August was a typically quiet month for new bingo sites. The summer months do tend to be slow for online bingo, but once the kid's are back at school perhaps things will notch up a gear? However, the past month did see the arrival to Loquax of a potential big new player, a couple of makeovers and a bit of a reshuffle in terms of networked sites.
The big new site for the month is Xbingo. This site, from the people behind Costa, Sing and City Bingo is different to it's sister sites in that it has it's own bespoke inhouse designed software.
The site launched earlier this year, but has used the time wisely to iron out any issues raised by players who tested the system. If you want something different from the usual Virtue Fusion or Cassava based sites then this is worth a look. In fact we liked it so much that it has also been named our site of the month.
Xbingo combines all the things a good bingo site should have - a £5 no deposit freebies, free bingo, a nice deposit bonus, reload bonuses, big prizes, great jackpots and even a spin the wheel daily bonus. It has the potential to really push up amongst the big brands.
Big brands are also amongst those having makeovers and making network changes! First up is Virgin Bingo who have finally introduced their new look site for bingo, casino and poker. It's currently in beta and Virgin want feed back from their players about the look.
We think it's pretty good - and much needed. The pages are much clearer and it's graphically more pleasing. The downside is that the site is very slots promotional heavy and that may put off some bingo players.
Joining Virgin Bingo in the makeover room is Mirror Bingo. We mentioned them last month in our Have Newspaper Brands Fallen Out With Online Bingo? article and questioned what was going on with the site.
Well, Mirror Bingo has had a makeover and alongside Rollover Bingo, Bingo Scotland and ITV Bingo have become members of the Cashcade network. Prior they all had their own standalone rooms - but now they've merged and if you register at one then you're not able to register a new account at another.
The individual brands will keep their identities and we think their bespoke rooms, but they'll be more crossover to create higher jackpots and busier games. In that respect it's a good idea - but in our view it gives new brands, such as Xbingo, a greater edge over these competitors.
The new logo for Mirror Bingo perhaps sums up the lack of imagination - it's basically "Mirror Bingo" on a bingo ball. If you compare Mirror Bingo's makeover to Virgin Bingo then you can see there's a world of difference between them. Compare it to Xbingo and there's not even a contest, the new guys win hands down.
Don't miss our new sites for August 2011.
Go To Xbingo | 
