This is a guest contribution by Focus Online Management Ltd. owner Phil Fraser. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

2014 was a year of huge legislative change for the whole of the online gaming industry, with the long-anticipated introduction of Point of Consumption tax on December 1st, as well as changes to UK remote gaming licensing laws.

Many industry commentators predicted that these legislative changes would lead to a change in the online bingo landscape, with many of the smaller brands struggling to remain profitable.

Phil Fraser, owner of the leading UK bingo portal www.whichbingo.co.uk, gives his take on what happened in the online bingo market in 2014 and what he predicts will happen next in 2015.

Making hay while the sun shines

Despite the impending Point of Consumption tax on the horizon, 2014 was a record breaking year for new bingo site launches, with over 77 new sites entering the market. This figure however was skewed slightly by Bauer Media launching 20 virtually duplicate sites under their magazine and radio brands. These 77 new sites dwarf the 2013 total, and, as can be seen from the graph below, is the largest ever number of new site launches in the UK market.

(Source  www.whichbingo.co.uk)