In 2022 the National Bingo Game, who sponsor the event in the UK, undertook trial digital and broadcast PR activity to support the campaign. Broadcast radio activity worked well and was repeated for 2023 which saw good pick-up across the UK, especially with BBC radio stations who had not previously expressed interest in National Bingo Day. This may have been due to the release of research results, which generally tap into a ‘news’ agenda for media.
The research, undertaken to mark this year’s NBD, used National Bingo Game jackpot win data for the twelve months prior to identify the UK’s luckiest towns, both nationally and regionally, assessing both frequency of jackpot win and total prize money won.
Lucky Towns research found:
- Cardiff to be the luckiest town/city for total jackpot prize winnings, beating Glasgow and London with bingo jackpot winnings of £218,000.
- North London claimed second place with £171,000 in winningsMedway third, with £162,000: just £9,000 behind North London.
- London to be the luckiest town/city for most jackpot wins, with 598 wins. These were claimed across three clubs, with over 76% (459 wins) being at Merkur Bingo in Cricklewood, netting lucky winners £143,500.
- Merkur Bingo in Cricklewood had the most jackpot wins of any individual bingo club in the country!
- Buzz Bingo Medway claimed the most jackpot prize money of any single club in the county, with £162,000.
- ardiff’s £218,000 bingo bonanza was made up of 323 individual jackpot wins: on average 26 jackpot wins a month.
- Cardiff has three bingo clubs of which Club 3000 Bingo paid out over 61% of the city’s bingo jackpot winnings, (£134,700), but accounted for less than 44% of all jackpot wins in the city (142 wins).
- Liverpool came in second place for frequency with 429 wins, closely followed by Manchester third with 409 and Birmingham fourth 406.
- For those seeking maximum average jackpot prize value, Scotland is the place to be, at Premier Bingo in Perth, where the average jackpot win was £5,844 (9 wins, £52,600 winnings).
- Warrington’s Buzz Bingo was second with an average jackpot prize value of £2,728 (39 wins, £106,400 winnings).
- The National Bingo Game is played twice a day, 364 days a year and offers three levels of jackpot prize; £100, £1,000 and £50,000, in addition to a club prize, which is won on every game, in each participating club.
- The unluckiest town in the country? One without a bingo club!
The call to action to action highlighted National Bingo Day and encouraged people to join in the fun and celebrate the great game of bingo.
Radio engagement, focusing on National Bingo Day, highlighting fun and community facts about bingo, in addition to the survey results was led by Miles Baron, CEO of The Bingo Association and Benji Maycock, reigning National Bingo Game Caller of the Year from Mecca Wednesbury. In total radio interviews reached an audience of over 29 million listeners.
Media releases on Lucky Towns research results were also circulated to print and online titles, trade and consumer titles, for which regional and national versions were used.
The Bingo Association also celebrated the day, and encouraged all its member clubs to play a special game of bingo on Friday 23rd, raising funds for Variety, the children’s charity. MPs with bingo clubs in their constituencies were also invited to get involved, by attending clubs to call the game: a number of which did, talking to players and sharing pictures on their social media. In total the games raised over £25,500.
The combined promotional messaging from land and online operators about National Bingo Day and further support from the National Bingo Game through paid for media and PR activity, has led to the event’s profile rising further, creating a strong starting point for National Bingo Day 2024. The increase in awareness is not only amongst operators and players, but also the broader media, who are starting to recognise the event as an important date in the consumer calendar.
Miles Baron, Chief Executive of The Bingo Association said “National Bingo Day has once again proved to be a valuable and important event for operators and an important date in the calendar for players.
“Building on the success of the previous two years, the campaign is becoming a key date in the bingo calendar, engaging players, club staff, operators and MPs – all important audiences for the sector.”
Online operators also ran a wide range of activity, both in regard to supporting communities and charities, and running special promotions: Jackpotjoy raised over £7,000 for Variety – The Children’s Charity.
Details of next year’s National Bingo Day, on Thursday 27th June 2024 will be announced early in the new year. You can register for updates at www.nationalbingoday.co.uk
