UK’s Buzz Bingo launches online casino brand
The operator enters the online casino space with Buzz Casino.
UK.- The British bingo operator Buzz Bingo has announced the launch of its new online casino brand Buzz Casino. It marks a return for what was previously Gala Bingo.
Buzzcasino.com offers slots, live casino and table games. The site was designed in-house and built in collaboration with tech partner Playtech.
Buzz Group’s digital operations director Dave Evans said: “Casino is an important part of our product mix, and whilst bingo is still at the heart of our business, our players love to experience new content and spend their leisure time playing in different ways.
“Buzz Casino is the latest part of our journey and we continue to use our brand spirit and over 50 years of hosting players in our clubs to build our product with community at the heart.”
Head of product management Laura Craddock said: “It’s very exciting to be bringing a new casino product to market, especially one that brings all the fun of Buzz Bingo to the casino world, whilst adopting different principles in its design.
“Inspiration from the streaming video world has helped make content the focus of the UI, making it easy for players to find the games they love, in a fun and trusted environment they know they’ll get from a Buzz venue.”
The move follows the launch of Buzz Bingo’s live bingo streaming service in September 2022. Buzz Group now belongs to Intermediate Capital Group, which bought it from Caledonia Investments in 2021. Its land-based business comprises the former Gala Bingo venues, which were rebranded as Buzz Bingo in 2018. Gala’s online operations, including its online casino, were acquired by Ladbrokes (now part of Entain) in 2015.
In March, Buzz Bingo announced that it plans to close nine of its 91 land-based bingo halls. It says the move is necessary to control rising costs combined with a drop in business. Some 151 of the company’s 2,456 employees could be affected – that’s 6.1 per cent of all staff.
The company said changing customer behaviour meant that footfall had not recovered to pre-pandemic numbers. Meanwhile, the impact of inflation with rising operational and energy costs meant that the nine clubs were not financially viable.
