NEWS
EVENTS
Eyes down for destination bingo
Other | Tuesday 27th January 2015 | Suat
Wherever you are in the world, the game of bingo is alive and well in the digital age. And what is more, it’s every bit as popular with generation Y as it ever was in the old days - or the ‘good old days’ as your granny would no doubt insist on calling them.
In fairness there are two sides to this story. One the one hand, there are still hundreds of venues up and down the country that continue to pull in punters who’ve grown to see bingo as part and parcel of what it means to have a good time on a weekly basis.
But increasingly there are recognised bingo vacations that people flock to for bingo holidays! What’s more, traditional holiday destinations like Blackpool make a speciality of appealing to players of all ages and from all around the country. And of course, cruise ships from Southampton to Singapore will always find room for a bingo suite.
But it’s the other side of the story that is every bit as surprising. Research shows that 10% of 16-24-year-olds play bingo - mostly online. If that doesn’t sound too impressive on its own then it’s worth comparing with the proportion of people over 75 who play. The percentage? A not so massive 11%.
In other words, there is pretty much the same proportion of our generation playing as our grannies. So next time you look round a packed dance floor, or a crowded beach, bear that in mind. One in ten of those folk will be getting their kicks (should that be clickety-kicks?) from good old fashioned bingo. Not that the modern game is in any way old fashioned. In fact the opposite is true.
The same research that unearthed generation Y’s bingo secret suggests that there is something about being able to play online that makes people less inhibited. It’s the old story about being anonymous online, so that you can cut loose in a way that you might not do in a physical environment. Typically, this means that women are happier to gamble online than in a public space, but it seems as though that same anonymity can erase the lines between how we define ourselves as - for example - younger and older as well. In a sense, it’s just like what happens when we go on holiday - hence the expression, ‘what goes on tour stays on tour’. Research elsewhere has calculated the most common age of online players: it’s 25.
The lesson seems to be that we’re all the same under the skin. Even those bingo holiday destinations are not a million miles away from some of the more hip and happening resorts that we might point to for a more high octane outing - the bright lights of Vegas have a way of pulling punters in, irrespective of their particular niche interest. And when it comes down to it, the essence of bingo is pretty much the same as any other form of play. Just because it was big in the good old days that doesn’t mean it’s got nothing going for it now!
