I want to try to analyze cashball jackpot data, possibly as an indicator of player volume at various sessions. For instance, if the 11am jackpot is up $10 since yesterday, while the 1pm jackpot is up $50, I would assume yesterday's 1pm session had 5x as much action as the 11am.
The Wizard of Odds site has a convenient bingo jackpots page, but it doesn't appear to have updated since September 2016. Would it be possible to restart the updates? Thanks.
The price list shows electronic specials in the center column, but none of the assorted packages mention validation. At the cashier, I was told validation is included, and I asked about options for unvalidated cards. Cashier said no problem, the validation fees can be deducted. Blue pack standard price is $4. I chose the "buy 2/get 1 free" special, labeled $11 validated. Removing the validation fees, I paid $8. Not including the $2 machine fee.
Next session, a different cashier tells me all specials require validation. If I want unvalidated cards, no specials of any kind are available, and I must pay full price.
Is it normal for cashiers to have pricing discretion?
Quote: HugoSlaviaIs it normal for cashiers to have pricing discretion?
I think about 99% of players validate, so the cashiers may be lazy and just automatically assume every player wants it. I always am very clear that I don't want to validate when I buy cards. You should almost* never validate. If the cash ball jackpot is high, then it will induce too much competition to come and play, making it a bad value to play.
It is critical in bingo to maximize the ratio of the guaranteed prize pool to number of competing cards.
* Amended.
Quote: HugoSlaviaStrategy advice elsewhere is usually something like: Always validate, because look how much money you could win
Quote: WizardYou should never validate.
Is the typical thing said by the typical gambler ever right ??!! I swear it is a phenomenon !!
btw I don't now what 'validating' means exactly.
Sometimes Bingo is fun but usually it takes too long and time away from other plays. I have never found a Bingo play for cash to be a positive but I'm sure it exists. I have found many positive Bingo plays when using points instead of taking cash back.
Quote: odiousgambitbtw I don't now what 'validating' means exactly.
Validating establishes eligibility for the cash ball jackpot. A cash ball is randomly designated at the beginning of a session, and the jackpot is awarded when a winning number matches the cash ball. The jackpot is usually progressive, starting at $500, but Stations for example starts some session jackpots at $10k. Validation usually costs $1 for regular 6-card packs, or $2 for 12- or 18-card rainbow packs.
Sometimes additional promos will be offered that also require validation. South Point has a "wish ball" during some sessions that pays $500 for bingo on any number ending in 8 (or $1k for bingo on B8). Suncoast's version is called buzz ball.
Wizard would probably suggest avoiding those special promo sessions entirely because of the increased competition.
Quote: WizardI always am very clear that I don't want to validate when I buy cards.
I'll try again at another Station. The problem is the cashier wouldn't allow any of the discounts or freebies for my unvalidated purchase. I have to attempt the math, but if that's the case, the "specials" may offer better value despite the built-in validation expense.
Quote: monet0412Never Validate huh? Over the years I have destroyed Bingo... why you ask? Simple... it is because of the mistake Casinos have made giving too many multipliers when you use your points for Bingo Bucks. I have hit many Cash Balls as well in the 1500 to 6000 dollar range playing max cards and validating.
Is it possible you would have achieved similar or superior results playing unvalidated cards?
The usual promos I see are "half-point" -- offering double bingo play for slot point redemptions. Seems like decent value, but you do have to sit through the bingo sessions.
Like I say I really don't have the time to break it down but I was on a Bingo Play for some time when it cost me 50 cents total to validate all cards in a short field. I hit something like 7 Hot Balls or you can call them Cash Balls if you like. I am just going off of quick memory so I might not have everything perfect here. My point is that validating on that play was by far the correct thing to do IMO. No reason not to spend money on the other games as well when your getting 4x or 8x on your points. I hit many 200 dollar Dual Daubs as well and was cased a couple of times for 20k to 40k jackpots.
Quick short version on those plays I was either getting the rainbows for the short fields or I was buying all Blue Cards because the Coverall was the main target. Needless to say I was way ahead of what I would of had compared to Free Play or Cash back and since I was playing all Full Pay or Better games this was just icing. You can still make a case for sniping Boyd Bingo games at certain times and days instead of taking cash back since your playing full pay games over there as well but like you say your going to spend hours upon hours getting your money out of Bingo.
Another Bingo Play I was on a few years ago... you would play one session of Bingo for the day and if you hit a Royal that day you would get matched that Royal amount in Free Play... No Max on Royal Amount and all Machines were in play including Progressives. That is unheard of and rare IMO. On that play I did not validate and only played the minimum buy in on a blue card.
At Stations one can spend points on bingo so it is a good way to get rid of them. If you have millions of points to burn, go ahead and validate.
I'm going to amend my previous post to say "almost never validate."
