It seems that bingo clubs are starting to rebound and a survey of 25 clubs found that over the last 4 weeks unique visitors to the clubs were at record levels for 4 years when compared to the same period in previous years. The average was up more than 10% on last year.

While normally the end of January and the month of February are quite quiet for bingo clubs this year seems to have started off particularly well. The average number of unique visitors per club was also at record levels for 21 months. Average admissions or visitors were also up for the 4 weeks period (ending 20th February) showing a 7% increase on the same period last year. Revenues showed a 4% increase over last year which is inline with the predictions we made at the end of 2010.

It is expected that admissions and unique visitors will increase throughout 2011 but revenues will be broadly even as customers reduce their spending or seeking value for money bingo sessions. Even though admissions were up over the last 4 weeks gaming machine income was flat and there was only a marginal increase (1%) increase in cash bingo and bar and café revenues.

Interestingly most of the club managers we spoke to claim to have spent less on promotions this year.