The Bingo Association has unveiled a new video series putting bingo customers and their stories at the centre of the industry’s community message.
The Bingo Association has launched “My Bingo”, a new video series designed to show what bingo clubs mean to the people who visit them regularly – and why, for many customers, the experience extends far beyond the game itself.
Featuring regular customers from Club 3000 Blackpool, the series focuses on the very human side of bingo, exploring friendship, companionship, belonging and wellbeing.
The first film brings together customers sharing their own experiences of their local club, while additional interview footage will be released over the next four weeks.
The initiative comes at an interesting time for UK bingo, with operators investing in modern venues, new entertainment formats and technology while the industry continues to make the case for the importance of clubs to their local communities.
And it neatly follows comments made by Bingo Association CEO Nicole Garrett in her recent interview with BingoDaily, in which she argued that bingo clubs are much more than gambling venues.
‘Their local club means so much more than that’
Garrett, who took over as CEO earlier this year, said the stories featured in the new series had made a powerful impression on her.
“We have been genuinely moved by these customers’ stories and by the way they bring to life what bingo really means to so many people. It is not simply a place to come and play bingo or have the chance to win – their local club means so much more than that.
“What really comes through in these stories is the sense of community. These are places where friendships have been built, people look out for one another and customers know they belong. For many, their club is an important part of their social lives and somewhere they can come together, feel connected and enjoy time with people they care about.
“We wanted this series to let bingo customers tell that story in their own words, and to show audiences the very human side of bingo.”
That message has become an increasingly important part of the Bingo Association’s public positioning.
While bingo is, ultimately, a form of gambling, the retail experience is fundamentally different from playing alone online.
Customers enter a physical venue, sit alongside others, speak to staff, meet friends, and often develop relationships with fellow regulars.
For some, that routine can become an important part of their week.
From bingo hall to community hub
The idea that bingo clubs can act as community spaces is nothing new, but it has taken on greater significance as the number of traditional social venues available on Britain’s high streets has declined.
BingoDaily has repeatedly reported on both sides of that story.
When clubs close, the impact often extends beyond the operator and its employees.
In our 2025 report on the closure of Mecca Bingo Leeds Mayfair, customers described the loss of a venue that had been part of the local community for three decades.
During the Covid pandemic, the same argument was being made even more forcefully.
In 2021, BingoDaily covered a campaign to support Scottish bingo clubs, with industry figures describing venues as important places for people to socialise and warning about the consequences of losing local clubs.
More than five years later, the message remains remarkably similar.
But the difference now is that the industry is increasingly attempting to show the community argument rather than simply make it.
That is where My Bingo comes in.
Why the stories matter
The new series is deliberately centred on customers rather than operators or industry executives.
That gives the campaign a different feel from a traditional corporate promotional video.
Rather than explaining why bingo clubs are important, the Association lets the people who use them explain what they mean to them.
The themes are familiar: friendship, companionship and having somewhere to go.
But they also touch on one of the less tangible benefits of regular social activities – simply having somewhere where people know you.
For someone living alone, recently retired or simply looking for company, a regular bingo session can provide structure as well as entertainment.
The Association says the series aims to give audiences a genuine insight into the role clubs continue to play as community spaces.
That includes helping people socialise, meet friends and maintain a sense of connection.
A message that fits Nicole Garrett’s vision for bingo
The launch of My Bingo also indicates where Garrett appears to want to take the Bingo Association.
In her recent interview with BingoDaily, Garrett was emphatic that bingo should not be treated as an industry that needs rescuing.
“Bingo doesn’t need to be saved,” she told BingoDaily.
“It is a really great product in itself.”
But Garrett also acknowledged that outdated perceptions remain a problem.
She argued that one of the best ways to change those perceptions is to get people into modern bingo clubs and let them experience them for themselves.
“If you get into a club and you see it yourself, that will happen on its own because people like me will be surprised at what they find.”
The My Bingo series essentially takes that idea one step further.
Instead of asking people to visit a club before forming an opinion, it gives audiences a chance to hear directly from the people already inside.
Watch the first My Bingo video from the Bingo Association here: Watch “My Bingo” on YouTube
The modern bingo club is changing
The community message is particularly relevant as operators invest in new versions of the traditional bingo experience.
BingoDaily recently went inside Buzz Bingo Borehamwood, where the operator has created a much smaller high-street format rather than relying on the huge halls traditionally associated with the industry.
