BINGO advice

Since someone wins at bingo every time -

Is there any advice on best way to play bingo?

Which games are good to buy more off? How many cards to buy?

It seems to me that you will do better if you go on a Morning when there is much less people - but I don't know how to figure out when that morning is.

Anyway, I would like to win at bingo finally.

Inclement weather affects turnout at first session bingo games. Rain, cold, high winds, can make people miss that first bus from the retirement home.

Special bingo events at one casino can draw a crowd away from others.

The famed Arizona Charlies on Decatur has a 3:00am game which often is poorly attended except by dealers going there on a lark to take money from 'the blueies".

I do not know if Ellis Island still has that ONE card free for their first Bingo game of the day deal or not. I forget the details of it even if they still do it. Its only ONE card and only for PAPER and DAUBER games; not electronic games.

Good Luck

You better start by following useful tips you can find online. Today, there are a lot of tutorial and tips so better apply them for every Bingo game you want to participate in. Let's be realistic in a sense that in Bingo there is no sure formula to win, however you can always increase your chance on winning by being alert and by being familiar with the game and numbers.

I could talk about this all day but I'll just say one important thing. Play when the Cashball Jackpot is LOW. Large jackpots will induce more competition. The important thing to consider is (total prize money)/(total competing cards). You want that ratio as high as possible.

Please Wizard, maybe not all day but talk some more!

Have you written about bingo somewhere already?

Nevermind - found it.

Quote: Wizard

I could talk about this all day but I'll just say one important thing. Play when the Cashball Jackpot is LOW. Large jackpots will induce more competition. The important thing to consider is (total prize money)/(total competing cards). You want that ratio as high as possible.

Great thing about Bingo, there MUST be a winner.

I agree with the above, large jackpots attracts crowds, lowering your chances of getting a Bingo. I stay away from large crowds and I rarely will validate my cards as I'm not interested and I'm not there to hit the progressive. However, there will be a point where certain progressive becomes favorable to play based on the adjusted qualifier which usually increases each week and is usually capped after a certain number. I do the opposite of 99% bingo players. I also stay from bad paying sessions. Meaning there are certain sessions that pays more than others. And you must know what cards to buy based on those sessions. It's similar to going to the track and betting the races, you have to know what and how to bet based on the odds to maximize your money, whether it's WIn, Place or Exacta, Quinella, etc. You should also purchase as many cards as possible using the machines. Back when I lived in Vegas, it was not uncommon for me to hit 2/3 $1000 coveralls at a low attendance session at Red Rock. But that money train ended when they placed a max on the number of coverall cards you could buy. I usually had over a 1000 cards in play. I no longer live in Vegas but I took advantage of the Bingo rooms while I was there. The Rivierra was great, and the Rampart Bingo room was a gold mine when they 1st opened with their low attendance. I've played up in Portland with some success where the Bingo payouts were surprisingly high combining with a low turnout.

No matter what advice I give, people just ignore them. They end up validating their cards, not maximizing their machines and attends bad sessions where the payouts are not favorable or there are just too many players. And you must automatically eliminate certain bingo rooms based on the limited amount of cards that you can buy. Which is ridiculous , why would a casino turn away money in a game that is heavily dependent on the sale of the cards in order to turn a profit.

There is a negative with the strategy that I just described, Even hitting 1 or 2 bingos may result in a losing session, but at least it will put you in a free roll situation for hitting the coverall. A session that offers a 3 chance coverall paying $1000 each is what I consider a good session and is the primary reason why I am there to play.

Thanks for the post, I'll try to reply in more detail later.

I haven't had any success finding low attendance sessions with $1000 coveralls. I've consistently seen minimum 100 players with 10k cards (approximately) in play for the final games. The previous bingo session may have only had 25 or 30 players, but when the coveralls are $1000, people come out of the woodwork.

If you recall, could you give an example of a typical buy-in at Red Rock? I'm looking at a recent brochure, and the coverall cards cost 83 cents each with quantity discount, but I think the strips are only 2-on. I wonder if possibly the coverall strips were previously 3-on.

And for what it's worth, I don't see any $1000 coveralls on the current schedule, except Friday and Saturday nights at 7 & 9, when they offer four per session. They seem to be emphasizing big cash ball jackpot promotions rather than coveralls. As I write, Red Rock has a nearly $60k cash ball at today's 1 pm session.

I haven't played Bingo in Vegas for five years so I don't know how much the sessions have changed. I stopped playing Bingo at all Stations property when they put a max on the number of coverall cards you could buy. I played at the Suncoast after that for the $1000 coveralls. I checked their website and they have a promo with 5 $1000 coveralls on the weekends. I've played in those, but by the 4th and 5th coverall, lots of winners, you're lucky to get a 3rd or quarter.

1. Check and see that the cash ball and any progressive games are VERY low at the session you are playing.
2. If your regular bingo cards are eligible for the coverall, and the coverall payout is the same for any cards, purchase the cheapest packs. I always purchased 20 packs (the max) and received 10 free packs. Do not validate, you are not there to play the casball and besides, it gets expensive. Don't play the progressive either, your not there to hit the progressive and besides, it's too low and is at a difficult qualifier. But buy the coverall cards if they are sold, max purhase.
3. Never play on Fri & Sat nights. Week nights are the best.
4. When I played, the Suncoast had a 3 $1000 coverall at 9'pm. May have changed since then.
5. Count how many players are in the room 10 minutes before it starts. I'm happy with anything less than 100 players once the game gets going.

