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Questions are often asked about what one should be looking for in a bingo site, so we thought we’d provide an overview to give you a solid grounding in what it is exactly you should look out for when choosing your next bingo site, and how to see straight past the gimmicks so that you can pick a bingo site you’ll want to visit again and again.

1) Make sure your money is safe
The first thing to check is if the bingo site is registered and licensed with a gaming authority. Does the site have a good reputation? Have you heard of them before? Do they appear on any reputable bingo review sites? What do other people say about them? Its rare for anything to happen, and usually just boils down to common sense, but make sure you ask yourself the questions above before signing up for peace of mind. Do I know who im about to hand over my hard earned cash to?

2) Sign up offers
Once you have found a bingo site that you like, look out for welcome offers as this is the best time to get a good deal. It is important to read the conditions of the sign up offers such as any criteria you have to fulfil in order to receive the offer, and whether or not they have any clauses. A brief read of their Terms and Conditions upon signing up should clarify this. There are two main types of sign up offers:

First Deposit Match
When signing up, most bingo sites will offer you a ‘first deposit match’ up to a certain limit. This means for every pound you deposit (minimum deposits are usually £5-£10), they will match your deposit pound for pound. You can see our full list of bingo reviews here. Some sites such as wink bingo will offer you a 200% match up to £100 pounds, meaning that if you deposit £100, you’ll have £300 in your bingo account.

Free Bingo Money, No Deposit
Some bingo sites offer you some free money, with no deposit required in return for registering your details (usually including a credit card to verify you are who you say you are) with their site. These are a good opportunity to see if you like the actual game before committing to depositing any of your own money. You should note however that you will not be able to withdrawn any winnings made with your free bingo money if you have not yet deposited any of your own money. We have a list of Free Bingo Money, no deposit offers here.

3) Promotions
Once your welcome bonus has gone, you’re going to want a bingo site that keeps offering you something of value, so looking at the sort of promotions a site holds is definitely worth a look. Do the prizes interest you? Do they tempt you in any way? There are many sites out there, so if you are looking for a good site that you’d like to continue playing bingo at, make sure the promotions are enough to keep you going back.
4) Schedule (Times and Prices)
In addition to promotions, look at a bingo sites schedule and see if they hold the sort of games that also interest you. Do they have tickets in your price range, are the full house prizes enough for you? Many sites offer value games such a penny bingo (see article here), Free Bingo Games (see article here), and BOGOF (buy one ticket get one free).

5) Win-ability
Make sure the bingo site offers games of all prices and numbers. If you prefer winability over the size of a prize and amount of players, then ensure the site offers enough bingo rooms for you to play bingo with the maximum amount of people you’d like.

6) Jackpots
We all dream of winning big, and it really can happen with the size of some bingo sites jackpots. These jackpots are in addition to the usual line prizes, and vary as to when they can be won. For instance, Gala Bingo has a ‘Cash Climber’ jackpot which can be won at any time for calling full house in 32 balls or under, which has been known to get past £100k. They also offer smaller jackpots called ‘spotlight’ which run every half hour in their bingo rooms and require you to claim house in 45 balls or under.

7) Loyalty Schemes
Some bingo sites offer you rewards and incentives for staying with them. The more you deposit and play, the more loyalty points you receive. Some sites offer different mechanisms for their loyalty points, but looking out for some form of loyalty scheme may be of interest to you. Some bingo sites also offer you up to 50% deposit match on all subsequent deposits after your initial welcome bonus.
8) Chat and Community Features
Once you are happy that the bingo site will provide you with the quality bingo games and promotions you are looking for, don’t forget the community side of things! Bingo is a social game, and if you’re the sort of person who enjoys making new friends and likes a bit of banter, whether or not a site has some form of community feature may be important.

Virtually all bingo sites have a chat system enabling you to chat to fellow bingo players during the game, but maybe you want something more? Sites such as Wink Bingo and Tombola take the community side of things further with their own social site where you can add buddies and upload photos as well as post messages.

 

When word got to us recently of the fantastic sums of money that Wink Bingo players have been winning on Wink Bingos instant games, we thought we’d take a closer look and share with you just why there is more to online bingo than bingo itself.

Any of our readers will know how much we enjoy a good game of online bingo, they’ll also have noticed that we don’t cover much else on this site other than games of bingo, but there is in fact a whole other face to online bingo, and this comes in the form of instant games. Instant games refer to a variety of simple games that users can play, such as scratch cards or Hi-Lo style games.

If you’ve played online bingo before, you’re bound to be familiar with their concept. Amongst some of the most popular varieties are scratch cards, they are just like their real life counter parts, and are easy to play with little to no instructions needed.

