Big Money Bingo, the statewide, linked progressive jackpot game will end it's run either when this current jackpot is given away, or by December 31st, whichever comes first. Dwindling bingo players and less bingo sites meant that it became less and less attractive for Scientific Games (the company running it) to continue on.

 

Initially, the Big Money Bingo game was met with quite a bit of interest among bingo managers and a number of bingos signed on. However, many sites became unhappy with the lower percentages retained by the bingos when compared with an in-house progressive that they were forced to give up. Unfortunately, bingos were given a choice, either run the Big Money Bingo progressive or their own. They couldn't run both. So, many bingos went back to their own progressive and opted out of the Big Money Bingo after a short time.

 

Also, in the beginning, it soon became apparent that the price to the bingo players for bingo paper was too high for the number of bingo faces purchased. The game would have been better off lowering the paper price, allowing bingo players to play more faces, and creating more excitement and an element of value for the players.

 

Bingo supplies distributors were often left in the dark throughout Big Money Bingo's run. This meant that a great source of inexpensive communication to bingo managers and bingo players was mostly left untapped. As a bingo supplier, we were aware of the problems, but had little recourse to address them.

 

To be fair, as more and more bingo sites opted out, Scientific Games changed the game for the better. Bingo paper prices dropped, more revenue was kept by the bingos, an agreement was reached with the state to allow both an in-house progressive game and the Big Money Bingo, and the games were sped up. However, it all proved to be too little too late. Big Money's reputation had already been hurt and bingo managers were staying away.

 

Now, the question is will some other company come into the state and attempt to revamp the bingo game that Scientific is leaving behind? We think that there still may be an opportunity for a linked progressive game to succeed. However, if another company gives it a try, we hope that they keep in mind the hard lessons learned from Big Money Bingo.