I am rarely asked what it is like to win a big jackpot at bingo for a very simple and good reason — I never ever seem to win at bingo.  Oh, I love playing.  I sneak in and carefully watch operations “inconspicuously” — right!  It is pretty hard for me to sneak into our bingo halls but I do from time to time.  But I never, ever win the big games, the jackpots.

You could say that our entire business is driven by the allure of winning at bingo.  Of course, it is fun to win and as you see your bingo card filling up with the winning configuration your heart may race just a bit and you are counting the numbers you have left to attain the winning pattern.

“Oh, I just need B-6 and then I win!”

Though we know that our customers come to relax, reduce stress, socialize with friends, have fun and only then — win money — winning is pure joy.  Look at the lady attentively watching her $2,500 prize being counted out.  Now, that looks like fun.  What do you think.

Every day at our C bingo halls in South Carolina, we play as many as 240 games in the course of the entire bingo session.  That’s a lot of winners and some games have multiple winners.

At our B bingo halls in South Carolina, we play approximately 60 games during the course of awarding $8,000 in prizes typically with a coverall paying $1-3,000.

The lady in the pictures won $2,500 at one of our bingo halls in Columbia, SC — Mr. Bingo – Charleston Highway.  I am fairly sure she had a good night that night.

Winning at bingo — notice the payment is being made in cash — and getting paid promptly is what drives one very important element of customer satisfaction.

I am often asked questions as to what is the difference between a bingo session, a program, a pack and other terms which may be germane to charitable bingo.  Since we operate in Texas, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida sometimes these terms have a slightly different meaning and sometimes they have multiple meanings.

A bingo session has the following meanings:

1. A bingo session, in a planning or design context, is the entire menu of games which are to be played that day at a bingo hall including the number of the game, the nature of the game, the name of the game, the winning configuration, the wild numbers (if any), the color of the paper upon which the game is to be played, the price of the paper and the winning prize. If you were planning a C bingo game in South Carolina and were targeting playing up to 20 games per hour for a 12 hour period, you would have to plan for 240 games with each and every game being identified as described in the preceding paragraph.
2. A bingo session, in a regulatory context, means the time period in which the bingo games will be played and/or the amount of prizes which can be paid in that allocated period of time.

As an example, a bingo session could be defined in certain regulatory jurisdictions as a four hour period in which bingo can be played usually measured from the sale of the first bingo paper at the point of sale; and, in which up to $2,500 in prizes can be awarded.

The bingo program is a list or graphic showing the games to be played as part of the bingo session.  In South Carolina at a B bingo hall ($8,000 in prizes typically played in the evening), the program will be part of the bingo session in the following rollout of games:

1. Warm up games:
2. Mini-pack games;
3. Early bird games;
4. First half of the program (including specials) games;
5. Intermission games;
6. Second half of the program (including specials) games; and,
7. Late night games.

As you can see the program is a total of 13 games of which 8 are “in the pack” and 5 are specials.

Games are identified as being “in the pack” when they are the games which are part of the program and which you can purchase paper for or have a computer loaded with at the point of sale for the most basic price.  In the program above, the games in black #1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 are “in the program”.

Just to make it a bit more complicated, you can also purchase the “specials” in an electronic card minder (computer) at the point of sale as well as the mini-pack games and sometimes the intermission games.

Hope this helps.  If not, please email me with a question and I will help you to understand the nomenclature of bingo.

I am often asked why our bingo halls are described as “charitable” bingo halls.  Let me share some thoughts with you.

Most states have only two forms of legal gambling — their state lottery and charitable bingo.  The notion of charitable bingo — a legalized form of gambling — harkens back to the local Catholic Church conducting bingo in its basement or the local VFW conducting bingo at its hall.

These operations were fundraising, entertainment and social gatherings.  In many instances, the fundraising was almost a secondary consideration.  They did not make very much money.

Perhaps the most important driver and consideration is that folks simply love to play bingo.  Bingo is fun.  The exclusive grant to conduct bingo was made to charities for charitable fundraising and others were beginning to poach on the opportunity.

It is very difficult for a non-profit to scale up a “basement” business to a full blown fundraising operation as they are ruled by constantly changing volunteer boards of directors and may possess different levels of business expertise and the inability to marshal a constant supply of labor and time.

A large bingo hall may

1. operate seven days per week;
2. employ 25 persons plus management and maintenance;
3. offer a snack bar, ATM, vending machines, retail sale of bingo paraphernalia;
4. have a gross revenue of $2-6,000,000;
5. require a 5-10 year commitment to lease premises at a total risk of over $1,000,000;
6. undertake all the licensing, record keeping and administrative requirements related to running any business from obtaining local, county, state business and tax licenses, financial accounting to insurance to filing and paying taxes to operating and reporting in a precise regulatory scheme; and,
7. simultaneously be exposed to normal business risk and an increasing level of regulation from its role as an operating business, an employer and provider of physical premises.