What has really been incredible are the sums of money won on these games. Remember Keith R from Jackpotjoy who won a life changing £1.3m on the popular Deal or No Deal instant game? Well there have been many big winners in the past on these instant games, which not only provide a bit of a fun and excitement but the possibility to change someone’s life forever.

Wink Bingo saw a few lucky winners in June including user ‘Mmtab’ who won £12,368.07 on Fluffy Favourites game. Mmtab said of their win “I like Wink Bingo very much because is it’s a very nice bingo site, chat hosts are friendly, people are very friendly and when I won the two big instant games I was so delighted that I had to play more”.

Then there was user ‘avz’ who won £2,000 on a scratchcard. “It was a great joy when I found out that I had won this huge amount. Wink Bingo is the BEST. I was just trying out this instant game and to my surprise, BINGO. I had won! YAYYY.

These weren’t the only big winners on Wink Bingo, and needless to say they’ll all enter July on a big high! So well done to them, and we hope you win this month too!

 

Most UK online bingo sites provide their members with loyalty points for being a member of the site. The problem with this is that you are only able to use those points on that particular site and generally only to purchase free bingo money. While there is nothing wrong with this intrinsically, it would be nice if these points could be traded for gifts and other more tangible items. Virgin Bingo is a site with a difference because their loyalty points can go so much further.

Fortunately for Virgin Bingo they have many other sister companies, so essentially they have gone around to these sister companies and raided their cupboards. Now when you earn “V” points you can trade them in for more bingo money, Virgin vouchers and even Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles. So you know that when you start to accumulate points you can work towards a goal. Say for instance you wanted a round ticket to Cape Town, Tokyo or Las Vegas, just check out the schedule on the site and it will tell you how many points you need for this, and how many points can be earned for playing various game.

Just as an aside, Virgin Bingo recently changed the name of the site to Virgin Games, but you can still play good, old fashioned bingo games. As well as the point you can earn at this site which will buy you tangible gifts, they also have a super programme available for VIP’s. VIP’s in online bingo are “very important players”.

Now that they have moved the Bingo site to Virgin Games, they have also launched a brand new VIP program; this means that all VIP’s are offered a 5-Star Concierge Service. This makes sure that VIP’s are completely well looked after on an individual basis and that they get the prizes and gifts they so justly deserve. You get a direct line to your own account manager, ongoing cash bonuses, Double V* Points on all games, exclusive offers only available to VIP’s, birthday hampers and much, much more.

We all know who Keith Chegwin is (I hope), but do we all know that he has his very own online bingo site Cheggers Bingo? Well if you are reading this, you know now! His site operates under the well respected St. Minver label and as such displays all the well known characteristics of this brand. It also has a good deal of the Cheggers personality thrown into the mix however and this makes for a different, yet the same site, if you know what I mean. If you are a fan of Cheggers and you fancy online bingo, then why not play at his site, you will be killing two birds with one stone.

New members get a super warm welcome in the form of a first deposit sign up bonus of 100%. This means if you make a deposit of the minimum amount of a tenner, you get a tenner in return. If you fancy being a bit of a high roller, make a larger deposit and you will receive the same amount. The maximum you can deposit is £125, so your first deposit can earn you a pretty decent amount of free bingo money. Besides this, you also receive re-deposit bonuses of a maximum of £65, at a 50% bonus value.

They offer a free daily scratchie, and everyone loves scratcies, especially if they are free. These have a prize value of up to £100 available, and if you win you’ll be quids in. Just remember that to qualify for these you have to have an active account with a positive cash balance.

They have a free bingo day on a regular basis, so you have to check the games schedule to see when they are scheduled for. Cheggers Bingo has plenty more to offer the casual bingo player from penny bingo and big jackpot bingo games, to a great range of instant games such as Cluedo, Monopoly, and everyones casino classic, Blackjack.

Actually, thinking about it, what is Cheggers up to these days?

This year looks as though it is going to be a bumper year for new online bingo sites in the UK. There have already been a few launched, so if you want to take a trip around the landmarks of London, there is Landmark Bingo. If you are a fan of OK Mag, they have also launched a new online bingo site, so now you can have your favourite magazine and your favourite game all rolled into one. This site is from the same people who bring us Cyber Bingo.

Bingo G is new, very much in looks and features as Gone Bingo, they are from the same developer and the name is similar too so you will find the same great games prizes and bonuses on offer. Quicksilver Bingo, also new, offers a lightening quick download with plenty to do and loads on offer! Bingo Chest is also new to the scene, new Budget Bingo says it all!

