Gossip Bingo Review

While many online bingo sites attempt to mask the obvious gender-based targeting some of their peers are guilty of, that obvious gender-based targeting is shockingly pronounced on those peer sites. Such is the case with this particular example.

But not only does Gossip Bingo manage to alienate women who would not necessarily want to buy glossy weekly magazines and stand around the water cooler talking about what ‘her on the sixth floor did with him’ (so, realistically, most women you probably know), it also manages to put off a lot of guys who don’t really like gender assumptions either. More so, it also makes them feel a little unwelcome from the off, even before they begin the social science analysis, given this website is so obviously aimed at a particular type of woman.

On the flip side, though, just like those glossy weekly magazines we just mentioned, fundamentally everyone is selling to a market, and no market is universal. As such is it really appropriate for us to start lambasting a business just because it has decided ‘this is who we are selling to, so let’s sell to them?’ Fundamentally, we’re doing the same thing by writing reviews of bingo and casino websites, too – our primary readership is not going to be someone who has no interest in online gambling. More so, it’s probably someone who has at least a fair bit of experience in online gambling, given the fact they are interested enough to bother reading a review to try and figure out if there money is going into the right URL.

Standard Sort of Stuff

We’re here to review this website, and review it we should. Gossip Bingo, for all its ridiculous sexism, is a pretty bog standard website when it comes down to the overall design. When the homepage first loads up you’re met by the brand name (in pink, of course), along with a row of menu options – ‘Home’, ‘Join Now’, ‘Promotions’, ‘Bingo’, and ‘Slots’. We will tackle each of these separately, but beneath this there’s a huge box out with a woman looking decided feminine, advertising an offer that – to lay folk – is probably not that clear. ‘Play with £60 + 10 Sure Win Spins’. A Wheel of Fortune type device is in the background of the screen, which appears to have landed on £2,500, and next to this it says ‘Limited Time’.

Quite what all that means is beyond even us, and when coupled with ‘Gossip Bonus Wheel – Pick Up Your Offer And Have A Go’, the words ‘someone needs a better copywriter’ immediately spring to mind. Obviously, there’s an offer of some description available, but what is the wheel about, is it worth £2,500, and do we need to deposit £60 to have a guaranteed ten winning spins?

Even More Confusion

Scroll further down the screen and you’ll see two rows of six thumbnails, none of which make the task of figuring out what the hell is going on any easier really. ‘Grand 55 Is Here – up to £55,000’ one exclaims. ‘£777 Nightly Lucky Jackpot’, another proudly pronounces. The list could go on, for another four examples, obviously, but suffice to say that the designers and developers of this site have opted for a very, very outmoded advertising and salesmanship tactic- hit them with big numbers and get them clicking.

Needless to say, this may have worked in the past, and it probably still works now to some extent, but if anyone has read a single piece of marketing industry press in the last couple of years they will know one thing for sure. The public is wise to this sort of thing, just as they are propaganda, false claims, and general misdirection. One can’t help but feel the days of Gossip Bingo are numbered unless it changes its approach soon, and that’s before we refer back to the fact it’s like Mad Men made a bingo website in terms of attitude.

Are the Games Any Good, or Not?

In a word, yes, actually, and this is where things start to improve dramatically, rather quickly. Ignoring the condescending efforts of those who own the site to get you to spend some money, clicking on the ‘Bingo’ option brings up those same thumbnails, clarifying that these actually refer to different takes on bingo games.

Sadly, though, if you read the rather dull looking small print around these images, it doesn’t take long to figure out that there is only actually 75 and 90-ball available. Seriously, just the two. Or at least that’s what it tell us – so if that’s not accurate, again blame that incompetent copywriter, not us.

Thankfully, the standard of the games in terms of how they feel and play is actually very good, and so there is some redemption. This continues through to the Slots area of the website, too, which offers a really rather extensive selection of slot titles for you to choose from. There are plenty of classics here that are yet to be considered outdated, but have definitely done the rounds a few times. But then there are also some very new games here, meaning obviously someone is keen to keep things relatively up to date. Not too bad at all then.

What About Promotions?

If you click on promotions you’ll be take to a section of the website that shows you the various promotions that are available. Some look to be rather generous, others just plain standard, but the real point we feel obliged to make is that almost all of them make you click on the thumbnail in order to find out how they work and what they really offer. It’s just not good enough.

Basic web design in the modern era is about putting the user first and making sure they have to make the least amount of effort in order for them to find anything out. This is the opposite, and it has been since the landing page. Fundamentally, then, the promotions are good, but this whole area of the domain is a bit like a reflection of the website as a whole – just a bit too demanding, far too loud, and ridiculously presumptuous. Like someone at a party who automatically assumes you’re going to be interested/impressed/intrigued by what they have to say even though they aren’t actually really explaining themselves properly – they want you to ask more, but ultimately it just feels like hard work for very little reward.

The Gossip Is This One Is Poor

By now you will have likely got the picture with Gossip Bingo. We could forgive it’s laughable way of invoking stereotypes of men and women, we could forgive it’s poor layout, and could possibly tolerate the fact that – like a failing relationship in which one party already has their first foot out the door – most of the legwork has to be done by the user.

Yes, we could forgive all that if the bingo itself was any good, but whilst the standard of games offered is great, we’re so sick of being limited to just two or three varieties. Please, then, before getting any louder or brasher, maybe have a think about whether you have any real depth of character.