live bingo

Can You Play Live Online Bingo With Real People Calling The Numbers?

I love bingo. I wouldn’t be writing a blog on all things bingo if that wasn’t the case.  Not a week goes by when I don’t check up on the launch of new bingo games and when I spot them, I share the news right here.

However, right now I just want to see some news about live presenter bingo hitting the online bingo world.  That’s all.  Pretty please.  But alas, we have not yet been graced with a live presenter, talking to us, entertaining us and giving us that human to human contact, us bingo players love.

It is a bit strange really that bingo callers and presenters are not real people online, given this is one of the major elements in the real-world game.  The jokes, stories and one liners of a bingo caller can be an important part of what makes playing bingo enjoyable.

Therefore, let us all chant together: ‘we want live presenter online bingo, we want live presenter online bingo’.

Live Presenters In The Online Casino World

A live presenter is common place in the online casino world.  24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we can join a roulette or blackjack game with a real person dealing the cards or spinning the wheel.  We can make a comment in the chat box and they will talk to us.

LiveCasino Paddypower screen shot

Yep, that’s all well and good if you like casino games.  Online casino game presenters are like slightly chattier croupiers that you come across in the real life casino.  The live presenters are of course lovely people, working hard and  focused on the smooth running of the game and ready to talk.

Impact On Live Presenters And COVID 19

We know that online gaming operators have had to review their live presenter offering as a result of COVID 19 (coronavirus) restrictions.  Gaming operators have had to ensure live presenters are safe in the studio and facilitate correct social distancing measures, which in turn has reduced the capacity and output of the frequency of games.

Let’s face it, you don’t need to ensure software graphics have to hand sanitise and wear masks.

Picture The Scene…Live Presenter Bingo

man in make shift studioSome of the big operators do run occasional special events with a live feed that takes place separately to the online bingo game itself, but do provide players with another dimension of entertainment.

However:

Imagine if there was a live presenter that has skills in the performance and entertaining world that could keep bingo players entertained and engaged.  They would talk to us, tell us jokes, comment on peoples comments.

gemma collins bingo caller screenshot
Credit: OK Magazine

Imagine if there were the sounds of the bingo hall, the dabbers hitting the paper, a non robotic sounding voice calling out the numbers. On top of that, imagine if there was a bingo game a bit like burst bingo where every player only has a set number of cards. Imagine if you had to daub you own card.  It would be very real wouldn’t it?

Here’s the best bit, imagine a real person congratulating you.  We know how much bingo players like to share the love and congratulate and commiserate together.

Most of us have our hands on a smart phone or tablet nowadays and entertainment is simply at our finger tips.  All of the above, as described is totally possible for online bingo.

zoom bingo screenshot
Credit: The Independent

However we also know that it would be a huge investment for an operator to deliver this.  There would be mega initial spends, getting the studio (however it doesn’t need to be Warner Brothers scale; it could be in someone’s cupboard under the stairs for all we need to know).

The operator would need to ensure the software works effectively to ensure maximum player capacity.  Think about the big games on the big networks, they pull in 1000’s of players at a time for the big prize games. The presenter and the team behind the screen needs to be able to manage all of the comments and there needs to be some robust safety features in place to deter the ahem, interesting folk out there.

Interestingly there is something out there already that does seem to have the basis of live presenter bingo.  This is LivePlay Bingo.

What Is Live Play Bingo?

LivePlay Bingo screenshotOk, before we get too excited, if you get a line or ‘bingo’ on LivePlay Bingo ,and you are playing on the app in the UK, you cannot currently take away any of the prizes on offer which seem to be Amazon Gift Cards.

So for now lets see this as a new bingo themed game that so far, successfully uses live presenters who are spirited and up beat to enhance player entertainment levels.

It looks like a great model and is certainly the first of its kind (I think).   It could hit the UK pretty soon and when it does it is certainly going to shake up the online bingo world.

LivePlay Bingo is an online platform that is currently within the USA online bingo and gaming world that uses live hosts on screen to talk to players whilst a random number generator generates numbers.  You daub your bingo cards and win virtual money. The game makes its money from in app purchases.  The aim of the game is to become a popular player, be the fasted to win a bingo (a line) and therefore rank in the leader board and build up your virtual bank of cash.

CEO and founder of Live Bingo, Stuart Lewis-Smith says:

“We see this as the future of mobile content,” says Stuart Lewis-Smith, CEO and founder of the business. “It is the convergence of social gaming, live streaming and linear television, which is something that no-one else is doing.”

I downloaded the app on my smart phone and whilst I spent the first few games working out what on earth was going on. It definitely caught my attention and it has certainly relit my fire of hope that we will soon see live presenter bingo.

One again, lets all chat together: ‘we want live presenter online bingo’, when do we want it?, ‘now’.