If I was going to play Bingo I would shop around. I know for sure that Stations is not the place to play Bingo compared to other choices. Even if your paying cash only you have much better choices and smaller fields at certain times.
Quote: monet0412What's the drop in Bingo? 15% ... 25%?
Clark County has reported 2 to 4% for the past few years, but apparently the accounting may understate the hold, in which case your estimate is possible.
I'm mostly seeking opportunities to obtain better value for my points, and if I receive bingo-related marketing offers, I want to have some clue how to evaluate.
I'm not sure I'll find any 8x redemption opportunities, but I can understand that your priorities change in that situation, and you would want all the add-ons to load the bingo machine with as much potential as possible.
Regarding the 2% to 4% hold, I think they are not counting as money in the cards players buy with points.
Quote: WizardStill, I think after expenses casinos that offer bingo run a loss on it
I don't know anything about casino accounting, but there's probably some flexibility in those calculations. Kind of like how a Hollywood film can gross hundreds of millions, but nevertheless show a loss for purposes of actors with profit participation.
I've only been inside a few of the bingo rooms, but several of the casinos were sufficiently motivated to invest substantially in their facilities, with expensive-looking features such as glass enclosures for smokers. This has occurred during an era when managements seem to want every department to be individually profitable.
75% payback is discouraging, although it's only an average.
Quote: monet0412Let's put it this way. I never seen a Bingo Game where if you paid straight up cash you had an advantage.
I've made several thousand dollars at Station casinos playing a certain type of card at a certain session. The information is too good to post, as there are probably advantage players still playing it and I don't want to get accused of ruining a play again. I don't do it any longer because they limit the number of cards you can buy, which makes it no longer worth my time. However, everyone values his own time differently.
The astute reader can probably figure out the play given the information above.
Quote: WizardThe astute reader can probably figure out the play given the information above.
Well that rules me out.
I do have an idea actually, but my attention has been stuck on trying to master the basics. I haven't had much success finding underattended sessions. Larger prize pools reliably attract more play. I'm still trying to figure out where bingo players go when sitting out sessions they consider unenticing.
I suspect many players fail at card selection. They choose the wrong color/level for the situation. They validate inappropriately. They play bad side bets while failing to recognize good ones (I need to work on that). And they're insufficiently attentive to specials -- which are not easily assessed because price sheets can be ambiguous, requiring trial and error to pinpoint maximum value. Also, discount or bonus promotions may not be well-advertised. It's probably not unusual for some players in a session to have 75% EV based on their purchase decisions, while others are at 100%.
Quote: WizardI've made several thousand dollars at Station casinos playing a certain type of card at a certain session. The information is too good to post, as there are probably advantage players still playing it and I don't want to get accused of ruining a play again. I don't do it any longer because they limit the number of cards you can buy, which makes it no longer worth my time. However, everyone values his own time differently.
The astute reader can probably figure out the play given the information above.
if the cashball is >~20-30K or big3 > 5K, fill the machine with blue card packs on double/triple pay sessions and use whatever promotional hijinks you can to pay for the session, praying to the goddess of variance that everyone is playing somewhere else that day?
seems pretty common sense to me, it's a fun way to spend an afternoon with my mother for ~$150/hr, and i've binked a few W2Gs on the big3 and cashball at stations doing just that.
Bingo rooms don't really make money for the casino, except during the NON-game hours. The slot machines near the bingo room are usually not good deals either. Bingo players often have direct deposit of social security to the casino, etc. So the casino benefits but its an off the bingo room's books benefit.
Does anyone know if you can still get one paper card for free for the early game at that brewery casino?
Does Arizona Charlies still have that 2:00am bingo game? (Decatur).
Quote: FleaStiffDoes Arizona Charlies still have that 2:00am bingo game? (Decatur).
In the Vegas market, Arizona Charlies has 24-hour bingo at both locations: Decatur and Boulder. They offer 12 sessions daily on the odd hours.
The only room to my knowledge that starts on the even hours is Aliante, paper only, beginning at 10 am. The other paper-only rooms are Fiesta Rancho and Henderson.
Everyone else starts at either 9 am or 11 am. Usually the last session is 11 pm, but South Point runs an 11 am to 1 am schedule.
Eldorado in downtown Henderson does 5 sessions daily: 1/3/5/7/9 pm.
Poker Palace in scenic North Las Vegas runs only 4 sessions Monday thru Thursday: 11 am & 1/7/9 pm. The other days of the week they offer a full schedule.
Eastside Cannery only goes from 1 to 9 pm Sunday thru Thursday. Cannery is 11 to 9. The other two nights, both Canneries add an 11 pm session.
That being said, anyone know of a good bingo hall for a beginner?
If I understand this "validation" thing correctly, it's basically like a side bet where if you hit your bingo on a specific square, then you get a bigger payout?