I think I spent around $200 per session at the Suncoast. Does the Rampart still have Bingo? That place was great when they first opened. Remember, based on what the session pays dictates what kind of cards you purchase. Sometimes buying large rainbows can get you more cards than buying the regular packs. Remember, do not validate. Yes, I have hit the cash ball and did not validate. I'm not there to play the cash ball so I didn't care.

Just checked the website, the Suncoast has a 3 chance coverall paying $1000 each at 9 pm. This is the weekday session I regularly played. Since the session is regular pay, and if the rules hasn't changed, your regular bingo cards should be eligible for the coverall. Don't waste your money validating or purchasing higher value packs, the session is only regular pay. Most importantly your cheap blue packs pays the same as an expensive tan pack if you hit the coverall, assuming the rules hasn't changed, so stick with the cheapest cards and max out your machine. Sometimes, I would hire a shill, meaning that I had two machines. The deal was, he kept 50% of the regular bingos, and I got 100% of the coveralls of the machine that was assigned to him.

Besides the 3 chance coveralls that pays $1000, the only other session I would play would be the double/triple action. You get good value getting paid 2 & 3X on your bingos, only if the room is relatively empty, I would purchase the most expensive packs. Again, no validation.

The bad news is that Red Rock's 9 P..M. session has a very low cash ball, so it won't divert any players from the Suncoast over to RR.

Sorry about the late reply, I've been traveling.

I would guess Suncoast attendance may be higher now than you encountered in the past. I've played a few sessions this month, and it seemed busy. I haven't played the 9 o'clock, but I do have two readings from 1 pm sessions paying $1000/500/500 for 1st/2nd/3rd chance:

coverall, one winner in 54 #s (12/10/10/11/11) = 12,400 cards in play
coverall, one winner in 53 #s (10/12/10/10/11) = 22,700 cards in play

Small sample, but I think that's too much competition. Cash balls were at normal levels near $1000.

I also have a 7 pm reading, showing over 21,000 cards using the Wizard's calculator.

Suncoast has a complex pricing structure. Coverall cards are bad value apparently at $2 per 3-on strip. They offer a price discount based on amount spent, with many exclusions. Maximum discount is $20 for an $80 purchase. I think you could buy 20 blue packs discounted to $60, plus 10 packs free. But other colors would be worse value because the discount doesn't increase beyond the $20 for $80 level.

I try to make a habit now of looking at bingo rooms for an attendance estimate even if I'm not playing. Rampart does continue to offer bingo, but it usually looks busy. Coverall cards are only $1 for 3-on, but the limit is only 25 or 30 as I recall. Limited coverall cards seems to be the norm now in Vegas.

I forgot about the discounts. I had suggested to them that they should add an additional discount for those who spend even more. Zero incentives, bingo rooms are runned so poorly. Try the 9 pm session at the Suncoast midweek, 3 chance $1000 coveralls. Remember my strategy is how to give yourself the best cbance of getting a bingo, not a guaranteed way to consistently make money but it is possible under certain situations. My dream is to be the only bingo player in the room and buy the most expensive packs at the absolute minimum.

There is nothing better to needle the bingo players. I guess it's equivalent of a slow roll in poker. Whenever I get bingo, I wait to see if there are any winners. Split bingos are no fun so ill wait until the last couple of seconds and then I'll yell out bingo. I try to mute my machine so It remains silent and I'll sit in the very back corner of the room so I have a good view of everyone. If there are multiple winners I will wait until they ask if there are any other winners and then I'll reply yes. I have to get my money's worth on my bingos by hearing and seeing the disappointment of others.

Here's another strategy on how to chase the progressive or big pay. Up north, Bingo is slim pickings. Bad sessions with very low payouts. But there are some plays. One casino has a guaranteed $1199 payout if you hit the coverall within a certain number, and the qualifier goes up each week. Currently, it's stuck and maxed out 56 numbers, so it becomes a good play . It's played and sold as a separate game at the end, $2 on a 3 on strip with a max buy of 20, so 60 cards in the machine and whatever you can daub outside. The consolation, if it gets hit at 57 and beyond is 50% of the money based on the cards sold for that session.. So today, I purchased one $3 pack, getting one free pack for a total of 12 cards, plus another $3 for the machine, no validation. I loaded the max of the coverall strips, so I spent $40 and another $2 for a strip outside, for a total of 21 cards. I spent $48 for the session. The consolation was paying $138, meaning they sold 138 cards and I had 21 of them. So essentially I had almost 15% of the cards in play. I hit the consolation. But the point is, I was there for one game, unfortunately it was the very last game so I had to sit through an hour of Bingo with only 12 cards in play. Again, I'm not there to get a regular Bingo, I was there to try and hit the coverall at 56 numbers or less.

When I played at Stations, and the Jumbo Jackpot was maxed out at 56 numbers, I would purchase the absolute minimum into the machines in order to play, and load the absolute maximum for the Jumbo Jackpot. Since the Jumbo Jackpot was the very 1st game of the session, and If I didn't win or hit the consolation, I either gave my machine away or put it back into the rack and left after the first 5-10 minutes.