Strategically thinking about Bingo
If you are in the gaming business then you fit one of this three categories
-you are a bingo-only operations
-you are a gaming operations without bingo
-you are a gaming operations that has also bingo
While I do not claim a lot of experience with bingo marketing, many of our clients do have bingo. So I have become somewhat familiar with many of the issues surrounding this longstanding game of chance.
Bingo only operations have a hard time competing with casinos.
Casino with bingo have a hard time justifying the expenses and floor space associated with a game that more often than not loses money.
Casinos without bingo either totally ignore any bingo marketing possibilities or tend to grapple with a framework for successfully using bingo, often starting it and stopping its operation on seeming whims.
So from my experience, here are some strategic suggestions for the game of bingo, based on your type of gaming operation.
Bingo only operation :
Unless you have a significant monopoly, driving incremental bingo revenue is quite a challenge for you. As if you didn’t know it, you need to carefully control your cost of operation.
Since money os tight, you need to be a creative and innovative marketer, often in guerilla-type fashion.
« Must-go » games, big jackpots, theme nights, specialty bingo games, bounce back, early birds – these tricks and more need to be part of your marketing arsenal.
Since most of your customers are bingo regulars, the customer service and sales ability of your bingo employees needs to be better than outstanding. They should see their jobs not as selling bingo packs, but as building relationships!
You likely have a challenge introducing new, younger players to the game of bingo. You need to attack this challenge with vigor and do whatever it takes to accomplish this introductory marketing to fresh blood.
Your competition can be your friend. If there are other bingo operators, casino, charity night operators, racetracks or other gaming providers near your area, you need to find ways to work together in some fashion, You can’t afford not to.
Casinos with bingo:
Your challenge is often one of being appreciated (and more profitable) operation. You need to do everything you can to expose and trumpet the true value of bingo to your overall casino operation. Everyone knows that your bingo players also play slots but must always try to answer the questions. « How much ? » and « Would the still play slots if we didn’t have bingo? » And tracking, statistical, even observational data helps you make your case.
You need to embrace technology and what it can do for your bingo operation. Electronic bingo, Class II slot games within the bingo room, devices that are half electronic bingo game and half video gaming devices, multi-site linked bingo games, perhaps even internet bingo – these all hold potential and should be explored.
Casino without bingo:
While you might not understand how bingo fits in your faster-paced casino environment, you need to be open to the idea of using bingo as a traffic driver, an additional gaming amenity. Check out how the Sands Regency in Reno added bingo as a component of a locals strategy its « B-1 With Sands Bingo » campaign.
You might see opportunity using bingo as a special event or as a VIP party as it is as activity that most casino gamers understand after all, it is a form o gaming. Check on all regulation issues involved, in using bingo on an intermittent basis. If you are a class III tribal casino without bingo, you might check out how « bingo based slot machines » (class II) might benefit your gaming operation without impacting your compact rules.
There are slot machines that look like bingo (Slotto, etc..), casinos have had some luck using bingo as a base for promotions ( »fill out this bingo card each time you hit a $100 slot bonus ») and partnerships with local bingo operators can be a « win-win » for casino. Keep on the lookout for these bingo opportunities that can tap into bingo/slot players from the nearby universe of gamers.
Bingo may seem like a slow, dying game with limited revenue opportunity, but it still has a large core player base and is held in high esteem at many tribal casino s where bingo often is the comers tone of the tribe’s gaming success. Many of the tribal members are still avid bingo players. Treat bingo as a marketing opportunity and it will be one !
