Daily Mail slammed for online bingo hypocrisy

Could bingo really move out of the smoky back rooms of decrepit church halls and onto the internet? The Daily Mail apparently thought so. The Mail had licensed its corporate brand to an online gaming developer, before taking the site down after receiving a firestorm of criticism this Sunday from a rival over its marketing of …

[Steve Dooley]

Quite Easy...

"Because of the nature of the game itself, in which a player can only pay attention to so many bingo cards at once"

Except many online bingo sites monitor the cards for you!

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a good idea

If we're going to regulate Bingo, can we regulate (or ideally ban) the Daily Mail as well?

[Anonymous Coward]

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail, hypocritical? Shome Mishtake Shurely.

The Daily Mail, taking note of a hippy lefty pinko Sunday like the Observer? Now there clearly is shome mishtake.

[Craig Manson]

Please call it gambling!

As someone who spent a lot of time playing online computer games I really hate the way online gambling is referred to as online gaming! Sure it's in the dictionary but grumble grumble moan moan......

[Gav]

A point missed

You have forgotten to mention something in your article. The fact that bingo is the most mind-numbing, random, kill-me-now-I'm-that-bored waste of time known to mankind.

The idea that people sit at home playing it online simply staggers me. Never mind the risks of people losing their money, do they value their own time that little?? At least in the traditional game there's an element of socialising.

[Anonymous Coward]

40% rise

i dont know about yourselves but the common two factors i have seen of people playing bingo are older folk and the younger gens going for that "good night out" at the bingo hall... in my general experince the 'older' folk who use bingo halls have a hard time operating a computer... and the younger people go for forementioned social aspect... i dont see them all saying "lets go round Jims and have a few rounds of bingo in front of my 17" TFT"...

... now for myself i dread to come home one day to find dots over my screen from perpetual use of the blotter for game cards.

[Anonymous Coward]

The right decision?

There's big money in online bingo, and bizarrely its more social than 'real world' bingo (think chatroom with bingo going on automatically in the background). I'm not surprised the Daily Mail wanted to run it, all the redtops have done deals with online gambling companies (for big money - believe me I know) to run bingo, but maybe next time their ad sales department might want to check their editorial stance before doing such a deal! The interesting thing is, I think for once their editorial people might have a point; bingo is certainly used as a hook for gambling sites to intice people into more lucrative (for them) gambling - a lot of the bingo boards have integrated slot machines running under the bingo cards for precisely that purpose.

Oh, and yes, call it gambling not gaming.

[Jim Hunter]

Re: 40%

"... and the younger people go for forementioned social aspect... i dont see them all saying "lets go round Jims and have a few rounds of bingo in front of my 17" TFT"..."

So that's what they do when I go to back to work on the Rig!

[Robert Spencer]

Gaming is a wider term

Having worked in the online gaming industry, I believe the term gaming is factually correct. Gambling is a subset (admittedly it's currently a very large subset) of the online games on offer. Many sites offer games other than the traditional gambling games - you can play online chess, pool even bowling for money online for example - since when are those gambling? You can even play MTG online for money, you've been able to for years.

I believe the expansion into gaming which isn't along the lines of poker/blackjack etc is going to make or break many of the firms out there. If you could enter into a WOW tournament - would that be gambling or gaming?

Even the sportsbooks are starting to take notice (and some are further ahead of the game than others). When you can bet on who'll get more column inches in a gossip mag it's a far cry from who's going to win the 3.30 at newbury.....

[Anonymous Coward]

soft gambling?

"Because of the nature of the game itself, in which a player can only pay attention to so many bingo cards at once, it's generally considered impossible to bet the farm on bingo."

I'm pretty sure I have seen mention of bingo bots somewhere, therefore someone is taking it seriously. I wonder if the grannies know what they are up against?

Just for the record, yes I support calling it online gambling instead of gaming.

and if that's what people want to do (gambling), then I have no problem with it, as long as it is controlled in a reasonable way and there is enough clawed back from these firms to pay for the support for people who need the help (gamblers anonymous, etc)