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For so long considered very much a girly pastime, are men starting to enjoy bingo as much as the ladies?
The internet has lead to an explosion in online gambling—it is the very reason this magazine exists. But in the unpredictable world of cyberspace come surprises where you least expect it. Who’d have thought we’d be ordering our groceries, our music and even bespoke pizzas from websites? Who could ever have guessed that an internet company could photograph every square mile on earth and make it available to all online? And who knew that the internet would contribute to scores of men coming out as closet bingo fans?
Bingo is, unsurprisingly, the only gambling activity that women are more likely to play than men. But one recent study showed that the gender split isn’t quite as lopsided as we’ve always thought. Just under a third of online bingo players are male on average. Sun Bingo even reckons that 40 percent of their online players are men. Not bad for an industry which makes very little noticeable effort to attract male players.
So what’s actually happening here? Are some of today’s men just a bunch of big blouses that would rather play bingo with their mums than play a more manly game of logic and skill? Well, no, actually. To say that is to miss the point.
In fact, bingo is going back to its roots. Italian men invented the game in the 16th century and back in those days, it was an entirely gentlemanly pursuit—women weren’t allowed to take part.
There are not many things you can say about bingo as a game that mark it out as feminine. It’s more that it’s just become ‘something women do’ and men get put off by the stereotype of grannies with plastic pens and middle-aged women with ‘bingo wings’. But it seems that the tide is turning. The crowds are getting younger and the men are joining in. So why are the men coming back to bingo in the 21st century? After all, it should be just as normal for men to play bingo as it is for women to go to the football. For the answers, let us consider bingo in both its forms in turn: online and offline.
The Bricks-and-Mortar Men
Our television screens are filled with images of ‘binge-drinking Britons’ filling our pubs and nightclubs with antisocial behaviour, alco-pops and argy-bargy. But men who would rather steer clear of such testosterone-fuelled nonsense still need a night out. And going to the bingo gives them a safe and friendly option.
Bingo is often played in social clubs—including those working men’s clubs that we keep being told are dying out in the UK. Some of these clubs are alive and well, with bingo one of the big draws. The food and beer is cheap and cheerful—and in some places they’ll come round and take your empty glass off for a refill. You don’t get that in Yates’s.
The Yorkshire Evening Post carried a story last year on the growing phenomenon of men playing bingo. One of the people they interviewed was 43-year-old roofer and bingo fan Jeff Taylor who said: “There seem to be more men going [to bingo] now than there used to be years ago. Some come in because their partners enjoy it but others just like playing bingo. With all that’s going on in town these days you don’t feel safe. But you don’t get any trouble in bingo halls. Here you can enjoy yourself, have a few drinks and maybe win some money.”
There are some romantic benefits to a night at the bingo too. It’s a good way for couples to spend time together (though some would argue this is because they don’t have to spend the whole time actually talking to each other). And it’s potentially a good way to meet other single people too. Men are cottoning on to the fact that not only are younger and more attractive girls taking an interest in bingo, but that the odds are 3:1 in their favour too.
Bingo is a cheap, sociable night out, and one that men could walk away from having had a good time and possibly with a profit. What thrifty fellow wouldn’t see some significant plus points there?
Secret Identities and Social Networking
Moving into the online domain, studies have suggested that there are 100 million online bingo players worldwide. So that means over 30 million men, which is some considerable customer base that will increasingly need to be catered for. One step in the right direction is the website Bingo4Him—a tongue-in-cheek manifesto on why more men should play bingo, complete with links to ‘bloke friendly’ bingo sites.
Online bingo is booming. You could even call it ‘the new poker’, such is its impact and the buzz it’s causing in the industry at the moment. Gaming is big, social networking is huge, and bingo lets you combine the two together in a match made in heaven.
However, according to research by gaming site hosting company St Minver, some men choose to play online as ‘women’ for fear that they may be teased for being a male bingo player. Apparently Zoe, Alexis and Rachel are the most popular names they choose to play under.
“We were not surprised to find that men often chose to impersonate women when playing online bingo,” said St Minver managing director Leigh Nissim. “Many of our male users believe bingo is a girl’s game but just can’t help playing because they enjoy it so much. I wonder what they talk about in the chat rooms.”
But the chatrooms on bingo sites mean romance can blossom here too, not just in the bricks-and-mortar bingo halls. And with more big companies jumping on the bingo bandwagon—Yahoo, MSN, Littlewoods and Virgin to name just a few—they will surely find more skilful ways of using the lure of romance to entice more male players.
The chatrooms add a personal touch to gameplay too. You can ask other people questions about how things work, eliminating the need for any cumbersome calls to customer service. And with some sites offering slot machines for players to play between bingo games, there’s plenty to cater for even the shortest of male attention spans.
The New Bingo
Bingo has been rebranded for younger, professional women while men have until recently been almost disregarded. But bingo sites have realised this and are beginning to change their tack slightly. Foxy Bingo’s decision to work with Jordan, aka Katie Price, last year was designed to appeal to both men and women. And several male celebrities have admitted a passion for bingo in recent times—Robbie Williams, Russell Crowe, Bono, Shane Richie, even Prince William, they’ve all said to have enjoyed a game of bingo in recent times. It all helps to add a little kudos.
If someone could produce some accurate demographics on male bingo players, it could really shake up the way the industry markets itself. And then maybe men can realise the full enjoyment of a game they invented, rather than cowering behind a female alter ego. It’s time for bingo men to show some backbone. |
