To many who play the typical first person, adventure or shooting games, to play bingo online would seem to cramp their style. Even a casual observer exposed to many game ads on TV would have to wonder how such a game would ever be popular in an industry where the customers demand the best sound and graphics.
The reality is that many online game players are not adrenaline junkies in search of their next fix. They enjoy taking many of the same low key games they played before the Internet existed and simply playing them in a different medium.
Surprisingly one of the most popular of these games is bingo. A Google search on ‘playing bingo online’ yielded over 18 million results directing users to sites that allow playing for money or just for fun.
It has become big business, especially in the UK, where the Online Bingo Summit was recently held for the 8th straight year. The event covered issues like trends in online bingo playing, challenges the industry faces and support for social media and mobile devices.
Although many sites offer online bingo, one of most prominent ones seems to be Antigua-based Bingomania.com, which has offered online bingo since 1996, in the early days of widespread Internet access. Other prominent sites include cyberbingo.com, bingo.com and bingopalace.com.
You are not limited to playing just bingo on these sites. Bingomania, for example, offers slots, keno and video poker as well.
One of the most popular forms of bingo available online simulates the 75 ball bingo many have played in person where the person pulls random ping pong balls from a ball hopper marked with a letter and number combination and calls them out. Players can simulate calling ‘BINGO’ by clicking a button on the screen when they have achieved a winning pattern.
Perhaps one of the biggest attractions to playing online bingo is the ability to play for money. Progressive jackpots that grow as several days pass without a winner are an especially big draw.
As is the case with any form of gambling, online bingo has attracted the interest of government regulators. In the UK, an online gambling tax appears very likely to pass. Initially expected to go into effect December 2014, Jonathan Stephens, a representative from the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sports, stated that the tax could go into effect much sooner:
“Subject to other demands on the Parliamentary timetable, and if the Bill secured a third session slot, we would anticipate being able to commence the new arrangements at the earliest by the common commencement date of April 2014.”
The US does not regulate online gambling by outlawing it directly, but instead took the approach of outlawing financial institutions from allowing its customers to fund online gambling using their bank or credit card accounts. The most noteworthy law passed by the US federal government having to do with gambling was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA).
In 2011, the Internet domains of Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were seized by the US Department of Justice. Defendants in the case were alleged to have engaged in money laundering and fraud from circumventing the UIGEA.
Regulation would appear to be an obstacle to what could be explosive growth for online bingo in the two countries where it is most popular, the US and UK. Recent developments, especially in the US, may open up online gambling, especially as cash-strapped governments find the potential revenue too good to pass up. 888 Holdings Plc and bwin.party applied for licenses from the state of Nevada to provide online gaming operations. New Jersey and Delaware also allow online gambling
Gaming businesses that want to offer online bingo as a form of gambling will be able to do so, but there’s no way to do it without complying with government regulations. That’s going to take manpower and money, putting such ventures out of reach for many small businesses.
Image Credits: Catherine V