iGB Intelligence reports | Page 18

It would also appear that online bingo sites are in fact not closing down at the rate predicted. Moreover, they appear instead to be changing hands and small independent operators are selling out to bigger players with bigger marketing budgets. Are these bigger operators simply eradicating the competition by bringing them in-house and quietly sidelining them? Playtech sites would appear to be a major casualty, however this was simply consolidation after a misjudged mass launch by Bauer Media who consolidated brands into Win Something Bingo. Sites by software Taking into account the number of sites opened and closed by the end of 2015, by far the most prevalent software provider is still Dragonfish with over 40% of online bingo sites provided by it. Software Provider No Dragonfish (888) 176 Cozy Games 88 Playtech / Virtue Fusion 37 Jumpman Gaming 33 Gamesys 16 Parlay 13 Microgaming 11 Spielo / Gtech 10 Bingo Entertainment 6 Bede 5 White Hat Gaming 5 Stride / Daub 4 Stride / Leapfrog 4 Relax 3 B-Live Gaming 2 Proprietary 2 Probability 1 TOTAL 416 18 Predictions for 2016 Of the current top three online bingo software providers in 2015 (Dragonfish, Cozy Games and Playtech) we predict relative newcomer Jumpman Gaming, with their Wheel of Slots network, to move into this space and push Playtech into fourth place as early as Q2 2016. News came in at the end of November 2015 that Playtech will be taking over the running of Sun Bingo and Fabulous Bingo from current providers Gamesys. This is likely to happen in August 2016 and we wouldn’t be surprised to see other new brands launched from Playtech, although not in the same volumes as Dragonfish, Cozy Games or Jumpman Gaming. The marketing and management of online bingo skins is nothing new, or anything that difficult to implement these days, but Cheshire-based marketing company 8Ball Games have taken this to another level. With over 50 bingo sites and growing in their portfolio, 8Ball Games, who only started marketing bingo websites in 2013, are one to watch for 2016. “Taking into account the number of sites opened and closed by the end of 2015, by far the most prevalent software provider is still Dragonfish.”