Everyone wants to play within a trusted online bingo site for guaranteed payouts, security, and other reasons. With a significant number of rogue sites, new players who are not familiar with these websites run the risk of bumping into one of them. This article will help you know what to look for in a licensed online bingo site.
Don't trust all the bingo site reviews that you read online. Most reviewers receive compensation for each player they send over to the bingo app. Therefore, most reviewers have a clear incentive to be flattering about the site so you sign up and they make money.
Finding Trusted Online Bingo Sites
Searching and finding legit bingo sites is not easy as the internet allows you to find websites located in all jurisdictions, not just yours. And some jurisdictions are a lot more relaxed than others so dodgy bingo operators may choose these as the center of their operations.
Gaming License
Legitimate online bingo sites require a license from a regulating office within their respective jurisdiction. To obtain a license in certain territories, operators need to prepare documents and make sure their sites are following the territory's rule. There is also the matter of fees an operator needs to cover in regards to obtaining a license and keeping it active each month.
Always look for the license of a trusted online bingo app and verify it through a regulation office's home page. Licensed operators are less likely to risk their license by providing unfair games, obstructing payments without any legal reason, or stealing your private information.
For example, the UK Gambling Commission has in regard to the random number generator (RNG) used by the casino ensuring fairer games for British bingo players.
Support Line
There is always a clear line of communication between a patron and licensed operator, making live chat or phone support good tests on an online bingo site's legitimacy. Rogue bingo operators are less likely to have an actual agent answer any patron's questions or concerns regarding their website. In addition, they often use an automated chatbot that provides answers to basic questions.
If there is a phone option, try the number and see if you can get a live person. When you can only use a chat function, ask the agent for specific questions about the online bingo site such as its withdrawal minimum and current promotions. Actual agents will answer those questions, which is a sign of a trusted online bingo site.
Banking Options
Online and mobile bingo sites have several options to receive your money. A certain number of these options include a consumer-protection measure against scams or frauds such as credit cards and e-payment services. On the other hand, there are payments that are impossible to reverse such as bank transfers and cryptocurrencies.
One major sign of a trusted bingo site is the number of payment options it offers, including ones with the means to protect. It is important to note that gambling sites that only take a specific form of payment such as Bitcoin casinos are still legitimate. If an online operator only accepts cryptocurrencies even if it is not marketing itself as a crypto gambling site, it is likely a rogue site.
Game Variations
Most online bingo sites offer the usual 75-ball and 90-ball games, a common staple even among physical bingo halls. If these are the only games they have to offer, you are much better off finding an alternative website.
Licensed online bingo sites tend to have a wide range of variants that breaks the monotony of the usual 75-ball games. These options include 80-ball, 50-ball, and fast 30-ball games. With these variants, you have the choice of your odds in winning a session. You can also find bingo games that fit your schedule such as the 50-ball variant that is faster than the 90-ball game with better payouts than the 30-ball game.
Security
Upon clicking the site or bringing up the site's website address, it is essential to check if there is an HTTPS on the URL. The addition of an "S" on the HTTP part of a website indicates that data going through your web browser to the site is encrypted. This means your password, card numbers, and other sensitive information you send to a safe online bingo site becomes unreadable to hackers performing a "man-in-the-middle attack". But HTTPS on its own is . Bingo operators should go through multiple IT audits each year to test all their systems.
If you do not see that HTTPS on the address bar of an online bingo site, you can easily cross it from your list. Any promises of security or other features a gambling site provides are not worth checking out if they cannot protect your private data.
Organic Community
When hundreds of players flock to an online bingo site and a large portion of them are active, chances are high the bingo operator can be trusted with your money. An organic community within a bingo site indicates satisfied players who have enjoyed the platform's games and services.
To know if there is an active community within a licensed bingo site, look for their forum or community page. Take note of how many posts and replies to it are made each day. If there are at least 10 or more activities from actual players, you are on a trusted online bingo website.
Blacklist
When it comes to a safe online bingo game, it pays to see if the bingo site is a part of a blacklist or not. Online gambling sites and online bingo reviewers go through an operator's platform and note down its strength and weaknesses. When reviewers see several red flags within a bingo site, they add the operator to their blacklist.
Red flags are certain factors of an online bingo site that can ruin your experience such as late withdrawal payments and slow customer support response. These factors also include signs of a rogue casino such as a false license and lack of secure payment options.
Benefits of Trusted Online Bingo Sites
Playing bingo with ease of mind is the primary advantage of playing on a trusted site. You want assurance that your winnings will be honored and the operator will not use your private information for any criminal conduct. If they don't, you can use a normal legal recourse to get your earning paid.
Your bingo experience is another reason to find licensed online bingo sites since they are likely to have regular promotions that add bonuses to your deposits. In addition, these sites tend to have new bingo variants or other kinds of games such as slots to break the monotony without having to visit other online gambling sites.
Putting the time and effort into looking for the positive signs of a trusted bingo site ensures your money and private information are safe. These sites also offer the promise of better bingo variants and promotions to get the most out of your visit.
This article was published on November 29, 2021, and last updated on October 26, 2022.