Mission146
Posted by Mission146
Mar 20, 2016

Information About Bingo Bonuses

In the first of these two Articles, we took a very general look at the world of Online Bingo and I related my experiences on one of the sites that I signed up for to see what the whole thing is all about.  In this Article, we are going to take a more specific look at various Online Bingo Promotions that are offered by different casinos and see what the difference is in different types of Promotions.  

For those of you interested in the cliff notes version, No Deposit Bonuses are definitely the way to go, particularly those in which the Bonus is itself cashable:

http://www.nodepositbingo.co.uk/

The Terms and Conditions

The first thing that a player wants to do when looking at an Online Bingo Site is to make sure that he/she has read and understands the Terms & Conditions associated with a particular Bingo Bonus.  While you may not be spending money if you take advantage of a No Deposit Bingo Bonus, you are certainly spending your time, so you want to make sure that you are actually going to get something in the event that you do win.

Unlike traditional casino games at other online casinos, (and that are also available on many Online Bingo sites) online Bingo is a player-banked game as opposed to a house-banked game which means that the money that is to be paid out has all come directly from the players and, much like in Poker, the Online Casino takes a rake of the total buy-in.  Fortunately, this enables Online Bingo Sites to offer generous No-Deposit Bonuses in order to compel new players to trying their product.  If you can find a No-Deposit Bonus with very friendly Terms & Conditions it is (percentage-wise) an undefined Advantage because you can win some amount of money while risking nothing.

One such Online Bingo Site I have found is Bingo Flash which is currently offering a $55 No-Deposit Bonus with only a 3x playthrough requirement on Bingo.  In other words, you only have to buy a total of $165 in Bingo Cards and, if you have won a sufficient amount of money, you will then be able to withdraw that money.  

One important thing to notice in the Terms & Conditions of Bingo Flash is that, while the playthrough requirement is only 3x the Bonus on Bingo, it is 30x the Bonus on Slots/Keno and playing other games shall result in forfeiture of the Bonus and any associated winnings.  Furthermore, you should ONLY use a Bonus of this nature to play Bingo anyway because, if you do play Slots or Keno, that 30x playthrough requirement now also applies to your Bingo play.  In terms of Expected Value when starting out with $55 in free money, I would suggest that your EV is going to be much better playing $165 in Bingo Cards than in playing $1,650 through on Slots or Keno.  

Finally, if you choose to take advantage of this particular Bonus, Bingo Flash has a Minimum AND Maximum withdrawal amount of $100 from the winnings of this No-Deposit Bonus.  Since you only need to playthrough $165 in Bingo Cards, your goal should be to win $265 less the amount of total cards purchased at that point.  There is no reason to go for a huge jackpot (that probably has many players participating) because you will not be able to cash it all if you win.  However, you will want to go for a win that is substantial enough that you only need to win once in order to finish with $100 or slightly more.  

Specific strategies will vary from site to site and may be investigated more fully in future Articles.

No Deposit Bonuses v. Free Trial Bonuses

This is actually a very simple distinction:  No Deposit Bonuses are Bonuses that will result in a player having an account credited with a predetermined amount of money that the player can then use in the Bingo Rooms in an attempt to win whatever the Maximum cash out amount is whilst completing the playthrough, in contrast, Free Trial Bonuses are effectively no different than, "Play for Free," features on Online Casino Sites in that it is just giving you, 'Play Money,' to use to try the site out and any winnings are null and void.

Free Trial Bonuses are okay if you are a casual player who is just wanting to dapple around, have fun and try different sites out.  For anyone out there who is primarily interested in playing with an advantage though, you're going to want to attack those No-Deposit Bonuses!

No Deposit Bonuses v. No Deposit Bonuses

As we learned from the previous Article, not all No Deposit Bonuses are even created the same.  At the site called Instant Bingo, they did give me a No Deposit Bonus, but then they said that I had to make a deposit PRIOR to playing in order to be able to cash out any associated winnings.  In other words, if I made a deposit, then I would get the, 'No Deposit,' Bonus along with whatever other Bonus they would give me on my deposit, but if not, then my, 'No Deposit Bonus,' would essentially be the same thing as a Free Trial Bonus.  I had no plans on making any kind of deposit when I hadn't even thoroughly researched the reputability of that site, so I didn't.

Cashable No Deposit Bonuses are a different, and much more desirable, thing altogether.  With these kind of No Deposit Bonuses, the Bonuses themselves are sometimes cashable after the Playthrough requirements are met, and most importantly, the winnings from the Bonuses are also cashable.  In some cases, you may have to make a small deposit after you have won in order to be allowed to withdraw your winnings from the Bonus, (this will be in the Terms & Conditions that should be available for you to read before signing up, in my opinion) but that only has an impact on you at all in the event that you have already won.  

In the case of Bingo Flash, the site states, "Customers need to have a deposit made within the last 60 days to make a withdrawal request," so in the case of the one I am looking at right now, if you did win the $100+, you would need to make a deposit in order to withdraw that money.  

