The Idea: In 2017, three friends in Dublin - Craig Reynolds, Will Meara, and Stephen Lawless - had a simple observation: bingo was fun, but it was stuck in retirement homes and community centres. What if you took the core mechanic - the anticipation, the competition, the communal energy - and dropped it into a nightlife setting with confetti cannons, rave rounds, LED screens, and prizes like holidays instead of cash? They scraped together enough to host their first show on a Thursday night. The venue barely believed in the concept. Only 100 people showed up. But Reynolds posted a clip on Facebook, the messages started flooding in, and their second show sold out in 30 minutes. This was the beginning of Bingo Loco.
The Execution:
- 2017: Launched with a single Thursday night show in Dublin to just 100 people. After a viral Facebook video, the second show sold out in 30 minutes and monthly shows became the norm.
- 2018: Moved from monthly to weekly shows in Dublin. Bigger venues across Ireland started calling - they went on a nationwide tour and sold 200,000 tickets across three continents within two years of launching.
- 2019: Expanded internationally into Australia and the UK, growing the team to 15 full-time staff. The "bingo rave" format proved it wasn't just an Irish novelty - it worked everywhere.
- 2020-2021: COVID shut down live events globally. The team pivoted to virtual shows to keep the community alive while planning for the comeback.
- 2023: Raised over $3.7M at a $20M valuation from investors including fitness mogul Kayla Itsines and Al Barratt. Used the capital to professionalize operations and prepare for aggressive expansion.
- 2024: Launched in the United States and expanded to 220 cities worldwide, hosting 1,500+ live shows per year. Revenue topped £15.5M with operating profit reaching nearly £800K.
- 2025: Appointed Max Chaos as Chief Mayhem Officer and first U.S. hire to lead North American expansion. Plans announced for 1,000+ shows across North America and 40 European locations by end of 2026. Now entertaining 750,000+ people annually.
The lesson? You don't need to invent something new - sometimes you just need to reimagine something old. Bingo had been around for decades, written off as your nan's Friday night. Three friends in Dublin saw what nobody else did: the game mechanics were perfect for nightlife. The anticipation, the communal energy, the dopamine hit of winning. They just needed to strip away the stigma and add confetti cannons. The result? A £15.5M events empire that started with 100 people on a Thursday night.