Online Bingo Guide

How to Play Bingo Online

For anyone who has ever played a game of bingo, from the elementary school level to one of the bingo parlours offline, online bingo will not be difficult to grasp at all. The game is basically the same online as it is offline except for the fact that online there are a range of highly convenient features that players can take advantage of in order to make their play experience far easier and more enjoyable, as well. The primary reason that people wager on bingo over the web is the convenience factor. The allure of being able to play bingo from the comfort of their own homes at whatever time of day or night they would like to is quite a strong draw and the fact that there is always a community of people online waiting to play at any given time is definitely a major plus for many folks. At any number of gaming sites on the web there is always a game, or usually several simultaneous games, going on at the same time. This allows players to be able to hop in and pick whichever game they want to play at the time. Of course, at the end of the day it is the huge prize money that really acts as the main motivator for most online bingo players because with the sheer number of individuals gaming at any one site, there is almost always a very large jackpot for those who reach bingo.

Playing bingo is extremely easy begin, requiring only an account at an online casino to get started. Signing up for these is a snap and once a player has entered the information needed to make sure that they get paid for any winnings they bring home, they will be able to create a profile to play. Once logged in, a player will proceed into the site where they will be able to choose from a variety of bingo game types so that they can select the game that works best for them and suits their tastes. Each bingo game offers cards that the player can choose from, plus the option to buy several cards at any given time. As the game progresses, players will either check off the appropriate number and letter combinations that are on their cards or they will make use of the auto-daub system that will check them off for them as the numbers are called out. This frees players up to focus on the chatting and social interaction in the game room rather than having to pay attention to the game. Since the cards are often offered for just pennies per card, most players buy several at one time and the games often allow the cards to be sorted for the players by the best cards possible and thus allow them to stay on top of which cards are closest to bingo at any given time.

All told, a game of online bingo is far simpler than one featured offline and because of this, players stand to earn much more profit from winnings than in offline settings.

Bingo Networks

One of the key factors that a bingo site on the web needs to have is plenty of players to make sure that the games are always hopping and the jackpots have plenty to offer in terms of big prize money. Those who are in to the bingo scene will realize that often a site that does not have enough visitors playing inside it really won’t be a lot of fun and this is why the bingo networks started up. What a network does is gather up a whole bunch of sites and put them under one basic banner so that each of the smaller sites can bring their players together to have fun gaming against one another. By doing this, the smaller sites are able to connect their players with much bigger pools of other players and give them a great time that does not make them have to accept a smaller pool of available players to play against. Since there are so many more players involved then the pots are obviously far larger which means everyone involved has a chance to win. Each of the sites in the network has its own style of design and presentation to the visitors who come to play bingo, but they all are sharing the players with a bigger group. This type of set up, the network style, was created in order to give players the choice of being able to game in whatever style of site they would like instead of simply forcing them to join a particular site. The variety of options keep things fun for everyone and allow them to socialize freely while still picking the type of site they want. It also allows each site in the network to offer their own type of promotions and incentives like bonuses for signing up with the site, too.

This type of software set up is also known as White Label Gaming and it ensures that the same quality is present on each site in the network. This means that instead of players having to try out buggy sites, they are getting the same experience with the same crowd no matter where they would like to log in. By giving the power of choice to the consumers, the networks are hoping to win good will and also be able to expand both their brand and the entry sites’ brands while not spending a fortune on the development of a mega site like many of the other gaming sites on the web tend to be. This increased flexibility and stream lining of costs leads to a major increase in the size of the pots that a gaming site can offer to the players who make use of the site itself. The networks generally offer an excellent experience to players who want to be able to make use of a certain type of theme and who feel more comfortable using the site they are already familiar with. It is also a great way for the network itself to grab more players and create bigger games and, of course, far bigger prizes for everyone involved in play.

Software Providers

888 Holdings – Having started up in 1997, 888 is a very popular online gaming company that does a huge amount of business world wide from its headquarters in the nation of Gibraltar. It runs a large variety of different online casino type sites and, of course, does huge business in online bingo. In 2007, the company bought out Globalcom Limited for over $43 million, one of the largest bingo acquisitions of all time. 888 Ladies is the flagship bingo site that this company offers and it is run under their sub division known as Cassava. It is the result of the Globalcom buy out that was launched in February of 2008 and offers both 75 ball and 90 ball bingo games. This is one of the most popular bingo sites on the web today.

Boss Media – This company was founded in Sweden, in the city of Vaxjo, in 1996. It began by developing its own casino site, the Gold Club Casino, but after a large number of investors approached them to create software for other sites, the company began to focus on making software packages that other sites and casinos could offer to their own clients. The company specializes in putting together tailor made software solutions for the gaming industry, including bingo and many sites bear other brand names but use the Boss Media software packages created by this particular company and then branded under the bingo site’s own name.

