Online Casinos Foresee Expanding European Bingo Market
A British gaming research company says bingo is the least developed market in online gambling, and online casino operators William Hill, PartyGaming, and 888 are looking to expand their bingo operations as the bingo industry grows. H2 Gambling Capital says bingo sales in Europe will increase by better than 20 percent for at least the next two years.William Hill has reported revenue generated by bingo to be up by 50 percent over the first two quarters of the year. A spokesman for Hill says the company expects gross bingo income to rise from $250 million this year to over $375 million.
Ladbrokes said its online casino bingo operation had grown by 30 percent while land-based sales declined 7.4 percent. Internet gaming company 888 told Bloomberg it expects future bingo revenue to top $100 million, compared to present earnings of $40 million.
“Online bingo should not be smaller than online poker” within five years, 888 CEO Gigi Levy told the news organization. Currently, online poker generates net revenue of about $4 billion, compared to $2 billion for Internet bingo.
H2 Gambling Capital head Simon Holliday says bingo is "the least mature" of online gaming options.
“Online bingo is in such an early growth phase that any recessionary impacts are outweighed by its newness,” Holliday said.
