told YouGov they have played bingo online in the last 12 months, 28% are in that age demographic, narrowly ahead of 26% that are 35-44. Notably, women are much more likely to be playing. Among the same group, 62% are female, with 38% male.
Of course, we can attribute the fact that younger demographics are interested in the game to technology, and the ease in which they can play on smartphones. And indeed, this is by far the most popular way to take part in online bingo, some way ahead of using a tablet.”
Free Plays, Bonuses, and Other Incentives
One big reason that younger British adults are enjoying bingo so much is because it’s quite an affordable form of entertainment, especially compared to other types of gambling. This has been further helped by the fact most online bingo sites and apps offer all kinds of amazing sing up bonuses, free games, and other incentives to attract players.
Being a generation that grew up in a recession, young British adults are always looking for ways to save money and win big. Bingo offers both of this, espiecally with all the freebies available online, helping attract swathes on young players.
Fun Nights Out
While online bingo is certainly the main driving force behind the rise amongst young British adults, the bingo hall is by no means dead. In fact, many young people are heading to bingo halls with friends and family for a cheap night out.
Bingo isn’t expensive to play and the drinks are typically cheaper than average, making it more appealing to saving-savvy millennials. Moreover, a tax break in 2014 resulted in more profits for bingo halls, leading to various venues being extensively refurbished to attract younger players.
