Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
Online bingo is something that I’ve always had a fascination with, and something I’ve always wanted to promote.
I used to run an online bingo site, Internet Bingo Zone. The work involved just wasn’t worth the ROI, but I still had a lot of fun running that site.
I was always hoping that the whole “bingo is the next big thing” would really come to fruition so I could invest a lot of time in it. I remember when I was doing research on it back in the day, I introduced my dad to it. He would go to bingo regularly in real life, and I was curious how he would react to it.
It was really interesting seeing how he got into it. I learned a lot from him in regard to it. For example, while the savvy gambler would jump from bingo site to bingo site, the regular player such as himself, would stick with the one bingo hall and I couldn’t get him to change. Very similar to people who sign up at online sportsbooks.
While I don’t think the ROI is there for me personally in regard to bingo, I am debating starting up an online bingo site this year, purely as a passion project. A little tribute to my dad, who sadly passed away a few years ago. He really loved his bingo.
So with that, I thought I would look at a few of the top bingo sites in 2023, and see exactly what they promote and focus on. This will, in theory, give me an idea of what is important for the online bingo player. I am using the list from this bingo sites page which lists over 130 bingo sites dedicated to the UK. I’m choosing their top recommended sites, to see how they approach new customers.
If you’re looking to promote bingo online in 2023, here’s what the online bingo rooms think you should be focusing on:
#1: Free Spins on Casino Games
Amusingly, the biggest focus from all of these bingo halls isn’t actually their bingo – but instead, free spins. Bingostars offers a bonus with 20+ bonus spins. Peachy Games offers 20 bonus spins. The Sun Bingo has a large heading at the top advertising 50 free spins.
What That Means: Any bingo site in 2023, needs to focus strongly on free spins. Whoever you list at the top, needs to have free spins offered. If you have a “Pros” list, the free spins should be #1. If you have a comparison table, free spins needs to be a column on it.
#2: Deposit Bonus
No surprise of course – but the deposit bonus is also promoted very strongly.
What is interesting is very few sites actually focus just on the bonus. They focus on the bonus plus the aforementioned free spins.
Also notable is that no deposit bonuses are few and far between. I went through 20 different sites on the list, and not one of them offered a no-deposit bonus. Every single bingo room required the user to deposit.
What That Means: This means that no deposit bonuses on bingo rooms just don’t convert well enough. The bingo halls don’t feel it is worth offering it as those players will never become real money players.
This is actually a good thing – the consistency across all of these bingo rooms means you can focus purely on bingo halls that require an actual deposit, and thus you are bringing in real money players right off the bat.
Checking keyword data, “bingo no deposit bonus” is still a very popular keyword phrase. Actually, practically no-one is searching for actual bingo bonuses – instead, looking for no-deposit bonuses.
What THAT means is that while no deposit bonuses are rarely offered, you should still optimize for it. Instead of listing the handful of no-deposit bonuses that are out there, however, I would focus the page on minimum deposit bonuses that give the best bang for their buck.
For example, I would be pointing out that Happy Tiger only offers £20 match on your £20 deposit, for a 100% match. While Bingostars offers £30 on your £10 deposit. That sort of thing.
These people are deal hunters. Work the “no deposit” page into offering them the best deals, and many of them will jump at it.
#3: Types of BIngo Games
Or rather, the lack of it.
Back in the day, the bingo rooms used to strongly advertise the types of games that they would play. It was always rotating. Different patterns, that sort of thing. You had your standard ones like a full house, four corners, etc. But there were many other patterns such as the Windmill, the Arrow, etc. I used to have pages dedicated to these, and a list of where you could play them.
What This Means: It means that the online bingo rooms don’t believe this sort of thing will convert a player. That doesn’t mean you can’t have listings such as “where to play the windmill pattern” – it just means I wouldn’t focus on it as primary content. Instead, it’s secondary content that at least helps add some authority to your site with informational value.
And you never know – that type of traffic, if there is any out there, will be more likely to convert. They aren’t concerned about deposit bonuses or free spins – they want to play one specific game and if they find your site listing where to play that pattern, the chances of them converting are high.
