Online Bingo
Online bingo is the game of bingo (US|UK) played on the Internet. Online bingo is a multi billion dollar business. Unlike balls used in regular bingo halls, online bingo sites use a random number generator. Online bingo halls usually offer online casino games as well as the bingo, but the actual bingo play works almost exactly like playing online poker or online casino games, with everything being virtual.
One notable feature of online bingo is the chat functionality. Successful online bingo sites foster a sense of community and interaction between players.
Getting started
Some operators require players to download free software to play their games. Other operators use Java or Flash based games that allow you to play immediately online after registering a player account.
To win the largest prizes, users must fund an account, but free bingo games are also available offering players a way to win smaller amounts of money with no risk of gambling. Some online bingo sites offer no deposit bingo with sandbox play. This will allow the player to get the hang of the system without a cash investment, but no monetary value can be gained.
Most sites accept a standard range of e-wallet funding options, such as Neteller, Firepay, Citadel, and PrePaidATM. Sites often provide a number of incentives to deposit, including matching bonuses where the site will reward depositing players by matching a percentage of their deposit.
Recently, the USA government has passed laws that may limit banks ability to process credit cards for US citizens. The laws will soon be detailed and may put a crimp in the ease by which US citizens have been able to play their online bingo pastime in the past.
How to play
Bingo is one of the easiest games to play and the online version is no different. Playing bingo online, players can make use of optional features which make playing the game easier, such as auto-daub. Auto-daub automatically marks off the numbers on cards as they are called, so players don’t have to. Most software providers support other gaming features as “Best Card Sorting” and “Best Card Highlighting” where players cards are sorted and highlighted by closest to bingo. Some of these features are designed to free players to enjoy the communal pleasantries of the chat features.
There are also a great variety of games to play to suit just about every interested bingo player. Most of the top sites offer several bingo games. Some inexpensive game rooms appeal to the player who may want to play for just a 10 cents or 10 pence. Some bingo games only allow players to purchase the same amount of cards so you are not constantly competing against the “high rollers” out there who buy many cards for the same game.
Bingo networks
There are a number of sites that will have the same promotions, similar graphics, the same bingo rooms and the same CMs. This occurs because they are part of a bingo “network”. In simple terms, this means a number of different sites (or “front ends”) are playing with the same numbers for the same jackpot (i.e., the same back end).
Multiple sites act as doorways to a single game, leading to larger pools of players in chat rooms and more sizeable pots to win, in an arrangement known as White Label Gaming. While the bingo software is the same, the brand owners are responsible for the look and feel of the site, together with any promotions they wish to offer. This is an important feature of online bingo in that it is critical that any site have enough players to have a decent sized game. Hence, the bingo network that “shares” players.
