Choosing a Good Bingo Site – Follow These Easy Steps
No matter if you are a beginner or a seasoned bingo player when choosing a new site to play at, you need to adopt certain criteria. Of course no one makes a huge research before they start playing, it's boring and it's time consuming. So what you most probably do is shoot blind and hope for the best – you like gambling after all. This may sound exciting but it could also turn your bingo sour. Instead, we would suggest you check out the criteria we use and the sites that matched all the requirements from the list below:
Legality: All the sites we recommend are legal and have licenses from reputable jurisdictions both for UK and international players. After the changes in the law all the gambling sites that want to offer their games to citizens of the United Kingdom have to be certified by the UK Gambling Commission. It's important to mention that not long ago it was all different and the operators were often regulated by remote gambling jurisdiction such as the gambling authorities of Gibraltar, Malta, Isle of Man and so on. At present these organisations are not responsible for the UK customers, only for the international players.
Safety: Part of being a safe site is being a legal one, it's true, but that's not where we stop. We make sure that the sites have a security seal of some sort: Trustee, Truswave, Verisign or Norton Protected. These guarantee your privacy and the safety of your personal data and banking information via the latest technology such as SSL encryption protocols. We also check for RTP (Return to Player) Reports and RNG (Random Number Generator) certificates before we deem a site secure and trusted.
Welcome Offer: When you know that you are in good hands, it's time to have a look around and check for some tasty deals. Most sites welcome their new players with a nice offer that adds at least 200% on their first deposit. Some operators even have a no-deposit bonus but keep in mind that it is awarded in play money and you cannot withdraw it. To withdraw a deposit-based bonus you will have to meet certain wagering requirements. For bingo you are usually asked to play through the bonus/ bonus+deposit amount 2/4 times and then you can cash out your winnings with the bonus.
Game Selection: It's almost ironic that the games come 4th but it can also be argued that they are more important than the bonuses. Anyway the variations of bingo offered, the number of bingo rooms and the special features (if any) also count towards the final result and our ranking. All good bingo sites have 90- and 75-ball games, so this is the where we go from. And then we look for some exclusive variations like 80-, 50- or 30-ball bingo, Joker Jackpot and Speed Bingo.
Banking Methods Available: Providing a decent number of payment options to your players is always a good sign – it means the operator strives to make it as convenient for you as possible. Accepting debit/credit cards and bank transfers is a must. Pre-paid cards and vouchers are also very convenient except for when you want to cash out because they are usually not associated with an account or a cards. That's why our favourite method is PayPal – you can both deposit and withdraw and the best part is that your banking details will remain invisible because you will be transferring money through an account and the only information you will give is a username and a password. Your card number and other details are not required. Unfortunately, not all the online operators have included this payment option yet but we will tell you when it is available.
Mobile Platform: Bingo players are probably most loyal to the operator and the community because of the social character of the game. That's why it's nice to know that you can play your favourite games and chat with your buddies on your phone or tablet. After all, how much time do you spend at your home PC on a regular working day. While if you know that the bingo games are in your pocket, you will be able to enjoy them in your lunch break, or while you're waiting for your bus/train and turn the chores into fun.
Support: When you need help the last thing you want to do is wait. That's why we always look for Live Chat support on the sites. If that's not available a free UK phone number also does the trick. But we absolutely hate it when they only provide an email or an inquiry form. Although these may come in handy when you need to send some attached files/screenshots, they are somewhat annoying when you have to deal with everyday issues such as: how do I redeem my loyalty points, or how do I pre-buy tickets. Most operators have a FAQ section so before you try to contact someone it's a good idea to check it, it could save you quite some time.
The Most Popular Bingo Operator in the UK
Besides from these general pieces of advice we have a very specific recommendations as to where you can enjoy thrilling games, friendly community, advantageous offers and helpful chat hosts. The following operator is inarguably the best-loved in the United Kingdom because of its long standing reputation. Have a look at their offering:
Gala Bingo online is a household name mostly because of the land-based clubs all over the UK. Their online site is for sure as good as their halls because they've gathered a considerable following since 2006 when it was launched. Going back to our checklist of requirements, we'll start with the licensing. Gala is licensed by the UK Gambling commission with a company name Gala Interactive (Gibraltar) Limited, it has a security seal from VeriSign that guarantees that your private data is encrypted before transmitting and it has a number of seals of organisations for responsible gambling such as Gamcare, Repsonsible Gambling Trust and Gambleaware. Their welcome offer is good as it is but just because we'd like to add a bit more fun we negotiated £5 for our readers and a free Buzzby scratchcard that can bring up to £500 extra. You will get exactly £45 on your first deposit of a tenner. This bonus will be available for 14 days so make sure you use it. And if you want to withdraw any winnings you have to wager the bonus amount just twice. These are very light wagering requirements compared to many other sites.
As for the games available, this is probably our favourite part, there are 3 exclusive rooms and variations such as the unique 50-ball bingo, Coronation Street Bingo and Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway room. Apart from these you will find 10 90-ball bingo rooms, 2 75-ball rooms, and one 75-ball. There are also the jackpot games – both progressive and guaranteed and the live games on Gala TV. The site is powered by Virtue Fusion so you will be able to play many of their tv-show based games such as WWTBAM, DOND plus the Irish-themed Lucky Numbers Bingo. And as if that wasn't impressive enough, their casino section is super rich – dozens of exclusive slots, TV and Film based slots and scratch cards, casino classics such as Roulette & Blackjack and Vegas, Flutter (betting) and Lotto tabs. No one can top this abundance of games!
Gala Mobile is available both for iOS and Android users. Of course there's a native app only for the iPads and iPhones but android users shouldn't be discouraged by this because the mobile website is absolutely identical to the app (dare we say even better). There are 40 games and slots, exciting scratchcards, 13 bingo rooms and daily jackpot games available for mobile users. You can also chat with your friends and pre-buy tickets for the big games. And lastly, the support team at Gala Bingo can be contacted 24/7 via email, phone and live chat. The free UK phone is 0800 294 7 294 and the email address is help@galabingo.com.
Recognition of Success – the eGR Awards
The eGaming Review Magazine yearly awards are one of the most prestigious and long-looked-for events in the industry. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an eGR award is worth a million words when it comes to gambling operators. The ceremony in 2014 was held last November at the Roundhouse in London. Tombola was announce for the Bingo Operator of the year this time but Gala Bingo was highly commended. Their sister site Coral was also highly commended in the category Marketing Campaign. On the eGR Operator Marketing and Innovation Awards Coral grabbed the prize in the category Affiliate Marketing Campaign, BingoGodz took the award for Innovation in Bingo and 888ladies were distinguished for their Bingo Marketing Campaign. The eGR B2B Awards 2014 announced Dragonfish for the Best Bingo Network. Many bingo sites use their software but some of the best known are 888ladies, Wink and Posh.