Other new sites include Bingo Nation, ShootJack Live Bingo which is something completely different as you play your online bingo with a top class LIVE presenter. Shoot Jack is actually a live casino, but like many casinos, they are seeing the opportunities presented to them by bingo, in terms of generating revenue. Even Smart Live Casino has branched out into the online bingo industry.

Costa Bingo, another new site, is great fun too, and Play Cherry is a division of Cherry Red Casino. Coming soon to our computer screens we have Eat, Sleep Bingo, Elvis Bingo and Zoom Bingo. These Sites are just a few of the many we will be seeing available to UK online bingo players this year.

We are also going to be seeing Devilfish Bingo, this site will be very interesting as Devilfish is the software platform which operates Wink Bingo, Bingo Wags, Posh Bingo and many others. It is also the company who recently launched a new online Spanish bingo site in partnership with Daub. Devilfish are a division of 888 holdings, who at the end of last years announced they would be launching three new bingo networks. It looks like things are certainly happening this year!

 

Are you a coupon clipper? If you aren’t in these tough economic times, you should be! We all should be; we need to save money wherever we can. Although playing online bingo is a relatively cheap form of entertainment, we now see one of the new online bingo sites launched in the UK, catering specifically for the budget market. Very aptly the site is called Budget Bingo.

It is a great looking site, and it certainly appears that no expense has been spared in putting it together. They are also out to offer new members a very warm welcome with a 200% welcome bonus in terms of a first deposit cash match, and if you want to clip their virtual coupon be their guest, it is worth £20! This coupon entitles you to twenty quid worth of free play, without you having to make a deposit.

Presently there is a weekly guaranteed prize give away as one of the many promotions available. Budget Bingo has some super offers available besides this, but for the sake of this article, lets take a look at what they have to give away if you make a £25 deposit.

There is a washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner and wine cooler on offer and one of these is being given away every week. This is a random draw, which all depositors of £25 or more are automatically entered into. Obviously the more entries you have into the draw, the better your chances of winning, but for the chance to win super prizes like these, besides what you might win playing bingo, you can’t really go wrong.

Bingo cards are priced from just 10p, but for more bingo for your bucks they are offering BOGOF games on a daily basis as well as plenty of free cards in the Free Card Bonanza. In the Speed Bingo room if you buy three tickets you get two free, in the Regency Room, and Fusion rooms the same applies. Budget Bingo has progressive jackpots with the 80 ball and 90 ball jackpots currently over £750. If you’re a mobile phone junky, then stay tuned as they will be launching Mobile Bingo soon, as have the popular Gone Bingo.

As a nice addition to their community, Budget Bingo gives away £20 of bingo bonus a week to their ‘Rommie of the week’, as voted for by their Chat Moderators.

Not convinced? Why not sign up for their free £20 no deposit required offer so that you can see for yourself.

Mecca Bingo, you only have to say the name “Mecca” in the UK and people will know you are not referring to the Holy City of Mecca, but to the UK bingo brand Mecca. It is after all the second largest bingo operator in the UK! As such it is logical that they should have an online bingo presence and they do, the site is a big hit with fans in the UK.

June was a great month for the site, but it has come to an end so this is the time of the month that we have a kind of hiatus happening. Basically the June promotions have ended and July’s haven’t started yet. So it is a bit late to get into monthly draws and those kinds of games, however its not to late to join the site, become a member and play a few games while we wait for all the lovely new promotions to be launched.

If you register as a member of Mecca Bingo, they will give you a 200% bonus, up to a maximum value of £50. So if you deposit £25, they give you another £50 completely free of charge. This money funds your account quite nicely and makes sure you have plenty to explore the site and games when you are new to it. When you get double the money, you also get double the fun.

Every Thursday in June was a slots cash-back day for players in any of the new Vegas games valued at a fiver. There was also a magnificent £1 million on offer in the Thursday and Friday night MegaJackpots. And on a Friday night members were being offered the opportunity to win a share of £10,000.

To qualify for a chance to win this prize money, members had to spend £10 a day from Monday to Thursday. All players who have done this are invited into a private room where they get the chance to win while they play all the different variants of bingo. So these games are games with a difference, as you get to play 90, 80, 75, pattern, speed, club and joker jackpot bingo. It is a real mixed bag, and completely exciting as well as compelling to play.

It often surprises me how long it takes some online bingo sites to remove their old bingo promotions from the previous month and put up their new ones, some of the online bingo sites obviously haven’t automated this task yet so we shall wait to see how long Mecca Bingo take this time (they are usually quite quick!). Perhaps they are on it right now as I type. In which case I’ll start preparing a juicy article with Mecca Bingos July highlights! Roll on July…..