Even recognizing how much folks love to play bingo, bingo is still an alternative entertainment choice for the public which must therefore compete in the marketplace — a rapidly changing marketplace — with other forms of entertainment.

The implications of marketing and the deployment of web technology and social media are just as complex for a bingo hall as any other entertainment alternative.  The issues of expertise, financial strength and execution are real and challenging.

Recognizing the daunting task that running a charitable bingo hall would create, states subsequently enacted legislation which provides for a legal framework, an administrative framework and a regulatory framework in which charities could conduct bingo as a serious fundraising mechanism for the organizations.

As part of this regulatory framework, charities could elect to align themselves with knowledgeable real estate practitioners and promoters.  Most states regulate the charitable bingo industry in their state by:

1. Examining and licensing charities to establish their legitimacy and to authorize their participation in charitable bingo as a fundraising mechanism;
2. Examining and licensing commercial lessors (providers of real estate for a bingo hall) to undertake the real estate risk associated with the bingo hall; and,
3. Examining and licensing bingo promoters (providers of business expertise related to bingo).

Some states do all three and some states will do two of the three.  In this manner, the charities could access the expertise and financial strength that could not otherwise provide and a continuity of efforts that was not dependent upon board members alone.

In Texas as an example, the Texas Lottery Commission Charitable Bingo Operations Division licenses “authorized organizations” and “commercial lessors”.  This leaves a real void in the ability to deploy cutting edge marketing expertise as the commercial lessors are forbidden to participate in the running of the bingo hall.

To provide the ability to identify, document and deploy the “best practices” of the industry, Littlefield Corporation formed Littlefield Charitable Bingo Management Consulting, Inc., a wholly owned corporate subsidiary which has no functional role in the industry — and derives no revenue from its services — other than to provide best practices information to bingo halls and to form and administer purchasing cooperatives.

Littlefield Corporation brought this endeavor to the attention of the TLC CBOD before launch and has proceeded without objection.

An example of its effectiveness on the purchasing cooperative front has been the ability to form cooperatives among multiple bingo halls, create bid specifications, solicit bids on behalf of the coop, analyze bids and make a recommendation to the coop member charities.

This effort has specifically resulted in millions and millions of dollars of savings for charities in the leasing of electronic card minders.

A similar endeavor is the Texas Association for the Advancement of Charitable Bingo with which I will deal in another separate blog post.

The most important element of charitable bingo is the charities themselves.  It is gratifying to see a fire engine glistening in the sun and know it was funded by charities conducting bingo in one of our bingo halls.

Charities are using bingo as a fundraising mechanism to fund their noble causes, causes which might otherwise exert pressure on local governmental budgets and general funds.

With recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an entire new group of combat veterans returning to the United States, it is equally gratifying to be able to assist in their transition back to civilian life by funding local VFWs and American Legions.

In another blog post, I will describe some of the important charities that our work at Littlefield Corporation underpin by providing the opportunity to fund their noble causes through charitable bingo.

Littlefield Corporation has a Twitter account which it uses primarily as an information delivery mechanism alerting you to news about the Company as it happens such as press releases and blog posts.  This is the way to be alerted to the information as quickly as possible.

Our Twitter address is:

@littlefieldcorp

Go ahead and send us a message and follow Littlefield Corporation on Twitter.  This is a good way to ask us a question or to suggest a blog topic.

The Electronic Card Minder, often just called a “computer” or “electronics”, is a bit of technological wizardry which allows the bingo hall to serve its customers in many unique ways.

There are a myriad of different Electronic Card Minder systems.  We have units manufactured by Planet Bingo, Video King, iBingo and others in our bingo halls.

While each system is different, their functions are similar and must be similar as they must obtain regulatory approval as to how they operate.

Each system has at its core a computer (server) which is the brains of the operation and ties together the point of sale (POS), the bingo blower, the flashboards, the verification system and the individual devices as shown below.

This is an iBingo unit which is used by our bingo halls in South Carolina and Texas.

If you look carefully, you can see that:

• it is showing the winning configuration — a “Z” — in the upper right hand corner;
  

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• the last bingo ball called was “G-56” as shown in the upper left hand corner;
  

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• all the bingo balls previously called are shown on the mini-flashboard in the upper middle; and
  

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• the three best cards of the customer.

When a bingo ball is called, the system sends our an RF signal which is then received by the electronic card minder unit and the electronic card minder dabs — typically manually — the appropriate ball.

