BBO (Free BBO ending)
It looks like FREE BBO is ending?
BBO has been a great 'gift' for many for many years and whoever started it and gave it for free for all those years has my admiration and gratitude and deserves recognition for what he/she gave to so many. I went on there and still do to improve me card play not just by playing but by watching others and that has been good for me but I can also see that there are LOTS of people who are on there all day and every day no doubt to fill their empty days in later life and BBO has filled a massive need there.
What is happening, when is it happening and how much it is going to costs? It looks like FREE ends in 17th August and after that it's $10 a month. Will I pay it - I don't know, it's not that $10 a month is going to cause a blip in my bank balance it's just . . . . I don't know!
Comments
$10 a month.
Clearly BBO is US based and I know that many Americans don't give a lot of thought to anything/anybody outside the US and I don't know what the numbers are of current BBO members outside the US? I have just called my bank and they tell me that in addition to any currency change fees there is a £5 charge for each transaction making the £10 a month BBO fee £15.
All EBU members have been sent an email about this and more information can be found at https://www.ebu.co.uk/article/bbo-membership-plans-alternatives
Updated now. Thanks.
Thanks Gordon - - - - the link - - - 'Page not found'
BBO say they have a million active members worldwide - no country breakdown. About 3,000-4,000 people do the daily free Acol Daylong, mostly from the UK. That's a small fraction of active UK BBO players, so maybe a very rough guess of 50,000 active UK members - 5% of BBO's total. If those numbes are even partially replicated in other countries that appear to have enthusiastic BBO players (such as Turkey, India, France, Italy, Germany and Poland) then BBO is an international business with a strong American contingent.
You pay by credit/debit card in the BBO Store website, so the cost is the same as if you bought a book from Barnes & Noble whilst on holiday in New York - about £7.50. Oh, and BBO are charging $6 per month for the first year, so that's £4.50.
MoneySavingExpert can point you in the direction of several debit and credit cards that charge nothing for foreign purchases.
One million members - that's an income of $100M+ a year - I know for certain it would not be difficult to replicate that platform - I wonder if somone else will do that and charge $5 a month?
Replicate that platform, (cost less than £20k) get 5,000 UK user at £5 a month and that brings in £300k a year - hmmm :)
Only if they all sign up. Expectations are that only a small fraction will sign up - if it was 1% then income will be rather smaller $1m.