If you are looking for a completely unique online bingo experience, you don’t have to look any further than Tombola Bingo, its fun, its fast, and if you are looking for a white knuckle online bingo ride, you know where to find it. They have games on offer that you would hardly believe and if you haven’t seen their advertising campaign on TV, I would suggest that you at least pay the site a visit.

If you fancy playing they will give you a £25 cash match when you make a deposit of the same amount, and in comparison to other UK online bingo sites this might not seem much. But it is a toss up really, do you want big prizes and lots of opportunities to win them, or do you want big bonuses and small prizes. Whichever way you go, it should help you decide the kind of site you want to play on. However Tombola is a site with a difference and the prizes and games on offer are something special.

The new free game alone, “Lucky Pick”, has £20 000 worth of prizes on offer every single week, replacing the popular Freefall game. Then of course you can play Roller-Coaster, Hamster Race, Bandit, Bingo Lite, Bingo 90, Bingo 80, Cinco and bingo roulette. Essentially at this site the fun just goes on and on.

If you are not familiar with the name of the site, these are the software operators who used to manage the Sun Bingo site. However, when the Sun went to a new software platforms, Tombola decided to operate their own site. It was a wise choice to make, because they are up for an award or two at the Online Bingo Summit being held next week, and they have not even been in operation for a year yet.

One of the beauties of playing online bingo is the fact that you are able to be part of a like-minded community. Everyone finds the social aspect of playing bingo a much bigger thrill than the actual winning of prizes, and Game Village Bingo has one of the most active and interesting communities available online. It is so much fun to actually be a part of this very special community.

This is because the operators of this site have gone out of their way to make the community at this site completely unique. Loyalty points are earned and the more you have of these the higher your standing in the community. The loyalty levels range from house to castle owner and this determines your status in the community. It is not about financial hierarchy, it is about social standing and tenure, and home owners are basically rewarded for their loyalty.

Game Village bingo is also one of only two online bingo sites in the UK with their own radio station. And for this they have been nominated for the Bullet Business online bingo “new innovation” award to be handed out at the Online Bingo summit which runs from the 16th to 17th June this year in London. But it is not only their innovative radio station which the have the potential of being recognized for, it is also elimination bingo.

Elimination bingo is a completely new concept and is sees players entering the Devil’s Den to play if they dare. In this game players are required to match the least amount of numbers in order to be able to win, so if you see one to go on your bingo card in this game, you know you are on the losing end of the game. Tickets into the game are cheap, but you have to be a daredevil to play. The Den is open every evening from 7 – 10pm so enter is you dare and pay your 5p per ticket (minimum buy-in of 3) and see if you can be the loser to win in this game.

It has to be said that Gala Bingo is like the ‘Coca Cola’ of bingo. Way before the day of the internet it had established itself as the premier venue for all bingo enthusiasts to gather together for their favourite past-time. With the advent of online bingo then it is no surprise then that Gala Bingo have continued their reign as one of the premier venues for bingo.

Admittedly, Gala Bingo face stiffer competition online compared with their land based bingo, but still they manage to control a considerable portion of the online bingo market.

As with any traditional bingo hall there are other games for the bingo player to pass their time on other than just the main games of bingo. The same is true for virtually all online bingo sites which increasingly offer an impressive array of instant games to help pass the time between games. Gala Bingo however have led the way with theses instant games as they have with their bingo.

Gala Bingo develop most of their games in house, meaning the majority of their games are unique to Gala Bingo, however some games are provided under license such as the popular Big Brother Scratch Card where you can win up to x1,000 your stake. Fancy a night our with the girls? Try the all time favourite A Girls Night Out scratch card where revealing any 3 diamond necklaces will win you a small fortune, although some would prefer to reveal the 3 hunky men and walk away with the smaller prize.

If scratch cards are not your thing then perhaps you’re a Deal or No Deal, Golden Balls or Top Trumps fan? Then Gala Bingo have you covered. If you’re a fan of horoscopes and astrology then you should probably give their Horoscope scratch cards a go.

Want to win big? Then perhaps try their Mega Jackpot slot machines such as Cluedo and Cleopatra with an incredible £1.9m jackpot currently up for grabs.

For those that sit more on the casino side of the fence you’ll find some of the most realistic Roulette and Blackjack games available on the internet, and if those are not life like enough then why not check out Gala Bingos live casino games? You read it right, you can actually play Roulette or Blackjack with real live dealers, and this is as close to real life casino you’ll ever get online. There’s definitely no cheating going on here! A good internet connection is advised for their live casino games.

As you can see there is so much more going on at Gala Bingo than just bingo, which is what makes Gala Bingo so popular.