#4: Different Features
One thing I noticed while browsing these bingo rooms is that a lot of them offer a feature that is practically unique to them. Here is an example of a few:
Bumble Bingo: Spin the Bumble Wheel.
Happy Tiger: Win the Mega Prize.
The Sun Bingo: Spin & Go Wheel, All-Star Wheel, contests to stay at an all-star hotel.
Mr Q: Up to 2160 games of free bingo off your initial deposit.
Bingorella: Spin the Bingorella Wheel.
Those are just a few examples of different promotions offered at various bingo rooms online.
What This Means: Right away, it gives you something “unique” to entice users. I like that contest to stay at an all-star hotel for example. I feel like online gambling properties need to do more promotions like that. I remember working with a poker room and doing extensive research on this back in the day. Over triple the number of people would join a freeroll tournament for a PS3 when it was selling for about $350, compared to a freeroll with a prize to 1st place of $500. Despite less value for the PS3, people wanted that item more.
I completely get that. At the end of the day, most people just want STUFF. So first of all, I would promote the above all over the site to see what catches people’s eyes. Wheels are popular, so I would have a page dedicated to that. I would also have one big page listing all these “unique” promotions. If I had a mailing list, I would be promoting these on a weekly basis as well. Hyping up the Bingorella Wheel one week, then the Bumble Wheel the next, etc.
#5: Slots
Along with free spins, instead of their actual bingo games, some of these online bingo rooms promote slot machines.
Above the fold, Bingostars dedicates half the real estate to their “Featured Slots Games”. Loony Bingo has a mix of bingo and slot machines listed while putting them into categories such as “Hot” and “Top-Notch”.
Now I have noticed this isn’t consistent across the board like free spins. Many focus just on bingo, but there are enough bingo rooms doing this that it is worth paying attention to.
What This Means: The fact that only some of the bingo rooms are featuring their slots and the others aren’t is quite interesting. All of the other bingo rooms do appear to have slots – they just don’t focus on it.
If I am running a bingo site this year, I’m not completely sure how I would handle slots. One consistency I notice is that they are all put into their own niche or category. “Hot”, “Top-Notch”, “Our Picks”, “Featured”, New” etc.
So I think I would dedicate a small section of the website to slots within those categories. Simple ones like “The 10 hottest slots”. “Top 10 jackpot slots” “10 exclusive slots”. That sort of thing.
As this is just guesswork, I would also be on the phone to the first bingo affiliate program I work with. I would be asking them for as many details about their slots as they can share. What are the most popular slots? Do players stick with the same slot or play different ones? What percentage play slots? Questions like that. Really figure out what is working at the bingo rooms, and then I can tailor the slots section to those players.
It always surprises me how many affiliates don’t actually reach out to their affiliate managers to ask these sorts of questions. When I primarily promoted online casinos, I would be asking that sort of thing on a monthly basis. There was always a lot of helpful information like “We’ve noticed Canadians are playing live dealer roulette a lot”. Then I would change all my geotargeting ads for Canadians to live dealer roulette.
They want you to make money just as much as you want to make it – so take the time to ask.
Conclusion: As crazy as it seems if you are looking to promote online bingo rooms in 2023, then your focus should NOT actually be about the bingo if we’re to believe all of these bingo rooms. And while I don’t always trust online gambling properties and their knowledge of the market, there is such consistency across the board that it does seem that is the way to go.
Of course, I wouldn’t take all that as gospel. I’d still test the waters with other bingo content. Covering the different bingo games and patterns, going over chat hosts and what they offer, etc. At the end of the day, bingo still ends up being a community game. It’s about 15 years since I ran a bingo site, but I logged into one today to play and I noticed that chat games are still alive and well, as an example.
But I would trust the bingo rooms on this one. When promoting to bingo players, make the actual game of bingo secondary to all the other bells and whistles.
They know best.
I hope.
This article was written on March 10, 2023 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
