Is online bingo fixed? It can seem like online bingo is fixed or rigged when you see the same player winning game after game, but the truth is that online bingo games are completely fair at the best bingo sites in the UK.
The UK Gambling Commission is one of the leading regulators of gambling globally. They have implemented many initiatives that ensure gambling is safe, enjoyable and fair for UK players.
I have played online bingo at many of the websites featured here at Bingo Sites Guru. I have experienced the highs of big payouts and lows of near misses to the same player. So, I created this guide to help you know what you are signing up for.
Most guides about the fairness of online bingo are written by the bingo sites that offer the games. So I set out to fix that with an unbiased and comprehensive review.
Here is the guide:
How Does Online Bingo Work?
How To Play And Win Online Bingo Games
– How Are Online Bingo Balls Picked?
How To Win At Online Bingo
– Play When There Are Less Other Players
– Buy More Bingo Tickets
– Pre-Buy Your Tickets In Advance Of The Game
What Are The Chances Of Winning Online Bingo?
What Is The UK Gambling Commission?
– Licence
– Games Testing
Why Do The Same Players Keep Winning?
How To Find A Safe Bingo Site
– UK Gambling Commission Licence
– Awards Won
– Chat Moderators
– Security
– Funds Protection
– Customer Support
Always read the terms and conditions of a bingo site before playing.
Keep reading to find out everything about whether online bingo is fixed.
How Does Online Bingo Work?
Online bingo is played the same way as land-based bingo – by crossing off the numbers on your tickets as they are called out.
To win a game of online bingo, you need to cross off all your numbers before anyone else.
How To Play And Win Online Bingo Games
Before jumping in and playing, you need to understand the basics.
Bingo sites have a variety of great bingo games and rooms with fun themes, added jackpots and real money prizes.
To play, you need to choose a bingo site, pick a bingo room, buy your tickets and then say hello to the chat hosts – that last one is optional 🙂
Depending on your bingo room, bingo tickets can cost as little as 1p.
You must buy tickets before every online bingo game to participate.
Each ticket you buy has a grid of numbers on it.
Once the game begins, numbers will be called out and automatically crossed off or ‘daubed’ on your tickets.
The aim of bingo is to cross out all of the numbers on one of your tickets.
In some kinds of bingo, you can get line wins where crossing out one or two complete lines on your ticket means you’ll get a prize.
There are also pattern wins, where a pattern or shape is declared at the start of the game, and if you complete the shape, you’ll win a prize!
There are a few different types of bingo. Each game is played with a different number of balls and uses a different type of ticket.
In 90 ball bingo (the traditional British bingo game), you get prizes for marking off 1 line, 2 lines and a full house when all the numbers on your ticket have been called.
There’s also 80 ball bingo – the newest kind of bingo invented for online play – and 75 ball bingo, a faster variant that is most popular in the USA!
How Are Online Bingo Balls Picked?
In land-based bingo halls, you are confident that the numbers being called are random because you can see a person in front of you (or on a screen) physically drawing each ball.
However, everything is digital in online bingo, so online bingo sites use a Random Number Generator (RNG) to select the numbers instead.
An RNG is a computer-controlled programme designed to make each selection come out in a completely unpredictable way.
Suppose the bingo site you are playing at is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (and you should make sure that it is before joining). In that case, its RNG is independently tested by regulatory bodies and meets the required technical standards. [1] [2]
Therefore, you can be sure that you are playing a fair game and that the bingo balls aren’t fixed against you. No game results are predetermined.
How To Win At Online Bingo Sites
Although the online bingo game results are random and winning is primarily down to luck, there are some strategies you can use to increase your chances of winning.
Play When There Are Fewer Other Players
The day and time you choose to play bingo may depend on when you have free time, but if you have flexibility, you could decide to avoid busier times such as evenings and weekends.
More people competing for the same payout means less of a chance to win, but the number of players doesn’t always make a difference to the jackpot size (look for fixed or minimum prize guaranteed games).
If you can play at quieter times, such as the early hours of weekday mornings, you could increase your chances of winning.
Buy More Bingo Tickets
If you have more bingo tickets, you have more chances of winning.
Make sure you budget how much you want to spend on tickets and then plan how many tickets you will buy for each game.
Pre-Buy Your Tickets In Advance Of The Game
Some bingo game tickets can be bought before the games play out.
