More Good News For the Internet Bingo Industry

Posted on June 17th, 2009

The news for the internet bingo industry keeps getting better and better. Smoking bans and excessive taxation have hurt traditional brick and mortar bingo halls across the UK. The misguided government policies have caused many bingo halls to shutter their doors forever. In the meantime the internet bingo industry is thriving despite the global recession. During the last year the number of people playing internet bingo has more than doubled making internet bingo one of the few growth industries in the UK.

The auction of Cashcade the owner of the popular Foxy Bingo and Getminted casino brands has generated a great deal of industry interest. The brands are expected to sell for £70 ($114,779,522 USD) million to £100 ($163,999,317 USD) pounds sterling. PartyGaming, owner of PartyPoker, appears to be the frontrunner with opposition coming from 888 Holdings and Paddy Power, the Irish bookmaker. Cashcade has appointed investment bank Jeffries to oversee the sale. Recently Cashcade reported a 91% increase in revenue to £33.7 million ($54,118,936 USD) and pre tax profits of £10.9 ($16,402,387 USD) million.

Last year the internet bingo industry generated $1.4 billion dollars globally. The internet bingo industry is expected to generate $1.7 billion in 2009 and $2 billion dollars in 2010. It has been estimated that the UK accounts for approximately 20% of the internet bingo market. In the UK the Foxy bingo brand is second to industry giant Gala bingo. Gala is concerned that if PartyGaming wins the bidding war Gala could lose it’s number 1 position in the internet bingo industry.

PartyGaming is expected to cross market its poker, casino and sports betting services to internet bingo players. The UK internet bingo market is seen by some industry insiders as saturated and the competition is fierce. Internet bingo is now second to poker in popularity and is attracting new players. Should the United States adopt a more reasonable position towards online gaming the number of new internet bingo players is expected to be in the millions. Times have never been better for the internet bingo industry.