Gala Coral, the parent company of Gala Bingo, has launched a secondary site called Minxy Bingo.
The surprise move is a marked departure from Gala`s previous bingo strategy and will surprise gaming commentators. Minxy Bingo was launched just before Christmas with no press announcements and little fanfare. programme.
Minxy Bingo is operating on Virtue Fusion software and is run through a Gala division, Gala (Alderney) Ltd, which also operates Gala Bingo`s main website.
The move will raise questions about Gala`s commitment to its own technology platform which has powered Gala Bingo until now. Gala Bingo was one of the pioneers in the online bingo world and had an estimated 33% of the UK online bingo market two years ago and one of the largest pools of players and jackpots around. They were generally perceived by competitors to be leading the UK online bingo market and to have outflanked their main rival, Mecca Bingo.
But the emergence of online-only rival brands such as Crown Bingo, Foxy Bingo and Think Bingo has seen Gala struggle to match the growth levels of rival operators and player numbers have not grown in line with industry levels.
Gala`s parent company, Gala Coral, is struggling under substantial debt levels and industry insiders suggest that the cost of upgrading Gala Bingo`s technology platform has met internal resistance. One gaming analyst contacted by Bingo News said: "There is a major question of why they would spend £5 million a year on their bingo technology when they can outsource the contract to a software provider for a small percentage of their gaming profit. When they launched they had an outstanding product but now they are pretty much on a level with their rivals and without substantial expenditure they could slip behind.
"Gala Coral has an absolute debt mountain to overcome and the last thing they need is a big capital expenditure project on bingo. I`d say that Minxy Bingo was a test for them to see how the numbers stack up with a rival operator and, if they look good, they will be onto Virtue Fusion software within six to nine months."
The launch of Minxy Bingo will also raise question about whether Gala will better exploit some of the fantastic domain names they acquired early in the registration period for .co.uk domains. Gala owns www.bingo.co.uk which currently redirects to Gala Bingo but could be a strong brand in its own right.
Bingo News understands that fewer than five sites have been asked to be initial affiliates of Minxy Bingo and management are using an affiliate system provided by Income Access rather than their in-house.
It seems clear that Gala have decided to test other bingo software using a relatively insignificant brand and, if they decide to launch other site brands, that it will not be their major site name.
