Gala Bingo Review

About Gala Bingo

Gala Bingo is one of the longest established sites in the UK. It first launched in 2006 on its own unique software, but during July 2012 it migrated to the award winning Virtue Fusion platform to support its ever increasing number of players.

No bingo site launches more new games in than Gala Bingo and they teamed up with some of the biggest names in TV to do it. You must try Coronation Street Bingo with its Golden Cobbles progressive jackpot feature and Emmerdale Bingo, new for 2016. Such games are exclusive to Gala Bingo and show the effort they are continually putting into research and development of what players want.

Gala claim to have over 100,000 winners every week, and that's no surprise really when you consider just how many different games the site has. There's pretty much something for every taste on the site, with some rooms filled with just a handful of players, while others will have hundreds. 

The site always goes the extra mile to keep itself fun, current and in the news. You will find Gala Bingo in the Guinness Book of World records not just once, but twice. The brand holds the records for the bingo game using the biggest bingo balls ever - which took place on the famous cobbles of Coronation Street itself and for the bingo game using the biggest bingo card ever.

Awards

WhichBingo Awards 2017 - Best Playtech Bingo Site - Winner 

Playtech/Virtue Fusion is the platform of choice for many of the top bingo sites on the net, but for 2017 Gala Bingo was voted by players as being the top performing site for them. It has multiple exclusive rooms and slot games that may count in its favour, plus loads of choice when it comes to games and promotions. Players clearly love what they see.

At the same awards Gala Bingo was also runner-up in three categories:

Best Mobile Bingo Experience 2017, Best Community and for the top award, Best Bingo Site.

WhichBingo Awards 2016

• Best Online Bingo Site
• Best Mobile Bingo Experience
• Best Playtech Bingo Site

In 2016 Gala Bingo achieved the treble, scooping three Awards, including the top accolade. 

The site also did well in 2015. That year Gala Bingo launched lots of new features and new games. All that hard work paid off as the site scooped not just one, but two WhichBingo Awards that year - Best Unique Bingo Game for Coconut Island 50 ball bingo game and  Best Mobile Bingo Experience.

New player offer

Gala Bingo now offers new players that join through WhichBingo a nice £30 bingo bonus for a spend on bingo tickets of just £5.* 

Deposit £5, play with £35, including your initial deposit, is the great offer giving new players £30 in bingo bonus to play with. Explore the site for the first time with this 600% bonus. 

£30 is the maximum bonus available from this offer, but you can deposit more if you wish - the bonus will be triggered by the £5 spend. 

Newbies Room - All new players get access to the Newbies Room for 7 days from registration. This is a free bingo room that will be open four hours a day - 12pm to 2pm and 6pm to 8pm - featuring £25 bingo bonus prize pots on every game and 12 games per hour. £8,400 in prizes on offer in the week for all new players.

Newbie+ room - 14 days access to the Newbie+ room. Open 8 hours a day, between 2pm – 6pm and 8pm to midnight and all games are just 30p. In the first hour enjoy the Newbie PARTY HOUR playing exclusive chat games. Everyone gets the same amount of tickets for their 30p, so all have the same chance of a win. Even better is that winnings are paid into your cash balance.

With the addition of this new room in May 2017 that makes a total of over £50,000 in prize money in your first 14 days of membership between the Newbie and Newbie+ bingo rooms. 

*18+. New online customers only. Min first deposit and spend £5 within 30 days on bingo tickets only. 4x wagering (bonus + winnings) apply. Bonus not withdrawable. Bonus valid for 7 days (bonus + winnings removed). Full T&Cs apply.

Games available

• 90 ball bingo
• 75 ball bingo
• 80 ball bingo
• 50 ball bingo
• Emmerdale Bingo
• Coronation Street Bingo
• The Chase Bingo
• Bingo Lotto (mobile only)
• Slots
• Casino
• Sports betting
• Lotto

Bingo games

Gala Bingo also features all of the standard Virtue Fusion bingo variants such as Deal or No Deal Bingo, Lucky Numbers Bingo, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Bingo and the acclaimed Rainbow Riches Bingo.

