By Ben Starr, OnlineBingo.co.uk
With the industry becoming more and more monopolistic, can a niche online bingo site survive?
Everyone reading this has been part of the online bingo boom over the last few years and it is interesting to see the industry evolve in a similar way to other industries. The sector is perhaps in consolidation, albeit however slow consolidation because of the size of the acquisitions that need to take place.
Arguably dominated by Foxy Bingo, Cheeky Bingo, Tombola, Gala Bingo and Wink Bingo, can the marketplace support a mid level site? Everyone is looking for a point of difference but how different can bingo be? Software, charity, customer service, promotions…once inside the room you are playing bingo. Why go to a skin when the monsters of the industry are bigger than an entire network of skins?
Online bingo has proven to be very profitable. With hard work, head count can remain low and media spends targeted. There are big brand sites knocking on Foxy’s front door but I wonder if sites outside even the top 15 are sustainable. If the customer service of Perfect Bingo was markedly and publicly better than Foxy’s, I would be inclined to try it out. However if the promotions, redeposit bonuses and cashier were permanently stronger at Foxy Bingo, they would win my long term business.
Despite being in consolidation, the number of high quality sites in the market, in my opinion, remains lower than 20, perhaps even lower than 10. Would a reasonable market outlook second that there is space for an Olympic finalist but not necessarily a new Olympic champion (still quite a feat for an athlete!)? Perhaps a site with a marketable niche or perhaps simply a well run sole website that knows its players inside out. The site would struggle with SEO in the short run and would have to rely on other sources of traffic, but as revenues increase down the road, this could be addressed. As TV spends in 2010 look to set new records for the sector, will the big boys merely mop up all the players/small sites out there?
{ 1 comment }
By David Hansel, Partner, Hansel Henson LLP & Christian Panayi.
The important matter of whether Google can lawfully allow advertisers to use its AdWords service to bid on keywords that are registered trade marks ought to have become a lot clearer as a result of a much anticipated opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, Poiares Maduro. This article is a summary of the opinion for non-lawyers. In order to keep it short, we assume you have a good understanding of Google AdWords and the issues surrounding the service.
Brand owners have been keen to stop bidding on their trade marks by their competitors for keywords. But does the use of keywords corresponding to trade marks constitute an infringement of those trade marks? Over time and in different parts of the World, Google has altered its policies and has more recently allowed bidding on these keywords. This has led to court proceedings all over Europe, including those in England between Interflora and Marks & Spencer. The French courts were the first to pass issues to the European Court of Justice and it is these that the Advocate General considers. In short, the Advocate General’s opinion is that Google and advertisers do not commit trade mark infringement; neither by allowing advertisers to select keywords that are registered trade marks nor…
{ 0 comments }
By Simon Collins, Director, Cashcade Ltd.
We are delighted to be able to announce that Cashcade Ltd has joined forces with PartyGaming PLC.
As well as offering an absolutely first-class gaming experience for our 2.2 million registered players, our success has been achieved with an amazing team here at Foxy Towers, and innovative marketing campaigns that have built some of the best recognised brands in the UK. Not just in our sector, but across all categories. As reported by the independent Bingoport.co.uk, we have been consistently hosting over 2500 average daily concurrent users in 7 online bingo networks in the 3 months to June 30, 2009. Making us the nation’s favourite!
The deal with PartyGaming is all about the future and how we build our products and business in a highly innovative, rapidly-expanding global market. This development will include two key areas, both of which will be made possible by today’s news. Firstly, whilst maintaining our UK position, we will be well-placed to enter international markets, as they open up around the world. Secondly, with the synergies of a larger company we will be able to help deliver great bingo propositions on managed service deals with Intralot and Cirsa.
This acquisition brings a huge amount to both companies. As we all know, bingo is a fast growing market. H2 Gambling Capital estimate that the global online bingo market was…
{ 1 comment }
By Simon Collins, Director, Cashcade Ltd.
“WHO says Europe cannot produce internet giants?”, asks this week’s Economist, in an analysis of the online gambling industry and the trends driving its development in different markets around the world.
The business magazine’s central point is that, “governments would do far better to offer punters and online-gambling firms a safe, legal but regulated market”. Which, as we have highlighted on this blog, is exactly what has happened in the UK, creating many opportunities along the way. However, the respected journal notes, that is not the trend in…
{ 2 comments }
