Internet Bingo vs. Bingo Parlors

What's the average bingo player look like? I already have a picture in my head, the classic and completely stereotyped bingo player. They pull their 1987 Chevy Celebrity up to the bingo hall, the local church.

It's Tuesday or Wednesday, bingo night. The cars was once a light blue, but now it's a mix of fade, rust and dent marks, possibly kick marks from nights when the bingo cards were one number away from the blackout jackpot. The car door opens and smoke fills the air outside the bingo hall. The bingo player smokes cigarettes with the car window up and the last whining threats of air conditioning running full blast. It's a woman because women love bingo. The cigarette is a 100, a long white extension of her mouth, Benson & Hedges or Virginia Slim, and for bingo night she always brings an extra pack. She's older, 50+, and as she leans forward to get her lucky bingo dauber from her purse you can see the strange blue tint of her hair, almost matching the cars faded metallic color, and the four or five pink curlers she forgot to take out. When she purchases bingo cards she wants seven exactly. But, Ma'am, you can get eight bingo cards for $5. She just stares at the young bingo volunteer. That will be $7 Ma'am, one dollar per bingo card. At the table she smokes, daubs, covers her bingo cards and looks at other people. A spinster, an angry old woman, all she has is bingo night, a stereotype, but nothing more than an old stereotype of a game that will never go out of date.

The real average bingo player? With so many ways to play bingo there really is no one stereotype. Polls have shown that bingo draws just as much of a young audience as it does older people. 30% of people that play bingo are said to be under the age of 35. Internet bingo has been a big part of drawing younger people to the game. The Internet, a relatively new toy and form of communication, has brought the almost 500-year old game of bingo back to life.

What's the new average Internet bingo player look like? Well, the average Internet bingo player is still female. There are over 2.5 million females who play bingo regularly and that includes all forms of bingo, but Internet bingo? Well she's probably not old, as a matter of stereotype, to get online to play Internet bingo she's got to be pretty young, let's say 24. Her hair flows down to the keyboard, blonde, brunette or auburn, just barely covering her tight tank top as she leans forward to mark her bingo cards with the mouse. And then she leans back and giggles, tossing her hair sending it over her shoulder and laughing at the humorous remarks coming from the bingo rooms' chat room. She smiles brightly, Internet bingo makes women happy, plays with her hair and straightens her tight jean shorts trying to think of something to write to her friend who's playing Internet bingo with her. What's her friend, another average Internet bingo player, look like? Well she's also 24, blonde, brunette or auburn, but she's wearing a bikini having just come in from sunbathing to play Internet bingo with her best friend. Her skin is bronze, her bathing suit no bigger than a mouses' cord and her bingo cards fill up the screen.What's the average young male waiting for?

With internet bingo the stereotype of the old blue haired lady is fast disappearing. Internet bingo players are of every ethnic and economic group. Players may talk to each other in real time and the conversations can get quite lively. While it is true that by and large most bingo players are women the rise of internet bingo has seen an increase in male players. The excitement of internet bingo rivals that of a bingo hall simply because the jackpots are much larger.Most players still play for fun but a large jackpot increases the thrill of online bingo.