Chartwell Technology – This company is based out of Canada, in the city of Calgary, but they employ people in Canada, Malta and the United Kingdom, all of which help them design and implement software packages for various website based casinos such as Betfair or Bwin. Their focus is on developing the look and feel of the game in order to give players a truly great gaming experience and expand the power of online casinos.

Gamesys – As a UK favorite, Gamesys is a fairly recent entrant into the online bingo market, having started up in 2001. The run a site called JackpotJoy and this is where they give out around 75 million pounds worth of prizes with a new winner every few seconds, on average. Their games are web browser based so there are no downloads needed to play and this has helped their popularity substantially. Not only do they develop their own sites, they provide white label solutions for other companies’ bingo offerings, as well, giving them a chance to offer the bingo gaming experience to their clients while making sure plenty of players are always around.

Microgaming – Boasting the web’s first casino, established in 1994, this Isle of Man based company does huge business in the online casino market place and regularly offers several hundred games in the casinos that it develops for the web market. They offer either Flash powered web browser based games or downloadable software packages to players in the casinos they design.

Parlay Entertainment – As game companies go, Parlay is one of the most powerful in the online bingo world because they actually power several different game provider’s sites with their bingo software. They make the claim that they literally invented online bingo and their particular style of software now powers the bingo offerings of MSN, Yahoo, AOL and Virgin, to name just a few.

Playtech – Since it runs the Bingoland Network, Playtech is not only a fairly recent member of the online bingo world, having arrived in 1999, it also one of the foremost in terms of popularity. It develops packages and sites for a huge range of different sites which offer online bingo games.

History of Online Bingo

History of Online Bingo

Long before the internet existed, bingo was a game that many historians believe started out in Italy during the 16th century where it was something of a lottery. Then, in the 1920’s, it was “discovered” by a traveling salesman in the United States. English speaking nations quickly embraced the game due to its simple play style and easy to grasp rules. Those same rules made it a natural choice for a hi tech sensation that arose during the mid 90’s: the world wide web. This is when bingo really started to shine. It came online and in a very short amount of time, online bingo had become something of a sensation because it was such a simple game that a huge number of people were able to participate and enjoy the fun. Since it did not require the same heavy use of graphics and sounds that other games for the computer required at that point in the web’s development, it made bingo a perfect offering for the average website. By 1996, several sites were offering versions of the game and it was expected to do quite well. In both the United States and the United Kingdom bingo had a strong traditional history so most people were already familiar with the way that the game was played. Its easy of serving over the web also meant that many people already had the type of computer and internet connection they would need in order to play. Small prizes were first offered and then things got bigger over time with specialized bingo sites coming online to offer much bigger prizes in both countries where the game was popular.

While the US took to the online bingo craze and helped propel it to rapid stardom, it was the UK that would embrace the bingo madness in a far more intense way. Massive gaming parlours in the UK would take their operations online and companies sprang up to offer bingo and much bigger prizes than anything that had been seen in the US. As time went past, bingo online grew much more complex and a variety of features were added to help players get the most from their game experiences. There were features such as auto daub added that let players sit back and enjoy the chatting as they wagered and other features would help them highlight the cards that were closest to achieving bingo. These easy tools made it much easier for players to win instead of forcing them to constantly monitor the progress of their games. It soon became apparent that the bingo online experience was something a huge number of players wanted and even more sites went online until today there are literally hundreds of sites, most of them in the UK now, that offer wagering bingo and many more than offer free bingo games that are just for fun. Today this is a multi million pound industry that attracts gamers from all corners of the world to partake in games that are well over the thousand player games that first started up in the 1990’s.

Online Bingo

Bingo is one of the most popular wagering games in both the United States, United Kingdom and many other countries across the globe. Unlike other games, it is very simple to learn so it has rapidly spread throughout the countries where it is favored, both online and in land based bingo halls or casinos. The rapid expansion on to the web started nearly around the time that the web first rose to prominence as gamers looked for alternative ways to get started playing over the net. These days there are hundreds upon hundreds of different bingo sites so that players have a huge range of choices as to where they would like to be able to play. Due to the amount of choices online, there are large numbers of players who participate in any of the different bingo sites which means online bingo is one of the biggest games anywhere on the net, garnering multiple millions of players every day across the globe so that all of the games are usually always hopping. This giant pool of players has led to very large cash prizes being not just possible, but a regular occurrence that players have come to love. This is a major part of the attraction of online bingo sites and has set them up for the long haul, some even going so far as to form bingo networks where the prizes are much bigger than those offered in previous years. Experts agree that the future of online bingo is growth in a big way as the popularity of the game gets more intense and more savvy marketing of the bingo products mean a definite trends towards bingo becoming a powerfully popular past time. This means a continued increase in the size of the prizes coming out each month and pots being won.

