Bingo Case Balls

I have recently stumbled on to bingo as a time to pass the time safely during the pandemic. My wife hit a $25 bingo and a $500 coverall on our first session. I was immediately fascinated by the empty rooms and thought this was a great fun opportunity at a side hustle given that you only have to beat other players and not really the casino. I have invested and read as much as I can to learn the math behind insuring a winning strategy. I try to focus on the least busy sessions. I adjusted my strategy to buy more cards when these sessions are very low in attendance.

Here are my last three sessions and the results.

Session 1: Total players 17 (I never play above 20 players in the room); bought 160 cards; investment $104; cased 32 times (1 last number); bingos won 1 for $100 net -$4

Session 2: Total players 19; 160 cards; investment $104; cased 28 times; bingos won 1 for $50; net -54

Session 3: Total players 17; 160 cards; $104; cased 21 times; bingos won 0; net -104

My question is based on the math above are these results just bad luck at having cased 81 times and winning only 2? Also I was told that these empty sessions bring out the "bigger" players. Does this mean that I should buy even more cards?

You need the total cards issued for a game and the number you are playing to calculate your win probability. Without crunching the numbers, consider the alternative reason for your losses is a rigged game. Doubtful. Consider that if you were the only player you would still lose as the hall takes its vigorish. The notion that playing sparely attended halls increases your odds is not a new idea. Some of other few players at the hall may very well be seasoned experts using the same tactic you are. Play if you enjoy it. Plan on losing.

Quote: SirFennelWodden

Session 1: Total players 17 (I never play above 20 players in the room); bought 160 cards; investment $104; cased 32 times (1 last number); bingos won 1 for $100 net -$4

Pardon me for asking, but my knowledge of "big time" bingo is pretty much limited to what's in an issue of the Bingo Bulge-er, Bingo Bugle - what does "cased" mean?

Also note that the number of players in the room is not as important as the number of cards they have.

Hi, thanks for taking the time to respond. I did try to evaluate the number of cards but with electronic bingo this is tougher to do. Correct me if I'm wrong but if I were the only player in the room I would automatically win every one of the 13 games... I fully understand about the seasoned players and good on them. I'm just trying to figure out a little more about the investment vs return in order to get the advantage.

If the other players have 200 cards between them, it does not matter to you whether they are being played by 1 player, 200, or any number in between. You will never know with any degree of certainty if you have "the advantage" or not if you cannot determine the total number of cards in the game.

Note that, if there are 16 other players in the game, and each has the same number of cards as you do, then you should expect to go 0-for-13 games about 4/9 of the time. This doesn't take shared wins (i.e. when two different people get a bingo on the same number; I assume they split the prize evenly) into account; I'll see if I can come up with a slightly better number.

Thanks and yes I understand that it's fully dependent on the number of cards in play. Although these cards do come at a price and I doubt that the people in the room are all investing over $100 and have more than 160 cards except a few. This is the advantage number I'm trying to figure out. And by case I mean only one number left before the bingo. I have been in rooms with 60 people and case only a few times which I feel is fully normal given the increased competition but when you case 28 times in one session and many times you're the first to ring I feel that there's a little bad luck involved. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

I'm not looking to hit the $100k progressive or anything like that. I just like Bingo as I can also work while I'm there and there is a fun element to it. I just want to find the right balance so this fun hobby is also a positive investment...

Quote: SirFennelWodden

I'm not looking to hit the $100k progressive or anything like that. I just like Bingo as I can also work while I'm there and there is a fun element to it. I just want to find the right balance so this fun hobby is also a positive investment...

That's the problem with trying to make it a positive investment - without knowing how many other cards are in the game, there's no way of knowing.

If you assume that everybody else has the same number of cards as you, the total expected value of your cards in a game = the prize divided by the number of players (including yourself). If there are 17 players and 13 games, each with with a $100 prize, your expected value in the session is about $76.50.

You do set an interesting problem: given N cards in a game, K of which are yours, what is the probability that:
(a) you will win (including a shared win);
(b) you will have at least one card that is one number away from a win when someone else wins?

As I have previously posted, in terms of playing Bingo, limiting players less than 50% at one point of the year due to the pandemic was a blessing. I certainly took every advantage of it. Best I have ever done was hitting 8/10 games.

As you discovered, the key is not to play in a crowded room and maximize the number of cards you are allowed to purchase using the computer. Most importantly you must spend your money wisely based on the type of session or payout. Some sessions are better to play than others, as their payouts will change, including the coverall, whether its single, 2nd, 3rd or even 4th chance coverall.

Since your strategy is to hit as many Bingo as possible, Don't waste additional money purchasing other side games or spending money on the money or cash ball. As others have said, you have no idea what the other players are purchasing BUT the majority if not all has spent money purchasing side games and validating their balls hoping to hit the cash/money ball. When they do this, its gets expensive real fast and chances are they are not even purchasing 50% of the cards that the room allows them to buy. This is where your edge comes in, max cards. Have i hit the cash/moneyball without validating? Yes, a lot. But I am only there to play one game, and that is to hit as many Bingo as possible vs playing other props.

On the flip side, if Im there to chase down a progressive because the qualifier is maxed out to the number of balls needed, I do the opposite. I max out the cards on the progressive or side game and buy the absolute minimum of cards so I can play. Stations Jumbo Jackpot in Vegas, was usually played at the very beginning of each session, I would max out on the Jumbo and spend the absolute minimum for the regular session. Once the Jumbo was played, I simply gave my machine to a paper only player and I left. Spent maybe 10 minutes in the bingo room

Hi Vegasrider. I have read all of your Bingo related replies and I find it very interesting. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

I was told at Station that they removed the max cards on the electronic machines which sort of makes it even harder to calculate investment vs return on any given session. I do count on once again attending my sparsely attended game and loading more cards on than my 160. I read that you went up to 1000 cards which would make sense as to why I'm close but not winning the majority of the Bingos. I have a feeling that very few players are spending more than $50 but a couple may be spending $200+. I am intent on finding the winning ratio for these sessions that have anywhere between 16 to 20 people... My goal would be to consistently win 4 times minimum which would insure a break-even and depending on the level could lead to a profit.

Of course these sessions don't have a large coverall so I believe that having a pack that pays 2-3 and 4 times the regular pay is a good idea right?

Although it pains me to do so, as they add a fun element, I will eliminate all bonus games as per you recommendation.

Thanks again for your reply.