Finding a bingo site that you can trust and know is safe is easy when you follow the guide below. The most important thing to look for is a UK Gambling Commission licence.
Being regulated by the UK Gambling Commission ensures that the bingo sites meet the required high standards for UK players.
I have played online bingo at all of the websites featured here at Bingo Sites Guru. I have experienced the highs of winning and being paid huge payouts and lows of joining unsafe sites. So, I created this guide to help you know what you are signing up for.
When searching for guides about trusted bingo sites, most of what I found were just lists of what they claimed were the “best bingo websites”. So I set out to fix that with an unbiased and comprehensive review.
Here is the guide:
Does It Have UK Gambling Commission Licensing?
How Are Funds Protected?
– Basic Protection
– Medium Protection
– High Protection
How Good Is Their Customer Service?
– Opening Hours
– Methods Of Contact
How Do Trusted Bingo Sites Handle Complaints?
What Responsible Gambling Tools Are Offered?
– Deposit Limits
– Self Exclusion
– Take a Break
– Reality Checks
– Gamstop
– Other Responsible Gambling Features To Look For
— Loss Limits
— Betting & Gaming Council
What Is Their Brand Reputation?
Do They Have Effective Data Security?
Is The Bingo Site Fair?
Always read the terms and conditions of a bingo site before playing.
Keep reading to learn everything about trusted and safe bingo sites for UK online players.
Does It Have UK Gambling Commission Licensing?
An essential requirement when seeking a trustworthy online bingo website is that they’re licensed by the official UK regulator, the UK Gambling Commission. [1]
To check if a UK bingo site is licensed, you simply need to scroll to the bottom of any page of their website and find the text that looks like this:
“[BINGO WEBSITE OWNER] is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission under licence number XXXXX for UK players.”
The license number at regulated sites is clickable, and the click takes you through to the page on the Gambling Commission’s website that shows the license status of the bingo brand.
The UK Gambling Commission is an active regulator and continuously improves standards for UK players, so any site with a license is an excellent indicator that you can trust it. [2]
How Are Funds Protected?
Online bingo sites licensed by the UK Gambling Commission must keep customer balances in a separate bank account to their business operations money. [3]
Separate bank accounts protect players as the licensed bingo site can not use players’ money for their day-to-day operations, like paying staff or advertising their site.
If a bingo site was to experience financial difficulties, there are three different levels of protection for players’ funds, and the bingo site must make this information available.
Basic Protection
Previously known as or called basic protection, this is now referred to as no protection.
Any money in your player account would be classed as part of the bingo site’s assets if it went bust, and you would likely lose your money.
An example of the wording on their deposit page and terms & conditions would be something like:
“These funds are not protected in the event of insolvency.”
Medium Protection
The bingo site has made arrangements to protect player balances if they go bust, for example, by having insurance.
However, there is no guarantee that players will get their money back.
An example of the wording on their deposit page and terms & conditions would be something like:
“Customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts; and arrangements have been made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency. This meets the Gambling Commission’s requirements for the segregation of customer funds at the level: medium protection.”
High Protection
Player balances are held in a separate account and are legally distinct from the business.
The money in your account is controlled by an independent trustee and is also checked by an external auditor.
This is the highest level of protection and provides players with the best chance of getting their money back if the bingo site goes bust.
An example of the wording on their deposit page and terms & conditions would be something like:
“Customer funds are held in a formal trust account which is legally and in practice separate from the affairs of the company; and is verified by and subject to controls by an independent trustee or external auditor. This arrangement meets the Gambling Commission’s requirements for the protection of customer funds at the level: high.”
How Good Is Their Customer Service?
At any online bingo website, things can happen, and you may need support from the Customer Service team.
Opening Hours
Trusted bingo sites will offer a greater range of hours to contact customer service teams. Look for 24/7 support.
Methods Of Contact
You should also check the different ways that the bingo site customer service teams can be contacted. For example, look for live chat, email, phone and, more recently – messenger services (Facebook and WhatsApp).
A Bingo Sites Guru tip is to test some contact with the support teams before encountering a problem, so you know how fast they are to respond and take action to resolve your query.
How Do Trusted Bingo Sites Handle Complaints?
When a bingo site customer service team cannot resolve your query to your satisfaction, they have procedures for complaint escalation.
Trusted and safe bingo sites use reputable and approved Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers.[4]
ADR’s are third party organisations that provide dispute resolution services between bingo websites and their customers. eCOGRA and IBAS are amongst the leading ADR organisations.
Look in the footer of the bingo site for the logo of the ADR that they use.
What Responsible Gambling Tools Are Offered?
Safe and trusted bingo sites must make specific responsible gambling tools available to players as part of their UK Gambling Commission licensing requirements. [5]
Deposit Limits
Set limits on the amount you can deposit into your account in daily, weekly and monthly time periods.
Self Exclusion
Restricts yourself from accessing any account held with that licensee for six months or more.
Take a Break
A less severe account restriction than self-exclusion, lasting for between one day and six weeks.
Reality Checks
Reminders that inform you how long you have been playing.
GamStop
GamStop is the UK national online self-exclusion service. By registering yourself with this, you will not be able to play at any UK Gambling Commission-licensed online gambling site, not just bingo. [6]
Other Responsible Gambling Features To Look For
In addition to the mandatory responsible gambling tools, the best bingo sites offer additional protection for players.
Loss Limits
Player specifies the maximum amount they can lose in a day, week or month.
Betting & Gaming Council
Established in 2019, the Betting & Gaming Council is an organisation that represents over 90% of gambling operators. [7]
Amongst many safer gambling initiatives, Betting & Gaming Council members voluntarily sign up for an additional code of conduct that goes above and beyond the UK Gambling Commission requirements. [8]
What Is Their Brand Reputation?
A good reputation takes a long time (and lots of money) to build and can be ruined if found to be behaving in an untrustworthy manner.
Reputation, therefore, is a helpful indicator for a bingo player when identifying safe sites to play at.
A Bingo Sites Guru tip is to check the social media profiles of the bingo sites, look at the number of followers they have and read a few of the follower comments.
Do They Have Effective Data Security?
With General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), online data security is now less of a worry for players at trustworthy sites. [9]
However, your personal and financial data is less secure at sites that are not licensed, not on Gamstop and are based outside of Europe.
Is The Bingo Site Fair?
Here are some things to check for the fairness of the bingo site:
Do they have Wagering Requirements on bonuses?
Do they transparently show players their Game RTP (payout rates)?
Is your Account History clear and easy to see how much you have spent?
What to do next?
Now we can answer ‘what are trusted bingo sites?’ and ‘are online bingo sites safe?’ knowing that we can be confident that the website is safe if the UK Gambling Commission licenses the owner.
We are sure that we can trust the site as the UK Gambling Commission maintains high standards, and the bingo site would not be able to keep its licence if it could not meet the requirements!
We also know to check for other things that show we can trust the site, including; additional responsible gambling tools and information offered, availability of customer support, which ADR they use, and their social media followers.
By reading this article, congratulations on becoming one step 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 🧘🏽♀️