There are a variety of different bingo sites online that each offer a different way to play, but there are some general ways that divide most game operation sites. There are web based bingo sites and these typically use web browser plugins to serve the content that they do. The flash plugin from Adobe or even JavaScript are both very popular means by which players can load the content that is found in most bingo games. There are also providers that package their sites as accessible via software downloads that are usually quite rapid to download on the average broadband connection. Those who want to get started easily will often pick a site that offers free play for small prizes or even one that has games which do not require funding an account and are just for fun. This is the way that many players get a grasp of how the wagering type games work and it is a great way to get acquainted with online bingo in general. Most providers accept different electronic wallet accounts to make things easier on the players, as well. Whether beginning at the free level or funding an account for major wins, online bingo offers plenty for players who love social gaming experiences.

UK Online Bingo

Games and in particular, betting games, have been big business in the United Kingdom for centuries down through its history which means it is no surprise that today there would be a tremendous following for a game like bingo. While it is true bingo is a huge industry in the UK, it is also true that the sport has been moving online faster than ever before with a huge number of players enjoying the game right over the web because of its majorly added convenience. Since the UK’s many land based sites for playing bingo can often get quite crowded, many players turn to online sources in order to get their game on, win plenty of prizes and cash, plus have the opportunity to play whenever they would like to. This advantage of playing from home has definitely increased the number of players that are getting in on the action and continues to add to the overall playing base. Many people do not realize that in the UK along, bingo has a following that is well into the millions, many of whom play each and every day on various sites against a wide variety of different gamers out there on the web. The strong social elements and plenty of chatting is a big part of what has done so much to increase the share of online bingo sites from the UK, but that is not the only factor that has driven this past time to all new levels.

The fact that major brands like AOL, MSN and Yahoo have gotten in on the action is a big part of what has made online bingo very easy to get involved with and the friendly approach to this type of gaming has gone a long way towards making it very appealing for a growing number of gamers in the UK. Add to this the fact that only recently the very first millionaire winner (in pounds, not just dollars) has emerged in the UK means that the frenzy really is on now. At this point, the largest demographic for online bingo play is women between the ages of 20 and 25 which is not what early bingo parlours had been counting on. The fact that these savvy women are getting in on the action has meant that many of the UK sites are quite trendy in terms of design and have a far snappier sense of style than many other sites on the web these days, paying attention to their presentation so that they can create a fun and active social environment that these ladies love. The growth of the online bingo sector in the UK is not expected to slow in the least because the parlours online are normally jammed to the max most all day and all night. The increasing numbers of prizes and the growing offering pool of shopping cards has made starting up an account extremely easy so there are sure to be major points of growth in UK bingo in the coming years.

Online Bingo Strategies

Although bingo and in particular, online bingo, is a very easy game to get the hang of, beginning players are definitely advised to seek out a few practice games in a fun environment just to get the hang of the way that the game goes and the pace at which it moves. There are a number of ways to get started, but this is the simplest route because it will allow players to get a solid grasp of the way the game works in its web based format so they don’t get confused when they are playing for actual stakes. Then, once it is time to choose a place to play, most experts advise looking for two things: less crowded bingo rooms and bigger prize money. The odds are better for the player if the rooms are smaller, though this normally means that the prizes will be smaller, as well. Finding a nice mix between these two factors can definitely lead to a more profitable playing experience because the player will have upped their chances of winning a serious prize. The larger prize rooms can work well even if they have more players, but this also reduces the odds of having a winning card. Picking the right cards is very important and the reason that this should be carefully monitored is that holding too many cards at any one time does not necessarily raise the odds of winning, but it will lower the amount won if one is not careful. Choosing a medium or lower number of cards is the smartest bet towards the beginning when players are getting a grasp of how online bingo normally functions.

Another factor that comes into play is the cost of the cards themselves. Normally, more expensive cards will yield a higher prize and so they end up being a smarter investment, but this is not always the case. Always evaluate the odds in order to determine if a specific game will give the best types of prizes. While the auto daub function can help by marking off the numbers as they are called and allowing players to be able to focus more on the chat and social angle of the game, some players prefer to check off their own numbers. Either way, one can do well by just making sure that the appropriate numbers are checked off quickly. A smaller number of cards makes checking off the numbers the second they are called a much easier thing to do. Be sure to watch for the differently colored bonus balls if looking for the big win because these can make a huge difference in the amount of the prizes one. The bottom line is staying focused, choosing the right places to play bingo and always being sure to give one’s self the best possible odds by choosing the more expensive cards and fewer of them in order to get the biggest possible prizes. This is the best possible set of strategies for winning big in an online game of bingo.

