Online bingo has become one of the most popular real money and interactive community-involved gaming experiences on the Net, and is now a massive industry. Australians have more options than ever before to partake in this exciting game of chance no longer reserved for elderly ladies with hearing aids in nursing homes.
Bingo is packaged in a couple of different formats when played on the Internet, and here’s how the styles differ:
Live community bingo games: Traditionally played in halls and clubs around Australia, community-based bingo now been transformed in to a far more convenient online gaming experience, powered by the latest and most advanced technology and software (like Microgaming).
Bingo enthusiasts can partake in live multi-player scheduled games which are hosted by trusted and dedicated online bingo sites, such as TrueBlueBingo.com. As opposed to a caller at a pub or bingo centre, the online version is run by tested and fair random number generators (RNGs), and players battle against other members who have chosen to play in the same bingo room. Live chat with others while in-game, select from a wide range of games and ticket prices – all with different pot sizes and many offering progressive jackpots – and take advantage of great rewards and promotions such as no-deposit bonuses, weekly and monthly cash prizes, refer-a-friend promos, and more.
Single player, computer simulated bingo games: There are also games designed for single-player mode, hosted by online casinos, where RNGs are used, but such games aren’t aligned with any type of community base. Games like Ballistic Bingo, Electro Bingo, Pharaoh Bingo, Samba Bingo and Super Bonus Bingo are titles available at sites like RoyalVegasCasino.com and AllSlotsCasino.com, and are thoroughly entertaining single player titles based on bingo with unique rules and pay-tables.
Combining both formats: What’s great is that sites like True Blue Bingo offer in-house single-player bingo games like the ones mentioned above, and you can even play these games while involved in a community game of bingo. Other casino titles – popular traditional and progressive jackpot slots like Mega Moolah, Avalon II, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and the Dark Knight Rises, scratchcards, table games like blackjack and roulette, video poker and more – are also offered at True Blue Bingo.
Traditional Australian bingo is played in its 90-ball format, however Australian online bingo halls have the ability to offer both 90-ball and 75-ball bingo, so players can experience both styles of play.
The bingo game schedule: Once we’ve registered an online account, we can choose the bingo room we wish to play in, and go ahead and purchase our housie tickets. Always keep an eye on the bingo games schedule to check when the games you wish to partake in are commencing. All types of games including those with progressive jackpots are available around the clock, so if you’re a night owl and enjoy late night bingo, you’ll find plenty of rooms to choose from in the early hours of the morning.
When playing online, the numbers on the bingo cards are randomly selected for you. All online bingo rooms will impose a maximum number of bingo cards you can buy per game in order to keep things fair, but the maximum amount is very high – so unlike many traditional land-based venues hosting housie, which impose strict restrictions, online bingo rooms often allow their members to buy up to 250 tickets per game (maximum can vary), with a game played on average every four minutes. Our recommended bingo sites such as True Blue Bingo allow players to purchase multiple bingo cards for scheduled games across multiple bingo rooms.
All players participating in the particular game you are playing have also purchased tickets, and the money collected from ticket sales enters the overall jackpot prize pool to be won (the bingo room will take a small cut of this pot as a hosting fee). Once time runs out to buy any more cards, the game begins and an automated bingo caller calls out randomly selected balls (ball numbers determined by RNGs). Player cards are automatically marked off when one of their numbers are hit.
How Do You Win Bingo?
In 75-ball bingo games, cards show numbers ranging from 1 through to 75 set out on a 5 x 5 grid, with a ‘free’ space in the middle. There are pre-determined card patterns for each and every 75-ball bingo game you play in an online room. The free space in the middle of the card acts as a number which has already been filled.
The pattern is shown on your bingo cards and if you successfully fill that pattern first, you will win part of the overall prize pool, according to the set prize distribution amount. Fill your entire card (full house) and win even more.
Some examples of 75-ball bingo patterns, such as Broken Frame, Bullseye, Butterfly, Candles and Cake, are shown in the adjacent image.
