Free Bingo

From the end of season closeout sale to the complimentary bread basket at that upmarket restaurant, freebies and discounts are everyone’s favourite when buying anything. This holds true for the thousands of dedicated bingo fans that logon every day to buy their daily dose of online bingo entertainment. And is this great love of the free lunch that has made free bingo one of the online bingo industries most consistently successful site features. For the dedicated bingo bargain hunter these features allow for hours of enjoyment on the house and can, at times, prove to be very lucrative as many sites offer free play options that feature impressive prizes. The trick to playing free bingo though is to know where to find the best free play features and how to maximise these to gain the most benefit.

Not all online bingo sites offer the same number or nature of free play features and, as is the norm with most commercial enterprises, some sites just beat the pants off others when it comes to free bingo. To start equipping yourself for a foray into the free play forest you first need to understand that many of the bingo site options that equate to free play do not have 6′ high neon signage announcing their presence. For example, the welcome bonus that has become a de facto industry standard effectively translates into free play. So do any deposit match bonuses offered by the site. These bonuses are seldom advertised as free play although that is what the new member gets at the end of the day. Many sites feature loyalty programs that reward members for their dedication to the site with various incentives. These typically present themselves as bonus or loyalty points which are normally redeemed for play or cash.

Several sites offer dedicated free play rooms that feature great cash prizes where loyalty program members may play. These rooms will usually also allow play from non-program members but the play is likely to be restricted to a certain number of cards and the prizes may be smaller. Promotions are also an excellent source of free play. The huge popularity of free play in general makes it an obvious choice as a prize or incentive for site administrators and many site promotions feature at least one or two free play prizes. This is a very good reason to keep a firm finger on the pulse of your site or sites promotions schedule so that these particular promotions are not missed. Taking the time to check out every game or promotions features, terms and conditions does no harm either as free play can often be found buried deep in the fine print. Offers such as “buy five tickets and we’ll give you two free” equate to free play and are grist for the mill for the committed bingo bargain hunter. Once you get a feel for the game you will be able to sniff out free play options like a seasoned truffle pig and will be able to supplement your pay play to large degree with these little gems. So get hunting and good luck!

Most sites feature at least one or two dedicated free bingo rooms or games that are reserved exclusively for this purpose. These games are a great way to play for free and often have fairly substantial prizes on offer. There are usually also conditions that restrict play in these instances such as a limited number of tickets allowed per player or admission restricted to funded players. Again these will be mentioned in the game or room descriptions. No deposit bingo is solid proof that there is such a thing as a free lunch sometimes and not only that but they are regular fare on the menus of most online bingo sites. And much like finding a favourite restaurant takes some searching it may take time to shop around to find the best no deposit bingo options. The effort will be well worth it though and may even mean you get a free breakfast and dinner too!

The no deposit bingo bonus is a brilliant innovation which allows an online bingo sites to offer incentives to members for registering at their site; for ongoing play and for participation in a variety of fun activities. For example loyalty bonuses or Bingo Points may be exchanged for cash equivalents, not to cash out, but to buy into games which essentially means they get free bingo! The first deposit bingo bonus is the honey which catches the flies, this is also often referred to as a “sticky bonus” and there is a very good reason for using this euphemism. It is this bonus which can tie you into a site with very large rollover or wagering requirement, if it is taken advantage of to its fullest. You may have seen examples of these bonuses advertised and they may be structured like Tombola Bingo for example, which is 100%, but limited for all new members to a maximum amount of £25. Then you might have seen the massive deposit bonus at Think Bingo which is 400% up to a maximum amount of £400. Which one do you think is the better bonus? It would be natural for us all to agree that the bonus at Think Bingo is the best because it is the biggest, but in this case, like many other cases “biggest” is not always best!

Why is this? Essentially the bingo site is giving you something for nothing; in the example of Tombola Bingo this is not a huge investment, so they don’t have a lot to lose. You deposit £10, they give you £10, or you deposit more up to a maximum of £25 and they give you the same. Hundreds of pounds of cash flow are not tied up in bingo bonus funds, so the prizes are bigger and it is much faster as well as easier for member to use up their bonus funds, meet wagering requirements and make the all-important withdrawal of winnings. In the instance of Think Bingo, the site is tying up hundreds of pounds in bonus funds and the player has to meet massive wagering requirements to clear these funds or fear losing them, should they want or need to make a withdrawal. They are effectively “stuck” at this site until all requirements have been met and this is the reason for calling a bonus such as this a “sticky” bingo bonus.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the way Think Bingo conducts their business; the most disputes at bingo sites arise over the way bonus funds are connected to rollover or wagering requirements and this is because members do not read or understand the terms and conditions correctly. With the type of bingo bonus Tombola bingo has on offer, they have pre-empted any disputes and effectively managed their own, and their client cash flow far more efficiently. This allows for bigger prizes, less waiting time for withdrawals and no bonus disputes. A happy combination of pre-emptive problem solving harmony between operator and customer! On the whole, the better branded bingo sites with more stable financial backing offer, much smaller bonuses and still manage to create a win-win situation. You will see this with Bet 365 Bingo for example and they give all new members the same bonus; deposit £5 and receive £25, no more, no less. William Hill Bingo does this, Ladbrokes also does and even Mecca Bingo does, to a degree. They offer a 100% bingo bonus up to a maximum amount of £50. It is when this amount starts getting bent out of shape and becoming hundreds of pounds that problems often arise.