History of Bingo

The game we know today as bingo got its start a very long time ago, some historians believe up to nearly six hundred years, in the country of Italy. In that nation it was known by the moniker Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia which basically translates to the clearing of the lottery of Italy. There is still a version of this game that is played in Italy, but the game we know today is an altered version that was actually first discovered in the United States by a traveling salesman from New York City. After Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia rose from Italy, it traveled over the Alps to France where it picked up a steady following who added elements such as the cards and also the tokens that were used to cover the numbers which had been called out and give players a general idea of how close they were to achieving bingo. In Germany, the game was taken as an educational tool and used to convey different concepts to school children. While the word ‘bingo’ itself was first recorded in England in 1776, it was not named this as a game until that traveling salesman from New York City, Edwin Lowe, came upon a carnival tent featuring a game called Beano. This was 1929 and the Great Depression was in full swing so Mr. Lowe, being a true opportunist, saw a chance to take the game to the big time by developing its fun and action for a much bigger crowd than the one gathered around that Georgia carnival tent. The name turned out to be an accident that cropped up during a test game Lowe was performing. The excited player yelled bingo instead of beano and thus, Lowe’s Bingo Game was born. Instead of working to stifle his competitors, Low encouraged the game’s spread by asking for only a very small fee from those who wanted to conduct their own bingo games.

It would not be long before many different social groups began to see that the popularity and ease of set up needed for bingo made it a truly ideal game to use for fund raising events. By offering games for a small entry fee, churches and many other civic groups could use bingo to raise money for their activities in the community. They offered games in a variety of places and then came the bingo halls which were buildings used just for bingo. Since television arrived and reduced the number of movie theaters and other similarly social events, bingo proved to be a great way for people to be able to socialize as they had in the decades prior to TV’s arrival. The bingo halls took off not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom. The games took on a very traditional feel in both countries. Bingo spread like wild fire and casinos in both nations began to carry the game, as well. The halls and casinos each attracted big crowds until now, especially in the UK, bingo is a massive commercial business that both brings in huge profits and pays out giant prizes. 

90 and 75 Ball Bingo

75 Ball Bingo
There are different forms of bingo that are played around the world, but the two major varieties that are prominent these days are 90 ball bingo and 75 ball bingo. In the United States and Canada, it is 75 ball bingo that is the most popular and this is the variety that will be seen playing in the casinos and other group games that are offered in the US. There is no direct reason that either of the styles of bingo, either online or offline, are normally played in a specific country other than perhaps the tradition of the nation itself as they do not vary widely in their style with the exception of the card layout. Since bingo, in all of its many forms, operates based on a card format that is the same for every player at the table, those who play 75 ball bingo will be using 5 x 5 cards and have a center square marked ‘free’ that they are allowed to check off at the beginning so that they can form a bingo a little bit quicker. The basics of the 75 ball system require a pattern to be fulfilled on the cards, but this pattern can vary widely, from straight lines to more complex patterns. Once the pattern has been filled in, bingo is considered to have been called. A variation of this form of bingo called Speed Bingo exists, but it is simply a faster paced version of this game. Many players are attracted to this particular form of bingo because they can play far more games and end up being rewarded for their quickness and focus.

90 Ball Bingo
The other variety of bingo that is popular in the United Kingdom, parts of South America, Europe and Australia is 90 ball bingo. A 9 x 3 card is used for this type of bingo and it is probably the most prominent form online at this time. This means there are three 3 rows and 9 columns, with each line containing a total of 5 numbers. That means that every card has 15 number in all. The columns are numbered in 10 number sequences ranging 1 through 90. This game is more complex than the 75 ball version and is normally played in a 3 stage format. During the first stage of the game, all the players will attempt to form one line by marking off a complete horizontal line of 5 numbers. The second phase involves checking off 2 different lines to achieve a bingo and the final stage of the game, called Full House, means that players will need to mark off all 15 of the numbers on their cards before they can actually call a bingo. The Full House prize is the largest in any stage of a game and is typically the biggest possible prize for any variation of 90 ball bingo so it tends to be what most players are going to be looking forward to. There are other variations of this style of bingo that are designed to give prizes to the main player, but in this style of bingo when players tie the prize is usually split up between them.