In 90-ball bingo games, cards show numbers ranging from 1-90, and each player’s tickets are set out in a rectangular pattern with numbers split across three lines, and five numbers appearing on each line (as shown in the blue adjacent image).
The prize pool is split three ways: a percentage of the pool is awarded for the first player to fill any one line; the first player to complete any two lines; and the first competitor to complete all three lines (a full house).
If players fill their cards at the same time (happens more often than you might imagine), the prize is split evenly. Consolations prizes are also awarded in both formats of the game.
New players at bingo websites will be granted welcome bonuses upon sign up. At TrueBlueBingo.com, players receive a free $5 no-deposit bingo bonus and a 200% first deposit bonus up to $100AUD. Regular and loyal players benefit from a 25% recurring bonus on every deposit between $20 and $100.
In terms of legalities and government regulations, playing real money online bingo in Australia is 100% legal. You’ll have no issues funding your accounts with Australian currency and withdrawing your winnings so long as you stick with the recommended housie websites suggested here. While it is illegal for Internet gaming operators to offer real money interactive gambling to Australian residents (Interactive Gambling Act, 2001), in practice, this law only applies to Australian operators; offshore organisations have never been targeted for offering their services to the Aussie public – and the offshore companies whom are trusted and reputable make playing online bingo fair and secure for our citizens.
We can also play free games at True Blue Bingo – the site offers players scheduled housie games that don’t cost you a cent to play or get tickets. Read more about free bingo games here.
Our endorsed Aussie bingo rooms all accept the most popular forms of payment and work flawlessly with Australian banks such as:
Deposit and withdrawal options are displayed below (all payments are available in AUD, USD, GBP, CAD & EUR):
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Our recommended bingo rooms use the same Secure Sockets Layer technology utilised by all major financial institutions, ensuring transactions are kept private and secure.
Websites which accommodate Australian bingo players such as True Blue Bingo are renowned for their friendly chat rooms and building strong communities of Internet housie members. Each game you partake in gives you the opportunity to chat with fellow players, while there are also dedicated chat games (in which you are required to make an initial deposit to participate in) which offer the chance to win bingo bonus credits (known as BBz at True Blue Bingo) for guessing words, ‘shouting’ out something specific before anyone else, picking lucky numbers, and other quirky and fun antics.
The Australian bingo websites we endorse offer games with progressive jackpots up for grabs. These online bingo jackpot games hold jackpots which grow as more players join the game, and continue to increase in size until won by someone.
Check True Blue Bingo’s ‘advanced buy’ feature which displays all games for the next seven days, so you can make an informed decision to which tickets you wish to buy – note the game type (free, PJP, buy 1 get 1 free), ticket pricing, time, date and more. Other unique in-game jackpots include Special Bingo Jackpots (SJPs – mega and mini), where colours and numbers of balls called come in to play – find out more about these jackpots at True Blue Bingo.
While housie is a game of chance, that doesn’t mean you can’t better your odds of winning when playing with real money. The following strategies should be considered for your next Web-based bingo game.
Playing Multiple Bingo Cards
The simple technique of playing as many cards as you can works well offline, but most centres and clubs impose tight restrictions on the total number of cards one individual can purchase per game. Online, restrictions are far looser and at True Blue Bingo, players can often buy 250+ cards per game. Mathematically, the more cards you play, the better your chances are of hitting bingo first.
The Tippett Bingo Theory
The Tippett theory is a complex analysis of randomness invented by British statistician L. H. C. Tippett, in his book Random Sampling Numbers. The theory states: “As a random sample is increased in size, it gives a result that comes closer and closer to the population value.”
In plain English, this means the more bingo numbers called, the more likely the new numbers called are going to be close to the median number (45 in 90-ball and 37/38 in 75 ball-bingo). So, when playing a longer length game, choose cards with numbers closer to the median number. Few housie players are familiar with this strategy.
An easy way to know whether a game will be longer or shorter in length is to check the pattern used in 75-ball bingo games – complex patterns will take longer to complete, while simple patterns will often be filled in a short amount of time. 90-ball bingo is harder to determine if the game shall be long or short.