New to Gala Bingo in October 2016 - The Chase Bingo and The Chase slots and instant games. More TV tie-ins as The Chase and The Governess Anne Hegerty and her colleagues become the next big names to grace the bingo rooms.

Exclusive rooms - The Gala exclusive rooms are Allsorts, Bingo Lotto, Castle, City, Coconut Island, Coronation Street Bingo, Emmerdale Bingo, Mountain, Royal, Rush and Big Banker Bingo and The Chase Bingo.

Cash Cubes was removed from the site early in January 2017 with no indicatation as to whether it would return.

The Chase Bingo - Another Gala Bingo exclusive! Gala Bingo in conjunction with Playtech have secured the licence rights to develop and run bingo and slot games which are branded from the popular ITV show The Chase. The bingo is based around the 90 ball bingo game with an additional feature built in for winners.

Side Bets - This added feature in the 90 ball bingo rooms was added in August 2016 and enables players to bet on the final outcome of their bingo game as long as at least one ticket has been purchased.

Play in the exclusive Gala Bingo rooms and select the Side Bet option before ticket buying time runs out.

You will have four options to potentially bet on and you can play them all for each game if you wish. Choose from Odd/Even, Colour, Pair or Higher/Lower. Choose your stake and see the potential winnings should you be correct for any of them.

Each option relates to the final ball on which 'house' is called. Odd or even is obvious. With colour it depends on the colour ball of the last number called from the nine that are in use. Pair refers to double numbers like 11 or 55 etc. Higher/Lower refers to number higher or lower than 45.

Slots and casino games

There are a good selection of slots game in the bingo section of the site, but slots and casino games each have their own separate section to add even more choice.

Lots of different developers are featured and you will find Cleopatra, Montezuma, Ghostbuster's, Shaman's Dream, Siberian Storm and Crown of Egypt to name just a few from the slots section. Add to this numerous exclusive slot games like Cashmeleon and Cake Off and lots of branded Emmerdale and Coronation Street slots and scratchcards and you have an enviable collection and are spoiled for choice.

Under the casino section you will find some mouth watering jackpot slots like Jackpot Giant and the Age of the Gods series of games. You will also find the more recent Batman series of slots.

Withdrawal and wagering

• Minimum withdrawal: £5
• Processing time: 3 - 5 working days
• Bingo wagering requirement: 4x bonus 

Wagering requirements can differ depending on the games you choose to play. See website T&Cs for further details as requirements may have changed since the time of writing.

Photo id, proof of address and copy of card may be requested.

Help and support

• Live Chat            
• Tel: 0800 294 7294            
• Email: help@galabingo.com      

Happy Points loyalty scheme at Gala Bingo

This loyalty scheme is very popular with Gala Bingo players as it rewards them just for playing at the site as they normally would. With a slogan like 'let Happy Points put a smile on your face' the brand certainly has a lot to live up to.

You'll earn Happy Points every time you buy bingo tickets or play any slots or games that are under or featured in the specific 'Slots and Games' tab with cash funds. Every £1 spent is worth points - different amounts of points depending on whether you are spending on bingo, slots or games. The amount of points you have determines your loyalty level and the amount of points you receive per pound spent also increases with your loyalty level:

• Chilled  Entry level
• Cheery at 3,000
• Chirpy at 12,000
• Cheeky at  25,000
• Chipper  Invite Only
• Chuffed  Invite Only

It's amazing how quickly the points add up if you play regularly, especially bingo where you earn between 7.5 and 17.5 points per pound depending on your loyalty level. You can redeem points from 100 upwards and every 1,000 points is worth £1 to play with.

At Chipper level you start to feel the benefits of becoming a VIP; it's like being a pre-VIP if you like. You will get a designated manager to ensure you are enjoying the games and sometimes to make special offers.

