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Top 10 myths associated with online bingo

Online bingo is now the second most popular online game in the UK. Millions of players have decided they prefer the cheerful, friendly atmosphere of bingo games rooms to the more competitive character of other online games rooms such as poker or blackjack. There are dozens of online bingo sites to choose from, but the most popular with UK players are wink bingo, posh bingo, tasty bingo and bingo street. Women in particular are attracted to these sites because of the opportunities to play exciting games, win great prizes and most of all, to meet and chat with other players.

While millions of bingo players across Britain know the fun and delights that a game of bingo brings, there are still some myths circulating about the online game that are either stuck in the era of the bingo halls or derive from out of date ideas about online games.

Below, we debunk the top 10 myths surrounding online bingo:

1. Players need to deposit large amounts to play. Not true. When signing up to play on the wink bingo site, for instance, players can start playing with a deposit of just £5 but slot games can be paid for pennies and a bingo card costs just a few pence.
2. You need to be collecting your pension to play bingo. Wrong again. One in five online bingo players in the UK is now male and the proportion of players – men and women - who are under 45 years of age has shot up from 46% to 62% in the last decade.
3. Online bingo is anti-social. Any bingo player who has played at least a few games online will know that bingo is the most sociable game on the web. The bingo community is loyal, friendly and fun and the chat rooms buzz with the sounds of members getting to know one another. 
4. It's unsafe to use your credit card online. Not if you are careful about which sites you use your card on. Check that the site you play with is licensed and registered with the authorities – you will find this information at the bottom of the site’s homepage. If the site is registered, you as a player are protected by government legislation if there is a dispute about a payment or payout. All registered gaming operators use software to protect information about customers’ bank accounts and credit cards, making it next to impossible for the information to be leaked.
5. Downloads eat bandwidth. On many online bingo sites – such as poshbingo.co.uk - there are no downloads – just click and start playing straight away. The graphics are picture perfect and look just like an animated Hollywood movie.
6. It's a waste of time. Every month tasty bingo pays out tens of thousands of pounds in cash prizes to UK winners. Bet that doesn’t sound like a waste of time to those winners! Players also make friends online, meet their old friends in the games room and have a great evening of entertainment.
7. Prizes are trivial. Wrong again. Sites like Bingo Street give players the chance to win both instant cash prizes and rollover jackpots. The jackpots in particular allow for players to win big prizes – sometimes up to tens of thousands of pounds.
8. The odds are stacked towards the house. Not true. All bingo sites publish their payout percentages and most sites pay out up to 95% of the bets they take in. So, the odds are very much with the player.
9. Players can beat the odds. They can’t. The order in which the balls appear is completely random.
10. Online bingo is too fast. All bingo is fast-paced, offline and online. That’s part of the enjoyment of the game. After a few games, new players adapt to the pace.