The use of Electronic Card Minders in the bingo hall accomplishes many laudable objectives:

1. Electronic Card Minders allow all customers to play more cards or faces of bingo paper and the more bingo cards or faces you play the more that the bingo hall can charge for that privilege.  In South Carolina, as an example, you can play up to 180 faces or cards in a single machine.
2. Of course, it dramatically changes the probability of winning for everyone.
3. Electronic Card Minders allow our seasoned players to continue to play bingo as their focus wanes and their eyesight fades.  Seasoned players can play bingo for the rest of their lives.  Don’t underestimate the value of this extension of what I have come to call the “elastic demographic”.  85 is the new 65 and you are still a young bingo player at 65.  Electronic card minders expand the seasoned player demographic to the day of one’s funeral.
4. The traditional bingo player can play multiple electronic card minders (where authorized) and dramatically change the odds of winning.  In addition, an accomplished traditional bingo player will want to have a pack of bingo paper to dab simultaneously.                                
5. The young hip bingo player will play the electronic card minders like they are an iPad.  This technology is in their wheelhouse and they expect to be able to play bingo using such technology.  I predict it will not be too long before customers will be able to play bingo on their tablet computers with all the software being resident “in the cloud” but that’s a discussion for another day.

Jeffrey L Minch
President, CEO
512-656-1383 cell
jminch@littlefield.com

The Hip Young Bingo Player is a 20-30 something customer who is looking for fun.  While the traditional bingo player is looking for relaxation, stress relief, socialization, fun and to win money — the Hip Young Bingo Player is looking almost exclusively for socialization and fun, fun, fun.  Well and to win money.

Interestingly enough while the traditional bingo player trends a bit more female than male; the Hip Young Bingo Player is about evenly split between gentlemen and ladies.

The Hip Young Bingo Player does not just understand social media; their lives are ruled by social media.  They are all on Facebook, Twitter 24/7.  Their lives are structured around email and text messaging.  These are the fastest thumbs in the West.

Where the Traditional Bingo Player has an email penetration rate of approximately 40%, The Hip Young Bingo Player has a 100% email and smartphone penetration.  They are the poster children for convergence who are able to access email and test messaging on their cell phones.

The Hip Young Bingo Player is a fickle customer and you may have to overcome some  “Grandma’s Bingo Hall” preconceived notions but when you can show them a good time they will patronize the bingo hall.  The bingo hall is in direct competition for the Hip Young Bingo Player’s time and attention with all other forms of entertainment.

So how can you find the Hip Young Bingo Player and how can you induce them to “try” bingo?  Marketing is intended to create “tryers” and if you are able to make the sale on that first try, you will be able to create a repeat customer — likely not a deeply loyal customer but a repeat customer nonetheless.

Here are some marketing concepts we use routinely.

1.   You have to go where the Hip Young Bingo Player lives — their apartment communities.  We market directly to apartment communities within 10 miles of the bingo hall by approaching the apartment community managers and asking for permission to put up posters in the laundry rooms and other bulletin board locations, providing discount coupons to be included in new resident packages and by providing a landing page for the community on the bingo hall website.

2.   Hip Young Bingo Players can be approached through targeted employee discounts which provide discounts to the workers of specific employers who are likely employers of the Hip Young Bingo Player.

3.     Social media “pay per click” campaigns can be used to target social media users.  These have been highly successful.

4.  Careful attention to the construction of bingo hall websites and SEO practices will draw prospective Hip Young Bingo Players to the websites.  Then content — both video and picture galleries as well as testimonials from other Hip Yung Bingo Players — will rule the day.

5.   Careful attention must be paid to emerging brand evangelists whose social influence is felt by large networks of followers and friends.  These brand evangelists are difficult to find but when found can drive large amounts of social compatriots to the bingo hall.

6.    MeetUp is a particularly fertile platform which is used to identify groups who are seeking “fun”.  In Austin, Texas there are over 25,000 individuals who are members of MeetUp Groups whose self-identification includes the keyword “fun”.  This is huge low hanging marketing fruit.

7.    Hip Young Bingo Players see the use of electronic card minders to be just one more dimension of their electronic world and while the Seasoned Bingo Player may see an electronic card minder as a means to sharpen their focus and to overcome their sight issues, the Hip Young Bingo Player just seems them as just so much “iPad” bingo.

The Hip Young Bingo Player is not likely to become a core customer but is like a very hip planet orbiting the bingo hall and dropping in every couple of weeks.

Several special considerations about the Hip Young Bingo Player:

• Hip Young Bingo Players sometimes use bingo as a “pre-game” activity wherein they have some fun, drink some inexpensive beer and then head out to party the night away until the early hours of the next day.  Bingo as pre-game is a great idea
  

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• Hip Young Bingo Players like to drink beer and can be attracted to inexpensive beer offerings.  They are often quite responsible in their driving habits with pre-designated drivers to get them all home safely.
  

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• Bingo can be Date Night for Hip Young Bingo Players.

Bingo is fun.

Take a look at www.austinbingo.com to see some content starring the Hip Young Bingo Players!