Quote: RSIf I understand this "validation" thing correctly, it's basically like a side bet where if you hit your bingo on a specific square, then you get a bigger payout?
That's correct, but in some rooms it's like a forced side bet because they structure the discounted packages to include validation. You can't avoid it.
Quote:That being said, anyone know of a good bingo hall for a beginner?
If you play an electronic unit instead of paper, it's almost impossible to screw up, so the only intimidation factor is during the purchase. I find the cashiers aren't very helpful because they steer you to anything with jackpot potential, regardless of value. It may be helpful to choose a less popular session because you can ask questions without angering a long line of people waiting behind you. But it's not a big deal.
Now it's back to the $10k reset. I didn't play it.
Would you consider it a play at $42k, or would you assume competition would increase to neutralize the value?
I've mentioned that Station casino pricing effectively forces you to validate because there are no specials for unvalidated cards, so you're encouraged to chase the cashball. Red Rock has a $61 "blue light special": 20 blues, validated apparently, plus a dual action card. The $2 machine fee appears to be extra. I think the special includes 2 additional free blues, but I'm not sure about that either. Price sheets are hard.
Quote: WizardI've seen people who could daub around 20. Can anyone here get that high?
I always play electronic, but I'll look around in the future to see what other people are playing. A small rainbow is 12. Somebody probably daubs two rainbows at a time.
Quote: HugoSlaviaI always play electronic, but I'll look around in the future to see what other people are playing. A small rainbow is 12. Somebody probably daubs two rainbows at a time.
Maybe 20 is setting the bar too low. I know a guy who used to play and was quite fast. Probably not record-breaking fast, but a place to start. Let me ask him what he could do.
Fiesta also offers a bonus rainbow for $26 with payoffs of 50/50/100/100/150/150. So the bonus rainbow presumably contains 18 cards.
At paper-only Aliante, the largest pack is a 12-on rainbow (50/50/100/150) for $14.
I don't see any mention of volume discounts at either room, so it's probably not very common for people to play more than one rainbow.
It must be demoralizing to play paper in a regular room against people with 200 cards in their machine. At the regular rooms, I think the large 18-on rainbows are usually only available in electronic format.
Quote: PlayYourCardsRightI can play 18 without trying too hard, so I could probably get 24 if I worked....
That is the high bid so far. Are you local?
I would definitely fail the accuracy part. Even playing just 15 cards I’m constantly finding numbers that I missed.Quote: WizardMaybe I should make a new thread for this, but now that I've done a challenge for the fastest video poker player, I'm thinking of repeating it for the player who can accurately play the most paper bingo cards at a time. I've seen people who could daub around 20. Can anyone here get that high?
At one of the nearby casinos, there is a Bonanza (tear away) game that pays a jackpot for a coverall in less than 50 numbers. They pre-call 45 numbers. I had a card that needed only 3. When it came time to resume the game, the first two that came out hit my card, leaving me three shots at the $30K jackpot. I needed O-72, and O-70 was the next number out. The game proceeded to go to 59 numbers and I did manage the $300 consolation when O-72 emerged.
Next casino, the super cash ball jackpot was over $8k. To win it, you must bingo on that number (that night, I-29 and the game was a Tic-Tac-Toe pattern. ... Two different I balls came out, but not the right one and I didn't win the game or the jackpot.
Local church/charity bingos... four times, the progressive coverall jackpot (ranging from 2500-4000), I've been down to one number and the right color came out but not my number. One of the times there were only 3 G-balls left in the hopper and I needed G-47, not G-50 which emerged.
The other three times, there were five of the color of ball I needed and the jackpot was hit on the color ball that I needed.
You'd have to figure that I would have hit one of those... Oh well, hopefully soon!
For those who don't know, I live in the Midwest and work at a tribal casino, and I cannot gamble at my joint. To play tables/VP, it's a 2-plus hour drive, so my trips are limited which is why I play a lot of bingo.
Casino bingo rooms generally play games on the ODD hours and make money for the casino on the EVEN hours when players descend on the slot machines. (Slot machines in and near bingo rooms are of course not usually good deals). Bingo usually varies from plus 1.0 percent to minus 1.0 percent depending upon whether the statisticians sneeze or not, but that is the accountants view and the accountants and regulators only look at the Hours of Play hold. Gaming Board stats for a Bingo Hall never reflect anything about the ancilliary advantages of all those pension checks on deposit and all that slot machine action during the non-play hours.
Temperatures, winds, precipitation, traffic jams usually affect bingo room turnout and thus the amounts of various specials.
Daubing may be a dying art. I think electronic is safer than being slow on the daub.
One of those early morning Arizona Charlies games used to be famous for drunken craps dealers and drunken poker dealers showing up and blowing off steam.
