Founded in 2000, WhichBingo has over the years grown into UK’s largest bingo reviews website and into a big and globally renowned name in the online bingo space. To celebrate the industry and the hard work put by its representatives, WhichBingo has been hosting the WhichBingo Awards ceremony for several years now.
The WhichBingo website was established by Mr. Phil Fraser, a person with years of experience in the online bingo (and gambling as a whole) space. Prior to venturing into the world bingo, Mr. Fraser had been hired by major UK bookmaker William Hill to help it launch its first online casino.
The 2017 edition of the WhichBingo Awards ceremony is slated to take place a week from now and organizers have promised unique experience to those attending. The awards ceremony will take place at Café de Paris in London’s West End, a venue widely popular for its burlesque and cabaret nights.
Mr. Fraser and his team kindly answered our questions about the event, how it has evolved over the years, and what they expect from its 2017 edition. Read the full interview below.
+ Can you tell us more about the upcoming WhichBingo Awards ceremony? In what way the 2017 edition will be different from the ones held in previous years?
The WhichBingo Awards are well known for taking place in unusual venues around London. Each year we go somewhere different and we try and organise the event to suit the particular venue. This year we’re at the iconic Cafe de Paris, which is famous for it’s burlesque and cabaret acts, therefore we had no option other than to bring in the dancing girls and put on a bit of a show!
+ How is an event of this kind organized? How long does it usually take to put the show together? Are you actively involved in the organization process?
It usually takes around 3 or 4 months to put everything together, including the on-site activity such as designing the website, informing all of the operators and then delivering the public player’s vote. As for the ceremony, we work closely with an events company who helps us source the venue and run the event on the day.
+ Can you tell us more about the nomination process? Who can nominate and who can be nominated?
Operators were invited to nominate themselves using a simple online form. If they selected any of the four categories decided by judging panel, they would be sent a more detailed nomination form to fill out, depending on the category they wanted to enter. For the player voted awards, the shortlists were announced and a voting form put live on the website. Operators then had approximately three weeks in which to encourage players to vote for them.
+ What can you say about this year’s judging panel?
In previous years we only had one award decided by judging panel, but this year we expanded this to four categories: Most Socially Responsible, Best Software, Best Mobile Experience and Best Customer Service. For the first of these, we rely on the support of six independent judges from the field of responsible gaming for their help in deciding the winner. In the latter three, the judging panel consisted of our own WhichBingo review team, who have great experience of playing at all the sites nominated so we believe have selected worthy winners this year.
+ In your opinion, what are the traits that players pay the most attention to when choosing their preferred nominee in one category or another?
It’s difficult to say as the players who vote don’t provide any reasoning for doing so. However, the sites who usually do well are those who actively engage with players and give them clear reminders and calls to action to vote over a variety of channels, such as on-site, email and social media.
Our advice is always put the vote for us CTAs where players will see them, either directly in their inbox or on-site on a highly trafficked page. If they just stick it on some rarely viewed promos page or blog and then do nothing else, their brand advocates are unlikely to see the message and vote.
+ And what traits must the “Best Online Bingo Site” possess?
The one thing the best site must possess is mass appeal and the ability to engage well with their audience. No matter how good the message is, players won’t vote for you if they don’t like your product.
+ What do you expect from this year’s ceremony?
I’m really excited about this year’s event as it’s such a fantastic venue and already we’ve got the majority of seats booked out. It will be a “full house” as they say in bingo! I’m expecting a great atmosphere, a great show from the cabaret acts we have lined up, and a great line-up of worthy winners across all 14 award categories. We’re also for the first time extending the awards to include an after-party, whereby the tables are removed and a DJ comes in to keep the guests partying long into the night. This also means the capacity increases after 9.30pm and therefore more people can come along if they couldn’t get a seat for the earlier event.
+ When and how did the idea for the WhichBingo Awards emerge? How has this concept been improved over the years?
There has been a poll on the WhichBingo website for well over 15 years which asked players to vote for their favourite sites. In 2014 we decided to completely revamp this poll and turn it into a fully fledged awards event, complete with nominations, voting and an actual ceremony held in London. Over the years we’ve introduced new categories and added more judging panels. We always look each year at ways to update and improve the entire event.
+ And how do you plan to develop the ceremony in future?
It’s too early to start talking about next year but ideally what I would like to see are more judge-led categories alongside the player voted categories. Player voting is great to get the wide engagement, but judge voting is where you raise the level of kudos for winning an award. We also added two slot categories for the first time this year, so there is potential room for more awards in this area as we expand the amount of slots content on WhichBingo.
+ In what way the WhichBingo Awards ceremony influences the course of the industry? Why does the online bingo industry needs an event of this kind?
You can see what the WhichBingo Awards mean to many brands from the effort that they put in to encouraging votes and in the submissions they submit for the judges. It is a real badge of honour and in such a crowded marketplace, a great way to stand out. Online bingo is often just a small category in many larger online gambling events, so it is important that the industry has it’s own dedicated ceremony like this. It’s a great way to get everybody in the industry together in one place.
