Q&A: Rank Interactive on serving a new breed of bingo player

This year Mecca Bingo celebrates its 60^th anniversary and to coincide with the reopening of its retail venues it has unveiled a brand refresh to redefine the modern-day bingo experience. The Rank Group-owned brand commissioned research into the bingo and leisure market which revealed a need to reinvigorate the bingo experience, resulting in a new visual identity suited to both digital and in-venue environments. To celebrate its 60^th birthday this summer, the bingo brand is also investing in a multichannel marketing campaign.

Here, EGR Intel talks to Anthony Conroy, bingo brands revenue director at Rank Interactive, to find out how the vertical has fared during the pandemic and how the upcoming Gambling Act 2005 review might impact bingo less so than casino.

EGR Intel: Have you seen an upsurge in online bingo during the pandemic lockdown period?

Anthony Conroy (AC): Definitely, when we entered the first lockdown people obviously had far fewer options for entertainment or connecting to the rest of the world other than through Netflix, Zoom quizzes, Teams and Skype calls. In the first weekend and the weeks immediately preceding it, we saw a big increase in play online for Mecca. Many customers had maybe in the past not considered online bingo but now, with an abundance of time on their hands and with their usual activities severely limited, they came to Mecca and other bingo sites to play. We also saw a large migration of club players coming to play online and we set up 82 free bingo sessions each week, one for each club, so our customers could still connect with their friends and staff from their local Mecca which was hugely popular.

The biggest focus though for us at the time was how we could offer this new digital player the best experience while making sure they kept their play safe. The risks to players given furlough, fear of the unknown and potential job losses were too high so we took action. We implemented new checks and play limits almost immediately after lockdown and enhanced all our safer gambling checks. At a time when people were particularly vulnerable, we wanted to make sure the customers were protected and the business was sustainable.

EGR Intel: How does Rank plan to expand its online bingo operations over the coming years and in which markets?

AC: Following the acquisition of the Stride business, we’ve been working towards migrating into our own in-house platform. This will allow us to scale the business in a way we’ve not been able to in the past and gives us full control on our destiny. We will migrate all brands to the platform in the coming year and are already expanding the capabilities to make it world leading. Our international business, which includes Yo! Bingo and Yo! Casino within the Spanish markets, has been going from strength to strength, particularly this last year, so we are looking to take those learnings and apply them to new markets. There’s also a focus on diversifying our product range with our new Raffle product launched [in April] on Mecca Bingo and further new products being released this year as part of Mecca’s 60th year celebrations including a really exciting omni-channel industry first for bingo during the summer.

EGR Intel: In what ways does the Grosvenor One online wallet aid Rank’s online bingo operations?

AC: I think Grosvenor One shows us the potential for what a single account within an omni-channel environment can bring to the P&L. Right now, the Mecca membership system in-club is very reliable but, as it’s quite old, offers limited scope in terms of omni-channel functionality. From Grosvenor One we have a really solid blueprint of what a “Mecca One” should or could look like, what functionality works for players and what was, frankly, wasted effort. It will allow us to clearly define our needs and the needs of our players and offer a truly immersive omni-channel experience in which players see real benefit to them and their loyalty to the brand.

We have a roadmap to improve our systems in-club and online with a key focus of that work to ensure we are able to offer a great experience wherever you play with a single account and to offer additional rewards and benefits to drive multichannel engagement.

EGR Intel: Is online bingo an underexploited and underappreciated vertical for operators?

AC: I think that in the past bingo and bingo brands have been seen as an industry which had been saturated with endless reskins of new “brands”, unavoidable and never-ending daytime TV ad spots and no deposit promotional offers. The lower value players who traditionally play in bingo brands were less appealing to some of the bigger, more “hardcore” casino and sports brands who were seeking a smaller number of “big fish” type high value players.

In the last year, though, I think a lot has changed. Not only have various lockdowns brought bingo and softer gaming to a brand new, much more diverse audience but regulation is getting far more stringent and companies are looking at ways to ensure sustainability. Increasing the volume of lower value players is a key strategy now of many of the larger operators as they come to terms with the impacts of enhanced due diligence, affordability and AML like never before. In the coming months we’ll likely see regulators enforcing staking limits per spin digitally, new tougher affordability measures and potentially a “one-size-fits-all” maximum deposit limit for all new players. Those who haven’t started that adjustment already may find themselves scrambling too late in a very crowded market

EGR Intel: How do you think the Gambling Act 2005 review will impact the online bingo sector?

AC: I think bingo is somewhat better placed than a lot of gaming operators by the fact that in general you’re looking at larger volumes of lower staking players who are happy to play within set limits. For many customers it’s about the community, the chat and a place to unwind, relax and have fun. A number of operators, Mecca included, have focused on sustainable, safe play by removing VIP schemes and encouraging players to set limits on their accounts as early as possible. We’ve done a huge amount of work to improve player journeys around playing responsibly in the past 12 months so we’re confident we’ve already made many of the adjustments needed to continue to grow. Not to say there won’t be an impact as I’m sure there will be but I do think it will be less impactful than some of the larger casino brands.