The seasoned bingo player is over 60 years old and has likely been playing bingo for some considerable time.  She also plays to relax, reduce stress, socialize with friends, have fun and to win money.  She may even have more time to play bingo as her children are grown and she has fewer demands on her time.  She may be retired.

In general the seasoned bingo player is healthier, more energetic and enjoying life more than her predecessors from a decade or so earlier.  Sixty is the new 40!  Viva la difference!

The seasoned bingo player has a treat in store as she can rely upon electronic card minders to allow her to regain her youthful focus and to accommodate her deteriorating eyesight.  No messy dabbing or dabbers.  Just electronic precision!

Electronic card minders are computers which manage multiple bingo cards simultaneously — as many as 180 depending upon the jurisdiction — by receiving a RF signal as each bingo ball is called.  With the touch of a button, her 180 bingo cards are dabbed and her three best cards are displayed.  When she wins, the electronic card minder makes a sound to alert her to yell BINGO!

The electronic card minder also greatly improves the probability of winning as it can manage up to 180 cards, again, depending upon the jurisdiction.

The seasoned bingo player — a growing and important part of our bingo demographic — is able to enjoy playing bingo with her friends and at her favorite bingo hall for a long, long time.  In our bingo halls, we often offer a substantial discount for our seasoned bingo players over 80 years old.

Next time, I will discuss the Young Bingo Player.  That will be very interesting as most folks don’t appreciate how many young persons love playing bingo.

If you want to see a real bingo hall and all the fun go to austinbingo.com and look at the website for  American Bingo in Austin, Texas.

The traditional bingo player is a woman from 40-60 years old who enjoys playing bingo for the following reasons:

1. To relax;

2. To reduce stress;

3. To socialize with friends;

4. To have fun; and,

5. To win money.

We learned these things from the focus groups we conduct at every bingo hall.  I will write about focus groups in the future.  They are a very useful marketing technique used to refine and focus our bingo halls to specifically hit the objectives set by our customers.

The traditional bingo player sees bingo as gambling — “to win money” — only after fulfilling her social needs for relaxation, stress reduction, socialization and fun.  This is an important consideration.  It means a bingo hall is an entertainment destination first and a gambling venue thereafter.

In the above graphic, you can see the emergence of a bell shaped curve which shows the importance of the traditional customer to the overall patronage of the bingo hall.  Look at the dotted line that is the perspective before adding the impact of the Baby Boomers.

The Baby Boomers are coming and they represent a huge increase in the traditional bingo player profile.  They will make you work for their business but the supply of potential customers is growing.  Growing!

The other consideration of the traditional bingo customer is the fact that they include their families in their entertainment pursuits.

The inclusion of the nuclear family is an excellent marketing target.  One we have some additional work to do.

Next time I will discuss the Seasoned Bingo Player.

Want to learn more and see what a bingo hall website looks like?  Go to www.austinbingo.com and follow its Facebook page in addition.  You will enjoy seeing some of the videos and pictures.

I am often asked — who plays bingo?  You might be tempted to answer by saying — “my Grandmother loves bingo”.  But though Grandma does play bingo that would not be the complete answer.

The right answer is that bingo is great fun and enjoyed by a wide and widening cross section of people of all ages and backgrounds.  Over the next two weeks, I will explain who plays bingo and how those segments can be expanded through marketing and creative bingo session and game design.

Let’s start with the numbers.

In a “normal” mid-sized city such as Columbia, South Carolina approximately 1-1 ½% of the population is currently playing bingo at least once annually.  With competent marketing and creative bingo session and game design, that number can be increased to 2-3% of the population.

Bingo players will typically travel up to 20 miles or 30 minutes to play bingo at a given bingo hall.  They will drive past one bingo hall to go to their favorite bingo hall.  They are potentially quite loyal to a specific bingo hall.

How do we know this?  Because we have created databases — through player loyalty, retention and rewards programs — which track player identification and location.  We know where our players live.

In the next few days, I will discuss the segmentation of players among the traditional bingo players (40-65), the explosion of Baby Boomers, the seasoned players (through 95 years old) and the young hip 20-40 somethings.  You will be surprised to learn how and why bingo players love bingo.

Jeffrey L Minch
President, CEO

If you are reading this message, then you are on the new Littlefield Corporation website.

This is very much a work in progress and we will be continuing to develop the site for about a month with the objective of having it completed no later than the end of February.

We will be migrating content from the old website and creating new content until we have all the historic information pertinent to the Company on the new website.

The new website is part of an attempt on our part to take a more focused approach to the Company’s web presence, branding and messaging.

We are doing the same thing with our individual bingo halls.  You might want to check out one of our bingo hall websites — www.austinbingo.com — which is for American Bingo in Austin, Texas.

Please feel free to contact me at jminch@littlefield.com or 512-476-5141.