For my part, I would seek out only the sites in which you can take a, 'No Deposit Bonus,' and have the winnings count as an actual cashable balance prior to making any Deposits.  Personally, I find it difficult to equate calling something a, "No Deposit Bonus," when you actually have to make a deposit before using it for it to do you any good.  That's not a No-Deposit Bonus, that's just a Free Trial Bonus in disguise as the, 'No-Deposit Bonus,' aspect simply becomes an additional Bonus upon making a...um...you know...deposit!

No-Deposit Bonus + Must Make a Deposit in Order to Win = What?

Therefore, I would suggest that a player should start with trying all of the true No-Deposit Bonuses first, preferably even ones in which the player need not make a Deposit in order to take out a Withdrawal.  However, there may or may not be ANY in which you can withdraw money without ever making any kind of a deposit, unfortunately, I've not explored the Terms & Conditions of every individual site yet.

Conclusion

Playing No Deposit Bonuses on Online Bingo sites can be a fun and potentially slightly lucrative endeavor for a player willing to check the different sites and understand the Terms & Conditions.  For those looking to Advantage Play this way, it is absolutely essential that you read the Terms & Conditions and speak to Customer Service (if clarification is needed) to make sure that winnings stemming from your No-Deposit Bonus are actually going to count for something if you do not make a deposit before playing.  

If you must make a deposit before playing, then the, 'No-Deposit Bonus,' is effectively just a Free Trial Bonus if you do not choose to make a deposit and an added Bonus on the Deposit if you do choose to make a Deposit.  Either way, in my view it is not, "What it says on the box."  I'm not saying such Bonuses are necessarily bad, they could still be advantageous, especially if the minimum deposit that you have to make is a very low amount, but I simply do not view those as true No-Deposit Bonuses.

I will say that I think a player can make a few bucks doing this, and should start off by doing things in this order:

1.)  Sites with a true No-Deposit Bonus in which No Deposit is required to Withdraw.  (Might not exist)
2.)  Sites with a true No-Deposit Bonus in which a player need not make a deposit until player knows if player has won.
3.)  Sites with a fake No-Deposit Bonus which really just acts as an additional deposit Bonus...if you think this is advantageous.
4.)  Free Trial Bonuses are essentially pointless, unless you really just love Bingo.

Also remember to look for subtle nuances in the Terms and Conditions like the one I found where Slots have a 30x playthrough and if you play Slots AT ALL the entire Bonus is subject to said 30x.  That would absolutely devastate the +EV of the No-Deposit Bonus which is to use the Bonus to play Bingo at that super low 3x playthrough requirement.  

I hope some of you guys decide to give some of these sites a try, I believe that I am going to continue to look for the best offers and try a few of those.  I will likely report my findings in a future Article.  Try to find the value out there, and most importantly, have fun!

I need friggin' B7 to hit, now!!! 

Comments

Mooseton
Mooseton Mar 24, 2016

I'd be pissed to high hell if I played with real money and lost to one of these free trial funny money that couldn't be cashed. Of course, there probably isn't a way to find that out though.

Mission146
Mission146 Mar 24, 2016

Mooseton,

On the LCB Bingo site, if it is a, "Free Trial," then it cannot be cashed in any instance. If it is a, "No Deposit Bonus," then it can either be cashed after you have won and made a deposit, or sometimes, you have to make a deposit before playing which effectively just makes it a Bonus on top of the Deposit.

I only plan to play the ones in which the, "No Deposit Bonus," can win money whether or not I make a deposit beforehand, and if so, I wouldn't make a deposit until after I had already won.

Mooseton
Mooseton Mar 25, 2016

From an AP perspective, I concur (that's how you should play them.) I was trying to comment how discouraging it would be from a recreational bingo players perspective to lose to someone who has no skin in the game. I believe I misspoke on my last comment. (Free trial funny money that couldn't be cashed) I meant losing to players in the #s 1, 2, & 3 in the conclusion of the article.

Mission146
Mission146 Mar 26, 2016

I understand, now, and you're absolutely right! I'd actually kind of thought about that in my first Article because, at first, I was thinking, "Oh, cool, I won," but then I reconsidered and thought...and everyone with actual money on the line didn't.

I'm trying to think of some kind of angle having to do with that. I'm not sure if the, "Funny Money," actually adds anything to the pool, though. If it did, however, there might be a way (collusion with other players) to give the Bingo a huge positive expectation by way of someone playing with cash while a bunch of Confederates played with, "Funny Money." I'm just not sure that the, "Funny Money," adds anything to the prize pool and one account is really not enough to determine that...at least, not at the sites I have visited.

The sites that I have visited do not seem to have the prize pool increase immediately after more cards are bought, it seems to add it to the prize pool either in larger chunks or all at the end. Therefore, with only one account, it is impossible to determine whether or not the, "Funny Money," gets added.

It would take a highly orchestrated effort to determine that, and even if that were so determined, the one person playing with actual money would have reduced likelihood of winning, especially if more Confederates bought in. Everyone would also be involved in the split, so even if what I suspect could theoretically happen actually could happen, it wouldn't be worth anyone's time. I also think it would be sniffed out when you have all the accounts playing together, except late at night (EST) because there is only one room open.

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