A bingo player can use the pre-buy option to purchase tickets for games scheduled to play at days and times when the player is not in the room.
What Are The Chances Of Winning Online Bingo?
Each bingo ticket bought receives a random set of numbers, and the chances of winning for each ticket are equal.
Here’s the maths bit… 🙂
In 90-ball bingo, when the first ball is drawn, there is a 1 in 90 chance of any particular number being called.
With the second ball, the chance is 1 in 89. With the third, it is 1 in 88.
If there are 100 players in a bingo game and you all buy one ticket, your chances of winning are 1 in 100.
However, if you purchase eleven bingo cards, your odds of winning increase favourably to 1 in 10.
You can see how many tickets have been bought for a game at some online bingo sites. You can precisely use this information to determine your chances of winning that game of bingo.
When others purchase only a few cards, you don’t need as many to improve your chances.
For more popular games, however, where lots of tickets have been bought, you may buy more tickets to have a good chance of winning.
What Is The UK Gambling Commission?
The UK Gambling Commission regulate most types of gambling in Great Britain, including online bingo in the UK. [3]
They regulate arcades, betting, bingo, casinos, gaming machine providers, gambling software providers, lottery operators, external lottery managers and remote gambling (online and by phone) that use British-based equipment. [4]
The Commission’s stated aims are “to keep crime out of gambling, to ensure that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and to protect children and vulnerable people”.
Licence
The UK Gambling Commission issues licences to gambling operators, can levy fines and revoke licences and is tasked with investigating and prosecuting illegal gambling.
For online bingo, the Commission issues licences to sites that wish to advertise to players in Great Britain, even if they are based outside the country.
Games Testing
Games that are available on Commission-regulated UK bingo sites must meet games testing standards when they are launched and then on an annual ongoing basis. [5]
Why Do The Same Players Keep Winning?
A very common frustration and source of concern in bingo chat rooms are that the same people seem to win all the time.
But now that we know how online bingo works, how to win and what the UK Gambling Commission do – we know that online bingo is fair and can’t be fixed at regulated bingo websites.
Frequently winning players are either being very lucky, buying more tickets than other players, or a bit of both 🙂
How To Find A Safe Online Bingo Site
Are you wondering what to look for before joining a bingo site? Finding the most trusted bingo sites with so many to choose from can be difficult.
Here are what to look for when selecting a safe bingo site:
UK Gambling Commission Licence
The most important thing to check is that the Commission regulates and licences the bingo site. You can check if a bingo site is licenced by looking for the UK Gambling Commission logo and link at the bottom of every page on the website.
The link must be clickable and take you directly to the licence status on the official Gambling Commission website.
Awards Won
Awards won by a bingo site are something you could consider a sign of a trusted bingo site. These are displayed on the site’s footer or the About Us section.
Chat Moderators
You don’t even need tickets for the bingo games to enjoy bingo chat.
Bingo chat is like a forum where all the members of the bingo site can message each other.
The best bingo sites employ Chat Hosts as moderators to keep you safe and create a friendly, fun and sociable environment.
Security
Most bingo sites use SSL encryption, a technology that protects your personal and financial information from being accessed by a third party when it is being sent over the internet.
Online banks use it to give you peace of mind that no one can steal your information.
Funds Protection
What would happen to the money in players’ accounts if the online bingo site was declared bankrupt?
If playing at unregulated sites, there is no protection for your money if this happens.
If playing at UK-regulated bingo sites, there are conditions that the site must show players so they know how safe their money is if a bankruptcy of the website owner was to happen. [6]
Customer Support
When playing online bingo, you might need to contact customer support.
Safe bingo sites will have a customer support team, and the best sites offer 24/7 service via telephone, live chat and email.
Is Online Bingo Fixed? And What To Do Next
Now we can answer ‘Is Online Bingo Fixed?’ knowing that online bingo can not be fixed or rigged at UK Gambling Commission-regulated websites, such as £5 deposit bingo sites.
We can pick a safe bingo site, make responsible decisions about the bingo tickets we buy, and improve our chances of winning!
Congratulations on learning this piece of bingo information and becoming closer to online bingo nirvana! Please read our other bingo guides and continue to learn from your master bingo teachers, the Bingo Sites Guru team 🧘🏽♀️
