One of the main reasons why the bingo industry has been able to boom in recent years has been because of the way developers and operators have expanded the options available.
Rather than simply sticking to the classic ball draw, the industry has moved towards varied game catalogs and even hybrid offerings like Slingo. There are now a few playing card-themed bingo rooms available in the sector, suggesting that bingo and card games could be the next major hybrid.
Bingo Sector Is Expanding Into Hybrids and Additional Games
The online bingo industry is a vastly different place to that of the more traditional land-based format. Before the advent of the internet, players simply went to a bingo hall and took part in a communal game with others in the building.
Now, the online version of the classic ball draw is so ubiquitous that the industry is awash with bingo offers designed to draw in new players, such as deposit matches and free bingo games. It’s also common to see free spins promotions for use on slot games, highlighting how competitive the market has become when it comes to converting the now sizeable demographics of people who come to these sites to play a variety of different sorts of games.
Indeed, the availability of slots has in turn opened the bingo market to a much wider range of people, thanks to all the disparately themed games on offer. This has also given rise to the hybrid Slingo offerings that are gaining greater traction at bingo sites. These games combine the best elements of slots and bingo, and give casino players a succinct gateway into the world of bingo.
Card Themed Bingo Games Are Becoming Popular
Slots may have already had a big impact at online bingo sites, but other casino games such as cards haven’t had quite the same effect yet. However, this could be set to change soon. The online bingo industry has bred a range of themed bingo rooms, from game show inspired options like Deal or No Deal – which has recently gained revitalized interest due to the new series with Stephen Mulhern – to Greek mythology-themed titles like Age of the Gods Bingo.
There are already some card-themed rooms cropping up alongside all this, with Housey Bingo offering an interesting twist. Instead of calling numbers as in a traditional bingo ball draw, the game uses playing cards and hands from poker. For instance, if players make more valuable hands like flushes and full houses, they have a chance at winning greater returns on their stake.
The fact that players are flocking to games like these highlights how there could be a gap in the market for more card-themed bingo games in the future. Along with poker themed options, there could be bingo rooms based on blackjack or baccarat as well.
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How Could This Hybrid Offering Be Developed Further?
In the same way that bingo sites popularized Slingo games, there could soon be a rise of Pokingo (Poker + Bingo) or Bingjack (Bingo + Blackjack). Of course, these are just potential name ideas, and the skilled developers in the industry are likely to come up with better ones.
As new technology starts to flood the bingo industry, it could lead to new ideas for hybrid bingo and card offerings. For example, artificial intelligence is starting to have a greater influence on game development, and it can perform a detailed analysis on the key aspects that players like in different games. It may be able to then combine these factors and generate new hybrid bingo card games that human developers hadn’t come up with before.
The bingo industry has already shown that it’s highly adaptable and open to expanding in new and unique ways. The immense success of Slingo suggests that operators will investigate new hybrids that can draw in even more players. With some bingo and card game crossovers already available, there could be many more titles like these in the future.