The result was a club where customers described themselves as being “like one big family”, with regulars praising the more personal atmosphere.
That is significant because it demonstrates that modernisation does not necessarily mean moving away from the social aspect of bingo.
In some cases, the opposite may be true.
Smaller venues can create a more intimate atmosphere, while new entertainment options can give customers additional reasons to visit.
The same trend is evident in Mecca’s recent investment in its flagship Stockton club. Mecca has spent £1.6 million transforming the Stockton bingo venue, adding its new 1825 Lounge, interactive darts, live sport, music and food and drink options alongside traditional bingo.
The common thread is clear: bingo clubs are increasingly being positioned as places to spend time rather than simply places to play a game.
Investment and community are increasingly linked
That is also apparent in Club 3000’s expansion plans.
BingoDaily recently reported on the operator’s successful planning application for a new £13 million purpose-built bingo club in Bristol.
The project followed the closure of its previous South Bristol venue and strong support from local customers.
More than 450 people wrote to Bristol City Council in support of the new development, while Club 3000 said many members had been devastated when the previous club closed because bingo had been their main social outlet.
It is a useful example of the argument being made through My Bingo.
If a bingo club is simply somewhere to gamble, losing one should mean losing a leisure venue.
If it is also a place where friendships, routines and relationships have developed, its closure can represent something considerably more significant.
From National Bingo Week to My Bingo
The new bingo campaign also builds on the Bingo Association’s wider efforts to promote bingo’s community role.
Earlier this year, the Association held the sixth National Bingo Week, an annual celebration first launched in 2021 following the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
The campaign was specifically designed to celebrate bingo’s contribution to communities across Great Britain, with clubs taking part in events, promotions and fundraising activities.
My Bingo is arguably a more personal extension of that message. National Bingo Week celebrates the industry as a whole. My Bingo asks individual customers what their club means to them.
And that distinction could make the new series particularly effective.
The timing is significant
The campaign arrives as the Bingo Association is attempting to raise the industry’s profile with policymakers and the wider public.
The abolition of Bingo Duty was a major victory for the sector under Garrett’s predecessor, Miles Baron, and has given operators greater scope to invest.
As BingoDaily reported when Baron stepped down after more than 13 years at the helm, securing the abolition of Bingo Duty is likely to stand as one of the defining achievements of his tenure.
Garrett now faces the task of making sure that political recognition continues.
In her BingoDaily interview, she said the Association wants the Government to recognise bingo clubs as community assets and part of Britain’s cultural heritage, while also calling for support around business rates.
The argument is therefore no longer simply about reducing gambling tax.
It is about what happens to communities if the physical venues disappear.
A new chapter for the Bingo Association
The Bingo Association is also undergoing a wider communications shift.
Garrett told BingoDaily that the organisation intends to become more proactive in its media activity.
“We will be more active with our press releases,” she said.
She also acknowledged that the Association cannot afford to remain too quiet while wider debates about gambling policy take place.
“We probably can’t stay quite as quiet, otherwise we just get captured in debates that aren’t intended for us.”
My Bingo appears to be part of that more proactive approach.
It is a campaign that does not attempt to make a complicated economic or regulatory argument. Instead, it asks a much simpler question:
What does your bingo club mean to you?
The answers could ultimately prove more powerful than any industry statistic.
‘The very human side of bingo’
The bingo industry has spent years battling perceptions that the traditional bingo hall is outdated, old-fashioned or disappearing. There is some truth behind those perceptions.
BingoDaily has reported extensively on club closures over the years, including the difficult period following the pandemic.
But there is another side to the story. New clubs are opening. Existing venues are being refurbished. Operators are experimenting with smaller high-street formats and broader entertainment propositions. And customers continue to demonstrate that the social element of bingo remains incredibly important.
The Bingo Association’s new My Bingo series is therefore less about pretending the challenges facing retail bingo don’t exist and more about showing what could be lost if the industry fails to overcome them.
For Garrett, the objective is simple: allow customers to tell their own stories.
“We wanted this series to let bingo customers tell that story in their own words, and to show audiences the very human side of bingo.”
That may be one of the most important messages for the modern bingo industry.
Because behind the numbers, jackpots, machines, refurbishments, and balance sheets are the people who walk through the doors every week.
And for some of them, those doors lead to considerably more than a game of bingo.
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