How the WhichBingo Awards Work

The WhichBingo Awards are the UK’s only player-voted bingo and casino awards. Since 2014, real players have been choosing the brands they trust and love most. In 2025 alone, 265,000 votes were cast, making it one of the largest player-driven award programmes in the UK gambling industry. Backed by over 520 brand reviews, 30,000+ player opinions, and 26 years of community insight, the awards reflect what truly matters to the people who play.

Here’s how it all works:

Three ways to win

  1. Public Vote: where most of the action is. The public picks their favourites across categories like Best Bingo Site, Best Casino Site, Best Slots Site, Best App, and plenty more. Your vote, your call.
  2. Editors’ Choice: covers the categories where we think expert judgement matters more than popularity. Hall of Fame, Responsible Gambling, Best Newcomer, and Best Advertising Campaign are all decided by our editorial panel.
  3. Pre-Show: brand new for 2026. It’s all about the real-life side of things: Best Party Bingo Event, Best Bingo Caller, Best Bingo Personality, Best Bingo Food, and Best Casino Restaurant. Voted for by you, the public.

How We Choose the 2026 Nominees:

We’d love for every site to be nominated, but with hundreds of bingo and casino sites in the UK we had to select a limited number of nominees for public voting.

To compile the nominees, the team at WhichBingo deliberated and factored in the following considerations:

  • Site performance in 2025
  • WhichBingo score
  • WhichBingo user score
  • Reputation among players
  • Previous awards won
  • Range and value of promotions
  • App rating
  • Customer Service availability and quality
  • X-factor

Editors’ Choice Categories

The panel is led by Nic McBride, our Managing Editor, who has 15 years of gambling and editorial experience, has worked at one of the world’s largest betting companies, developed games played in over 50 countries, and holds certifications from Yale and Darden.

Alongside him is Esther Rubin, our Content Editor, who spent years on the other side of the screen as a bingo chat host, VIP manager, and promotions strategist before moving into editorial. Between them, they know how bingo and casino sites work from the inside out. They’re the people who review and rate sites on WhichBingo all year round, so their decisions are based on what they actually see across the market.

The wider panel includes members of the WhichBingo editorial and management team, plus Rob Mabbett, a responsible gambling expert and director at Better Change.

Here are some of the factors we consider for each category:

Hall of Fame

  • History of the Brand
  • Reputation among players
  • WhichBingo score
  • Quality

Responsible Gambling

  • Safer Gambling being prominent on site
  • Goes beyond the bare minimum
  • Wagering requirements
  • Transparency

Best Newcomer

  • Released within the past 2 years
  • Brand score
  • Reputation among players
  • Quality

Best Advertising

  • Humour
  • Entertainment
  • How memorable it is
  • Star power
  • X-factor

Pre-Show Categories

In 2026, for the first time ever, we added a Pre-Show section where we recognise the best in-person bingo and casino experiences, as well as the best bingo callers and personalities.

To compile the nominees available for public vote we factored in the following considerations:

Best Party Bingo Event

  • Held in the UK during the eligibility window
  • Open to paying members of the public
  • A unique theme
  • Focuses on entertainment through the game of bingo

Best Bingo Caller

  • Actively calling at a UK venue or UK-facing platform during the eligibility window
  • Recommended by a bingo operator
  • A notable presence in the bingo industry, either in their local community, online or at a national level
  • Minimum one year of experience

Best Bingo Personality

  • Publicly associated with bingo with a UK-facing audience
  • Active during the eligibility window across any platform or venue
  • Found to be upping the reach and awareness of bingo in a positive light to a mainstream or national audience

Best Bingo Food

  • Food served on-site at a UK bingo venue or bingo event
  • Available to the public during the eligibility window
  • Positive feedback and authentic reviews by members of the public

Best Casino Restaurant

  • Operates within or directly attached to a UK licensed casino
  • Open to the public during the eligibility window
  • Positive feedback and authentic reviews by members of the public

The criteria listed here are just some of the factors that we evaluate, not a complete list.