Bingo (U.S.) - The Business of Bingo

The Business of Bingo

In the US, the game is primarily staged by churches or charity organizations. Their legality and stakes vary by state regulation. In some states, bingo halls are rented out to sponsoring organizations, and such halls often run games almost every day. Church-run games, however, are normally weekly affairs held on the church premises. These games are usually played for modest stakes, although the final game of a session is frequently a coverall game that offers a larger jackpot prize for winning within a certain quantity of numbers called; a progressive jackpot may increase per session until it is won.

Commercial bingo games in the US are primarily offered by casinos (and then only in the state of Nevada), and by Native American bingo halls, which are often housed in the same location as Native American-run casinos. In Nevada, bingo is offered mainly by casinos that cater to local gamblers, and not the famous tourist resorts. They usually offer one-hour sessions, on the odd hours, i.e. 9am, 11am, 1pm etc. daily, typically from 9am thru 11pm; except Arizona Charlie's which has round the clock bingo, but still hour sessions, on the odd hour, with relatively modest stakes except for coverall jackpots. Station Casinos, a chain of locals-oriented casinos in Las Vegas, offers a special game each session, called "Jumbo" that ties all of its properties together with a large progressive jackpot. Most Bingo parlors in Las Vegas use hand held machines on which the games are played, except the station casino, the Fiesta Casino which has paper bingo cards and No machines. Native American games are typically offered for only one or two sessions a day, and are often played for higher stakes than charity games in order to draw players from distant places. Some also offer a special progressive jackpot game that may tie together players from multiple bingo halls.

As well as bingo played in house, the larger commercial operators play some games linked by telephone across several, perhaps dozens, of their clubs. This increases the prize money, but greatly reduces the chance of winning due to the much greater number of players.

Bingo halls are sometimes linked together (as by Loto Quebec in Canada) in a network to provide alternative winning structures and bigger prizes.

Bingo is also the basis for online games sold through licensed lotteries. Tickets are sold as for other numbers games, and the players get receipts with their numbers arranged as on a regular bingo card. The daily or weekly draw is normally broadcast on television. These games offer higher prizes and are more difficult to win.

The bingo logic is frequently used on scratch card games. The numbers are pre-drawn for each card and hidden until the card is scratched. In lotteries with online networks the price is electronically confirmed to avoid fraud based on physical fixing.

In recent years bingo halls have seen a decline in attendance and revenue. In Ontario revenue at charity bingos have declined from $250 million to $50 million in the past ten years alone. Reason for this decline include the expansion of competing forms of entertainment, such as charity casinos, race track with slots, large commercial casinos, and even movie theatres. In order to compete in this competitive market place, bingo halls have turned to technology to stem the decline. Ontario alone has opened five eBingo centres which gives players an option to play bingo on a computer, allowing them to play at their own pace. In addition, electronic bingo has managed to draw in a larger male audience. The Bingo industry is now lobbying the Ontario government to expand the number of eBingo centres in hopes of seeing a rise in revenue and attendance at bingo halls.