Quote: monet0412Never Validate huh? Over the years I have destroyed Bingo... why you ask? Simple... it is because of the mistake Casinos have made giving too many multipliers when you use your points for Bingo Bucks. I have hit many Cash Balls as well in the 1500 to 6000 dollar range playing max cards and validating.
. [/q
I never validate. Validating your cards is like playing another game, so I'm not saying to validate or not. Personally I choose not to chase the cash ball. Since I max out the machines every session, it becomes to costly. I rather use the money that goes towards the validation towards buying extra cards and focusi on hitting regular bingos. Would I have won the cash ball if I had validated? I have hit the cash ball multiple times but never validated. I steer away from big cash ball sessions so if I do bingo on the cash ball, it's usually a between 200 and 600 dollars. I go for the sure wins, I grind it out. I don't make big money on bingo but I make money. Not very many bingo players who play regularly can say that.
Quote: PlayYourCardsRight
At one of the nearby casinos, there is a Bonanza (tear away) game that pays a jackpot for a coverall in less than 50 numbers. They pre-call 45 numbers. I had a card that needed only 3. When it came time to resume the game, the first two that came out hit my card, leaving me three shots at the $30K jackpot. I needed O-72, and O-70 was the next number out. The game proceeded to go to 59 numbers and I did manage the $300 consolation when O-72 emerged.
Next casino, the super cash ball jackpot was over $8k. To win it, you must bingo on that number (that night, I-29 and the game was a Tic-Tac-Toe pattern. ... Two different I balls came out, but not the right one and I didn't win the game or the jackpot.
…
For those who don't know, I live in the Midwest and work at a tribal casino, and I cannot gamble at my joint. To play tables/VP, it's a 2-plus hour drive, so my trips are limited which is why I play a lot of bingo.
PlayYourCardsRight, You seem to be describing Potawatomi in Milwaukee. My wife enjoys playing bingo there, but I can’t stand it. The sessions last 4-5 hours, with 40+ games per session. On nights and weekends, there are 1,000 or more players per session, making it next to impossible to win anything. She can buy-in with $100 at a typical session on a machine and some extra paper chances on her favorite special games, and 5 hours later walk out with nothing. I can take that same $100 and sit at the Pai Gow Poker table (with their lousy rules!) and usually walk away after the same 5 hours with about $50-$150. I even will hit a 4OAK or straight flush fortune bonus a lot more often than she gets a bingo!
At least a bingo session in Las Vegas only lasts an hour. The Potawatomi marathons are torture as your buy-in slowly trickles away.
Anything more than that and it is an insanely boring game.
Those tribal casinos with their bingos are huge. Big money but tons of people. I won't play with a lot of people.
Bingo is very simple, it's based on probabilties that you determine a few minutes prior to the sessio beginning and take advantage of it assuming you spend your money correctly. Yes, there is strategy involved on what cards to purchase based on the payouts. How many cards? That's easy, the max.
1st time was at the Plaza 5 to 10 years ago
I declined the machine.
It was a disaster. Too fast for a newbie doing it by paper. Kind of stressful
I just played it at the Riverside in Laughlin yesterday for my second time
This time I got the tablet and just paid the minimum to enter.
Kind of a gambling bargain as its little investment for over an hour of fun.
I enjoyed it. It was fun. So relaxing as you dont have to do anything.
Its neat how it keeps the cards you are closest to winning at the top of the display.
Its neat that the tablet rings when you are 1 square away.
Bummed when you hear that ring on other tablets when you are not close.
Or you are close and you hear so many others that are close.
Never got to call Bingo
Considering going back today. Be nice to yell Bingo
hQuote: terapinedJust played bingo for the 2nd time in my life
1st time was at the Plaza 5 to 10 years ago
I declined the machine.
It was a disaster. Too fast for a newbie doing it by paper. Kind of stressful
I just played it at the Riverside in Laughlin yesterday for my second time
This time I got the tablet and just paid the minimum to enter.
Kind of a gambling bargain as its little investment for over an hour of fun.
I enjoyed it. It was fun. So relaxing as you dont have to do anything.
Its neat how it keeps the cards you are closest to winning at the top of the display.
Its neat that the tablet rings when you are 1 square away.
Bummed when you hear that ring on other tablets when you are not close.
Or you are close and you hear so many others that are close.
Never got to call Bingo
Considering going back today. Be nice to yell Bingo
Yes, best to use the tablet, there is usually a rental fee but if you max out on the number of cards allowed to be played, it’s well worth the cost of the rental. I usually mute the machine because I don’t want anyone to know that I got Bingo. I wait to see if anyone hit on that number, I want to know if I’m the only winner, nothing more frustrating than hitting Bingo and splitting it with multiple winners. Call it slow roll in poker if you want. I have 8 seconds to call out Bingo, I will yell out Bingo around the 6-7 second mark. Playing during this pandemic has created a very opportunistic situation. Limiting the number of players inside the bingo room has been a GIFT!