Two Little Ducks – How Bingo Is ‘quacking’ the Younger Market?

If you’re of a certain age, there’s a good chance that you associate the game of Bingo with your Gran’s weekly outing but, thanks to the internet, all that has changed.  These days, Bingo is increasingly popular with younger players who choose to do their gaming online and, in this article, we’ll take a look at this much loved game.

Cards at the ready

Over three million people in the UK play Bingo every week, either online or at a social venue and, in fact, not only does the game have some famous fans – including Her Majesty The Queen but, it has even launched celebrity careers.  Actress Catherine Zeta Jones says that she was only able to attend performing arts school due to the fact that her father scored a big win on the Bingo. 

The premise of the game is that players are given pre-printed cards with a series of numbers on – and must match these numbers with those called out by a Bingo caller.  A player who matches a certain number of numbers will then shout ‘House’ or ‘Bingo’ to announce their claim.  Bingo can be played with either 90, 85 or 75 numbers – all of which run from 1 to 90.

Good call

One of the unique aspects of Bingo is that certain numbers have phrases or slogans attached to them – for example, ‘Sweet 16 and never been kissed’ and ‘Legs 11’.  These phrases are considered to be part of the fun of the game for players and many of them are based on Cockney rhyming slang. 

It’s thought that Bingo is derived from the Italian National Lottery which has been around since 1530 and was transported to the USA by a toy salesman named Edwin S. Lowe in the late 1920s.  From that moment, the game swept the globe and became incredibly popular in Europe, particularly the UK.

Racking up the numbers

While a huge number of people still play Bingo in social venues, there are now plenty of online casino sites available and, this has led to a much younger audience getting the Bingo bug – in fact, overall, the majority of players are now under 35 years of age.  Online Bingo first emerged in 1996 with a game called Bingo Zone and other sites soon followed. Fast forward to 2022 and the global worth of online billion has reached a staggering $2 billion.  Although many people prefer to play Bingo while mingling with friends, the online version offers social aspects as well through chat facilities that allow players to connect while playing their games. 

Conclusion

A curiosity of the modern world is that despite new and technically advanced games being introduced all the time, many old favorites remain extremely popular – and Bingo is no exception.  The simplicity and fast pace of Bingo mean that players can spend as much – or as little – time as they like with the game, while also enjoying the social benefits – which is a win-win for a huge number of people.