BLM Media wins £2m National Bingo Game

BLM Media has won the &£2m media-buying account for the National Bingo Game association, after a three-way pitch against Mediavest and incumbent Optimedia.

The creative business stays with DFGW, which recently created a campaign to promote the first &£1m bingo game, to be run on Sunday December 22 (MW November 14).

The National Bingo Game links 550 licensed UK bingo clubs for a big money prize draw every night of the year except Christmas Day. Pre-selected numbers are “called” on giant TV screens at the same time across the network. The national game, which has paid out &£700m since it was introduced in 1985, is the second-biggest computer-controlled game in the UK, after the National Lottery.

In July, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport increased the maximum prize for the National Bingo Game from &£500,000 to &£2m, and said the limits would be abolished altogether in the Gambling Bill, expected to be introduced to Parliament next year.

Gaming industry experts say the abolition of the prize ceiling will make the National Bingo Game an even bigger threat to Camelot’s main Saturday and Wednesday Lotto draws, sales of which are already in steep decline. Last week, Camelot reported a 5.2 per cent slump in sales to &£2.28bn in the six months to the end of September.