How To Make Your Bingo Budget Last Longer
Many of us have been in the position of there being more month than money left. One of the questions that we are asked regularly is “how do I set a budget for playing bingo online, and how do I stick to it?”
Your bingo budget can be set under the responsible gaming section of any site that you choose to play at and this could be either the amount you can deposit daily / weekly / monthly or how much you wager – the choice is yours. This will also help you stick to the budget.
Additionally, sticking to your bingo budget is achieved if you can make it last longer too so here are just a few suggestions for how to do that.
Do A Bit Of Bingo Window Shopping
With so many different bingo sites to choose from, it’s about finding a brand that offers players the three key ingredients to making your bingo budget last longer. Our bingo review section is great for helping you choose a suitable site as we highlight the features offered by each brand we have reviewed.
The key ingredients to stretch your bingo budget are:
- Free bingo games
- Chat games
- Penny bingo
Whilst these are the three main ingredients for lengthening the time your bingo budget lasts, there are others too:
- Bingo bonuses
- Guaranteed jackpots
- Rooms with lower player numbers
- Loyalty Programs
It doesn’t matter what your budget is, all of the following options will assist you in making it go further.
Free Bingo Games
There are very few bingo sites online today that don’t offer some form of free bingo games to depositing players. Where once this was restricted to being an enticement to register with a brand as their welcome bonus, free games have become part and parcel of the bingo landscape.
Whilst the freebies may not offer the biggest of jackpots, they don’t cost anything and any winnings can be used to buy tickets to games that offer healthier prize pots.
With that said, some sites offer free bingo games with hundreds in the kitty. However, with the hundreds in the prize pot comes the hundreds of players all hoping to win a share. This means your chances of being a winner are significantly reduced on the free games with big value prize pots.
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New players only. 18+. Deposit £10 to receive access to ‘On The House’ bingo room for 30 days, where you can participate in up to 2,160 games of free bingo. Games run every 10 minutes 12pm – 12am. Claim 6 tickets per game • 20 Free Spins credited upon your first £10 deposit on Big Bass Splash slot only, valued at 10p per spin. Free Spins must be used within 48 hours of qualifying. Winnings are uncapped and paid as cash with no wagering requirements •18+ Full T&Cs apply. Please play responsibly. Begambleaware.org #AD
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Chat Games
Some bingo sites do this better than others but the best way to find if a brand has this as an option for earning points or bonuses is by visiting their promotional page. As an example, Tombola who do chat games regularly in their rooms, have information about their chat game prizes under the Promotional Rules page on their site.
With this brand, chat quizzes are hosted throughout the day and you can win a maximum of £2 in bingo bonuses each and every day. Tombola chat games tend to be quizzes and as we all know, someone will always be faster than you with the answer, so this brand alternate who wins. It might be the first correct answer on one question, but the fifth on the next.
Just pop into the chat room of the site you have chosen to play at and ask a host if they offer chat games if you are unsure.
Some brands even host bingo chat tournaments and these will last about an hour and will offer large prize funds. However, you are often required to buy a certain number of tickets in each game to participate and if your bingo budget is dwindling, this may not be the wisest way to spend your money.
*Please note that it may be that any bonuses that are won playing chat games are subject to wagering requirements. Check the Terms and Conditions at the site to clarify.
Penny Bingo Games
This option speaks for itself. When working within any budget that you want to last as long as possible, you aim for the cheapest option. If you were shopping on a limited budget, you wouldn’t opt to go to Waitrose or Marks and Spencer’s. Instead, you’d be visiting Aldi or Lidl.
The same applies to your bingo budget. It’s very much a case of look after the pennies; the pounds will take care of themselves. Look out for the penny bingo games!
One of the most infuriating things about working with a bingo budget is when someone has one that is bigger than yours and therefore will max out. When playing the low-cost bingo games, it’s often the case that you are playing against those with a similar budget to your own and even if you do max out on tickets, it’s not going to break the bank.
The high rollers will generally be frequenting the big money games so it’s more of a level playing field in the penny bingo rooms.
Bingo Bonuses
If you’ve agreed to receive marketing mail from any bingo site that you are registered with, then you are highly likely to receive the occasional bingo bonus offer.
Often these come in the form of a deposit bonus; for example, deposit £10 and get a 100% bonus. Your bingo budget will be doubled but you do have to consider that the majority of bonuses that are awarded by online bingo sites do carry wagering requirements.
This means that whilst you can double up your budget, you will have to wager more to be in a position to withdraw any winnings. However, we are talking about stretching your bingo budget to have more fun and these types of bonuses do just that.
Guaranteed Jackpots/Fixed Games With Lower Ticket Prices
Guaranteed jackpots or fixed prize games are something that you’ll find at nearly all online bingo sites. Look out for the ones whose tickets cost less than £1 because these are often the games with the lowest player numbers.
The reason for this is that the high rollers tend to opt or the games with tickets that are priced higher because the prize pot is larger. This often sees the lower value prize games overlooked.
Rooms With Lower Player Numbers
The lower the number of players in the room, the fewer the number of people buying tickets and the better the odds of you winning. Even though small player numbers mean a lower pot prize (unless the game is a guaranteed or fixed jackpot), a win is a win and all help to make the bingo budget last longer!
Loyalty Programs
If you’ve ever heard the saying ‘Loyalty Pays’ then it is worth noting that it is certainly true at the majority of online bingo sites. An example of this is found on all of the 888 / Dragonfish brands were loyalty points are earned for each bingo ticket purchased.
Loyalty points are converted to bonus funds, which can then be used to buy more bingo tickets. Using 888Ladies as an example, every 10p that you spend on bingo cards will earn you 1 loyalty point. For every 1,000 points that you earn you can convert them to £1 in bingo bonus funds.
The loyalty offers available vary depending on the brand and the software package that they use.
As with any bonus funds, there may be wagering requirements attached so it is always worth checking the Terms and Conditions of any loyalty offer.
The important thing is to ensure you know your budget and stick to it and use those safe play tools to ensure your online bingo hobby remains fun and not a financial strain.
Author And Managing Editor
Anita is well-known and respected within the online bingo industry, she loves all things bingo and slots and has been involved with online bingo and gambling sites since the late 1990’s. She has been the full-time writer and Editor of WhichBingo for much of that time and is respected by operators and players alike for her no-nonsense judgments and opinions. Anita has seen the highs and lows of the industry she loves, has seen it grow and develop and contract again into what it is today. She has worked with the biggest names in the industry and has a reputation for being fair and to the point in her writing.
