WhichBingo founder Phil Fraser has been looking back at how their Site of the Year Awards came about and what makes them one the most respected and valued of online bingo awards. Read on for part 1 of the abridged history of the awards.

It may seem strange to online bingo fans now, but back in 2003 there was not the thriving UK online bingo market that we know today. In fact, online bingo was barely heard of in the UK. By contrast the market in the US was booming and people couldn’t get enough of the idea of playing bingo in the comfort of their own homes.

Back then there was only one bingo portal providing everyone with the bingo information they needed and that was WhichBingo.com.

There were so many players that it seemed only right that there should be some way to let them and the industry know just which sites were doing the right things to keep players entertained. To give players the opportunity to reward the best performing sites WhichBingo instigated the ‘Site of the Year Awards’ at the end of 2003.

The awards were always intended ‘…to recognise and reward excellence in online bingo, as voted by the most important part of the game, the players.’  So all of December 2003 was set aside to let players have their say, and thousands took the opportunity to vote.

Cyberbingo.com was the winner of that first ever award and although this site still exists today and is thriving even in the severely restricted US market, only another two of the original top ten have survived.

That first award was so popular with players and operators that the decision was taken to make them an annual event.

By 2006 WhichBingo UK had been born as the UK online bingo market was really taking off too and it was realised that there had to be a specific UK Site of the Year vote, rather than trying to make one award fit the whole International market.

The result of the 2006 Award saw Mecca Bingo take the top spot, but Gala Bingo was a close second, reflecting the fact that people probably felt safer at the well known names. However, six of the top ten were independents that had made a mark in player’s minds and indicates how open the market was at that point.

By 2007 it became clear that the UK market was growing at an unprecedented rate and so an additional category was added to the Site of the Year Awards  – ‘New Online Bingo Site of the Year’. If anything this was even more coveted than the main award.

The 2007 New Site winner was  Gone Bingo, beating some well known names that have since gone from strength that launched the same year – namely William Hill Bingo, Paddy Power Bingo and Betfred Bingo, although there were others that didn’t fare quite so well, such as Anne Summers Bingo.

The winner of the main Site of the Year Award in 2007 was an online bingo pioneer, Think Bingo, that was subsequently bought by Cashcade (perhaps in response to their success in the award).

To Be Continued