An Irish business is making the world crazy for bingo and it’s planning to add new experiences to its portfolio, writes Emmet Ryan.

Bingo Loco was founded by Stephen Lawless, Will Meara and Craig Reynolds in 2017. The company operates in 220 cities worldwide, with plans to expand to another 100 in the near future. The business is entirely bootstrapped and expects at least €18 million in revenue in 2025.

“It’s a competitive form of socialising. It blends traditional bingo with raves, comedy and a bit of absurdity in the middle. We’ve taken bingo and turned it into a modern form that sees mostly women aged 25-45 starting their weekend celebrations with us,” Meara says.

“It’s an interactive three-hour show. When you buy your ticket, you get a bingo book with prizes ranging from a hat to flights for two to Las Vegas.”

While bingo is in both the name and the game, it only plays a part in the entire wild nature of Bingo Loco.

“Bingo is a way to get people on stage. People do things like lip-syncs and dance-off battles to win the prizes. It’s a gameshow where you do all sorts of silly things to a live audience,” he says.

“It’s all blended with confetti canons and rave rounds with LED screens and well-produced visuals. Typically there are a couple of hundred people there, sometimes it’s a few thousand, depending on the type of venue.”

Bingo Loco originated in Ireland but has expanded internationally rapidly, with the US a major market for the business along with the UK, Australia and the UAE. The company produces 1,500 shows a year, with many cities hosting weekly events.

In 2024, Bingo Loco had an operating profit of €902,000, up from €624,000 in 2023. Director compensation was reduced from €267,000 to €187,000.

“It’s always localised. A show in Texas, Australia or Scotland will all be different from each [other].”

The idea grew out of the founders finding an interest in competitive socialising, such as virtual golf or darts nights out.

“We had seen a rising trend in competitive socialising and felt there was room for an Irish bingo party. The first one was a once-off, but there was a queue of people at the stage asking how to get tickets for the next one,” Meara says.

“People were asking about corporate parties and it turned out Paddy Power had booked in for a night out. We realised that if it had that kind of interest, then there were legs to mature it into something more.”

The business has 25 staff. It doesn’t operate on a franchise model, despite the broad spread of its shows.

“We used to think we had to be a touring group, but realised we could run it simultaneously in multiple locations. We are at the stage now where we do 40 or more events at the weekend at the same time,” Meara says.

The big push now for the business is into markets that aren’t traditionally English-speaking, along with doing larger shows in the US.

“The goal by the end of this year is to have 40 European locations. We are in talks with large arenas in the US that can take from 10,000 to 25,000 people. We’re figuring out how to deliver a show of that size — if someone calls bingo, we need to work out how to find them.

“We’re also looking at doing our own chartered cruise that would be a full 72-hour experience. We’re also looking at new ideas, including one called Tipsy Rodeo that would be a Nashville-style experience. We already have the relationships with the venues so we can launch them more quickly.”