Bingo Games Online – A Popular Activity Offers Fun and Games at Your Command
How many of you remember some time ago when you were a kid playing a game of bingo? Most of us at one time or another have played bingo in our childhood. Although that was the case for me too, when I think of bingo I usually think of older women going to a hall or similar physical location to play bingo. It might be a church sponsored bingo game, a senior citizens hall where bingo is played and prizes offered, or some other venue that offers bingo.
Additionally casinos offer bingo games, whether in person or some electronic version of the game such as slot machines. Well that still may be the case but a new trend is emerging concerning bingo; that’s playing the game online. Now it’s not only possible to play bingo online, but in a practical sense, online bingo is an even better opportunity to enjoy the game at your leisure or whenever you get the chance.
Is there anyone that doesn’t know about bingo or how to play it? Probably not many, since most of us played it sometime during our childhood. For most of us the game is a familiar memory even if it was long ago. And for some like me, as a senior citizen, the word bingo rings in my ears as a source of fun and excitement, but being busy most of my adult life bingo was a thing of the distant past.
That was then and this is now, a new day for bingo. Within the past few years online bingo has taken off and carved a path upward as a great source of entertainment with fun and prizes to boot. You can play the game at your beacon call as long as you can get online. Your home computer or better yet, your laptop computer, your iPad or similar tablet computer can be the source of bingo fun and socializing.
You can have your own Party Bingo at www.partybingo.com using your computer. Yes you can chat with other players so it is a great social activity too. It’s possible to win prizes and money doing something that’s fun and exciting, even in your spare time. More than that, now any adult can play bingo through online bingo sites. This expanded opportunity has caught on with the younger crowd so no longer is bingo thought of as a kids or old person’s game.
What is Bingo?
Bingo is a game of chance. Although the game of bingo can be traced back to a lottery game called “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” played in Italy in c.1530, modern bingo was invented in 1929 and has evolved into multiple variations, including the newer online versions of bingo. It’s a multiple player game played with randomly drawn numbers which each player matches against numbers that have been pre-printed on 5×5 matrices. Traditionally the matrices were printed on paper or card stock and still are if you are playing in person at a physical location. With online bingo the cards are represented on your computer screen and are also referred to as cards.
There are several similar versions of online bingo that one can play. A game is concluded when the first person achieves a specified pattern from the drawn numbers. The winner is usually required to call out the word “Bingo!” or otherwise alert the other players and caller of a potential win. All wins, whether online or in person, are checked for accuracy before the win is officially confirmed. Once declared an official win, the prize is secured and a new game is begun. In this version of bingo, players compete against one another for the prize or jackpot.
Alternative methods of bingo, which you’ll find abundant in online bingo, try to increase participation by creating additional challenges and excitement. There are nearly an unlimited number of patterns that are possible or that could be specified for play. You can see this easily if you go to a casino or in some online bingo games. Some patterns only require one number to be matched up to cover-all games which award the jackpot for covering an entire card and other games award prizes if a player matches no numbers or achieves no pattern. In different casino and online versions of the game you might find different versions of bingo played or offered.
Let’s take a look at a few statistics about bingo to shed some light on what’s happening in this old fashion game now that its sibling, online bingo has taken foot, and is going at an almost breakneck speed. Online bingo is capturing the attention of both the young and old alike.
Online bingo, played on the Internet is the version of bingo played in the USA and the UK. Estimates of the global gross gaming yield of bingo (excluding the United States), was US$500 million in 2006, and it was forecasted to grow to $1,000 million by 2010. Bingo statistics vary from country to country. Regardless, the general trend is the same. For example gender statistics are 70% women and 30% men in the U.K. In the U.S. and many other countries, women are also the majority. Global statistics of online bingo players put women bingo players about 80% with men at about 20%. A recent study showed that worldwide, bingo is played by over 100 million online players. That estimate is about 85% of all bingo players.
In the UK bingo is a popular leisure activity. Over 3 million people now play online bingo in the United Kingdom. The market in the UK has seen an influx of the bigger companies launching bingo games on their already established websites in addition to a number of established land based operators. More recently “charity bingo” has become established. Sites often provide a number of incentives to deposit, including matching bonuses where the site will reward depositing players by matching a percentage of their deposit.
Recently, the US government passed laws that limit banks’ ability to process credit cards for US citizens. The laws prevent US based payment providers from taking payments for online gaming. Such laws have made it more difficult for US players to play online bingo and other online game, but have not stopped those that really want to play. Other third party companies have filled the void, in many cases, and by using them one can still play their favorite online games.
When bingo is played online there are no physical balls like in regular bingo halls. Online bingo sites use a computer program that generates random numbers. A notable feature of online bingo is the ability to chat with other players or others on the site. Bingo sites strive to provide a sense of community and interaction between players. That can make it more fun and entertaining chatting with other like-minded people. Additionally some multiple sites act as doorways to a single game. That leads to larger pools of players in chat rooms and more sizable pots to winners. That can be a great incentive when one can play a game of bingo online with the possibility of winning a big prize as a winner.
In the future more bingo players are predicted to get involved with online bingo. That’s because more people will switch from playing in traditional bingo halls to using their computers to compete for the nice cash prizes offered. Estimates are that as many as three million people play what is known as ‘land-based bingo’, or bingo in amusement arcades or other physical locations. This is a large group of players, many of which could easily make the switch to the much more practical method of play online at their convenience.
So if you want to experience the fun and excitement of playing bingo at your own convenience then you should consider trying online bingo. Most people in the USA, Canada, and the UK have a computer of some sort, whether a desktop, a laptop, or iPad or similar computer at their disposal. Take a few minutes to try it out and you just might feel the excitement of winning a game or more with the potential of winning big prizes. Most online sites offer a quick way to use their sites to play the game and within a very few minutes you can be calling out bingo to yourself and the site, as the bingo numbers line up on your card on the computer screen.
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