Climb all the way up the loyalty ladder and become a Chuffed VIP and enjoy all the amazing benefits, including exclusive promotions, extra-special prizes, exclusive bingo three nights a week in a private room, exclusive bonuses and weekly deposit rewards plus double loyalty points on all your play every Saturday, plus much more.

Move through all the VIP levels from Bronze to Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond and you will get special invites to events that will include celebrity meet and greets, VIP events and the legendary Gala Bingo VIP parties.

Social media

Facebook: Gala Bingo has a very active community on Facebook with over 149,000 likes. This is their main social media channel, with regular posts including behind the scenes photos, TV ads, latest promotions, competitions and giveaway. Plus it is an easy way to message the site should you need to get in touch.  

Twitter: Gala Bingo is also very active on twitter, with over 20,000 followers. Be sure to follow them for all the latest Gala news and promotions.

Instagram: Gala Bingo's Instagram page has over 1,000 followers. They share lots of funny pictures but occasionally you do see some behind the scenes images at Gala clubs and other real-world events.

YouTube: Gala has been on YouTube for several years, so there are loads of videos there including all their TV adverts, behind the scenes at Gala TV studios and also real players singing along to the Galalala advert! Subscribe if you like this sort of thing.

• Gala Bingo on Facebook
• Gala Bingo on Twitter
• Gala Bingo on Instagram
• Gala Bingo on YouTube

Gala Bingo on mobile and tablet

GalaBingo.com bingo and games can be accessed on most smart phones. Download the new WhichBingo Award winning bingo app and play the same bingo games as those online players to win the same huge jackpots and prizes.

Gala Bingo has responded to the technical and social challenge of mobile gaming by developing exciting state of the art mobile and tablet offerings. You can sign in using the same login details as regular online accounts with the option to buy a ticket for any of the big games and play either online or on mobile.

State of the art functionality such as horizontal game scrolling for quick and easy browsing and easy to access account info are features few of Gala’s competitors can boast. There’s also a special ‘game finder’ filter which instantly locates recently played games, as well as an ‘auto-complete’ search box which knows which games you’re looking for even as you type.

There are easily redeemable bonus and loyalty point options, with a fully integrated Chat function that lets you chat with friends as you play and 24/7 Live Chat functionality using a bespoke mobile chat client. There’s also access to a full suite of responsible gambling tools and self help information.

Add to all this 150+ great games and slots (including Live Roulette and Live Blackjack), plus exclusive Coronation Street games such as Corrie Bouncy Balls and Cobble Dash. Gala Bingo believes that that the sheer range of games and functionality of its mobile offer makes it by some way the most exciting mobile bingo product in the market.

You can access Gala Bingo via any mobile device on the relevant mobile browser. The games are fully optimised for mobile play.

The layout style of the mobile version of the site is similar to the desktop version, it’s simple and easy to understand. The menu is located at the top left hand side of the screen and contains all of Gala Bingo’s sections, such as, bingo, slots, promotions and many more. The home screen also has game categories to help you access them quickly, which makes gala Bingo standout further as a great place to experience online bingo.

Gala Bingo’s mobile version has all the same games as the desktop version, such as The Chase Bingo, Emmerdale Bingo and Rainbow Riches Bingo. The games are fully optimised for mobile play.

Overall Gala Bingo is a fantastic experience on mobile, it’s visually great and easy to navigate. Whether you are a experienced on bingo player or new, you will thoroughly enjoy playing Gala Bingo on mobile.

iOS App Store - There is a Gala iOS app to download. It’s layout and experience is identical to its mobile browser version. See our ‘Access vis mobile section’ for full details.

Google Play - Gala Bingo was among the first operators to get an android app into the Google Play Store when they made it possible for pay to play gaming sites to get in. Luckily the app is laid out very much like the standard mobile browser version of the site, but you will notice it is much quicker to move around and load.

Android - Gala Bingo provides an alternative way of download an app to your android phone. Simply go to galabingo.com/mobile-apps on your mobile and follow the instructions they provide. Be aware you will have remove particular security settings on your phone to allow the app to download correctly onto your phone.