Pretty much everyone will have played bingo at some time or other in their lives whether at a fundraising event, in an old-style bingo hall, or even online. After all, it’s a game that’s been popular for the best part of a century now, ever since a salesman and entrepreneur called Edwin Lowe took a popular fairground game called “beano” and rechristened it “bingo”. The rest, as they say, is history.
The bingo rollercoaster
It has had periods of huge popularity over the years, as well as falling out of favor at other times. But right now the bingo game is on a real high thanks to the huge appeal of the online version. Leading sites offer all kinds of different variants of the game, not to mention big welcome bonuses to encourage new players. It’s also a game that you can dip in and out of, depending how much time is on your hands.
Bingo has become successful as part of a wider interest that people have in playing in online casinos generally, often on their mobile phones or other handheld devices. In fact, in line with the general trend, this has probably become the most popular way of accessing these sites.
Looking at the live casino example
One of the most important innovations that online casinos have introduced in recent years has been the “live” casino. This involves streaming live games like roulette and blackjack to the player with the action being run by a real dealer. Aiming to capture more of the ambiance of a land-based casino, these have been a big hit.
Given the overall popularity of online bingo, it’s a big surprise to many people that, so far, there seem to be no sites offering live online bingo, and no very good reasons why this should be the case.
Firstly, the technology that would be used for an online live bingo game would be identical to that used for live roulette or blackjack. At the heart of this is a piece of kit that works in much the same way as the ANPR cameras that many car parks use these days and which could convert the numbers of the balls being drawn into digital information for online play.
Calling for a caller
Then there’s the dealer, or caller to use the proper bingo terminology. There’s no reason why they can’t appear on screen for real, drawing out the balls one by one and keeping the game moving with their witty and friendly banter.
Finally, the camaraderie and friendship amongst players has always been a big thing in bingo. There’s also no reason at all why the use of chat rooms that run alongside the action can’t replicate the real thing in a virtual way.
So, when you put all these elements together, there seem to be no logical reasons at all why live bingo shouldn’t just be possible, but also become the most popular version of the online game. It may not be here yet, but surely there’s a fortune to be made by the first online bingo operator that introduces it.
