What Is Bingo Millions?

Bingo Millions was a game by Mutuel Play that was first introduced at Buzz Bingo in April 2019.  First out of the traps was a 90 ball version playing twice a week and this was followed by an instant win 90 version, two 80 ball versions and two 75 ball versions.  Some of these also became available at Jumpman bingo sites. We expected the game to appear at more new bingo sites in 2020 and 2021 but in fact, the reverse happened.  First, some of the versions were discontinued, leaving just the instant win and turbo versions.  Then, at the end of 2021, Jumpman dropped all versions of the game.  It remained available at Buzz only (and not easy to find) until a couple of months into 2022 when it disappeared entirely.

The most obviously notable thing about Bingo Millions was the ENORMOUS jackpot.  A progressive jackpot seeded at £1.5 million was attached to all three of the twice weekly versions of the game (but was never won).  The instant win versions of the game all had a fixed jackpot of £1 million.  There was also a Mega version of the game that ran every few months with a jackpot of £10 million.  These jackpots were all funded by an insurance policy rather than by ticket sales and we’re not aware of anyone ever winning one.

A percentage of the game profits (5% as of October 2020) were given to partner charities and past beneficiaries include the Alzheimer’s Society.

• How To Play Bingo Millions
• Is It Really Bingo?
• Bingo Millions RTP
• Where To Play Bingo Millions
• Bingo Millions Variants & Prizes

 

How To Play Bingo Millions

Bingo Millions plays just like a regular bingo game but with one HUGE difference – the game pays out a series of fixed prizes for completing lines (90 ball), columns (80 ball) or full house in a set number of calls regardless of whether another player has already done it.

Even in a game in which someone actually won the jackpot with full house in less than 30 calls, the game would continue to play all the way to 70 calls and everyone else who completed full house in between would win the requisite prize. They don’t split it between them either; apart from the jackpot, which would be spilt in the ridiculously unlikely event of two players winning full house in 30 or fewer calls in the same game, everyone who completes an objective wins the full amount from the paytable.

In all variants of Bingo Millions apart from Turbo, tickets can be purchased one at a time or in strips of 5 or 6 depending on which game it is, at a discounted price.  This means that each game has two RTPs – one for strips and one for single ticket purchases.  There’s a maximum purchase of 10 strips (50 or 60 tickets depending on the game).  Because the jackpot is covered by insurance, the jackpot is not included in the RTP calculation.

Once you have purchased your tickets all you have to do is wait for the game to start.  This could be up to a week in the case of the weekly draws, but now they have been retired all the games play within a few minutes. Well actually, all you have to do is come back after the game has played to see what (if anything) you have won, as the game is auto-daub – but where’s the fun in that?

During the game, the part of the paytable you’re currently playing for is displayed.  You start with the paytable for 1 line and it changes to the paytable for two lines when you’ve completed one line or when the number of calls reaches the point (36 in the 90 ball games) where it’s no longer possible to win a prize for completing one line.

In the unlikely event that no-one wins full house in the maximum number of calls on the paytable, the game continues until someone does; there’s a very small fixed prize for this (£1 in the weekly draws and 10p in the instants) which is split between everyone who completes full house on that call, with a guaranteed minimum of 1p per player.

Is It Really Bingo?

Although Bingo Millions looks and plays very like bingo, under the hood there is something completely different going on.

In a regular bingo game, the number of players in the room is really important.  The more players there are, the bigger the prizes and the smaller the chance each player has of winning.  In Bingo Millions, on the other hand, the number of players has zero effect on the size of the prizes and does not affect other players’ chances of winning a prize.  The game can play, and your chances are just the same, whether there are a thousand other players or none.

Basically, when you play Bingo Millions there is no shared liquidity. You are playing against the house rather than against other players and this means that it is not really a bingo game at all in the normal sense of the word – which is why the games are referred to as “draws” rather than “games” when you go to buy tickets.

There is certainly a place in the bingo world for this type of game as it enables frequent games offering a very small chance of winning a huge prize to be run without any need to build the liquidity up first.

Speaking of a very small chance – what are the chances of actually winning the £1.5 million?  Not great, to say the least! -We have the exact figure for the 90 ball games (courtesy of Wizard of Odds) of 1 in 295 million per ticket, and we believe it to be similar in the 75 and 80 ball games.   Although this is much better than in any of the million pound sliding jackpot games of the past, it is nowhere near as good as, for example:

• Winning the UK Lottery jackpot – 1 in 45 million
• Being dealt a Royal Flush straight off in a poker game  – 1 in 649, 740

Even though it could be a long time before someone wins the jackpot, there are plenty of other prizes on offer making for lots of entertainment value.  Bingo Millions looked like it was going to be a big success!

It wasn’t, though.  It never went live at any more bingo sites after being rolled out to the Jumpman sites.  As of late 2021, some versions had been withdrawn entirely, the remaining ones had been sidelined at Buzz Bingo and no longer had their own tab in the lobby, and all versions of the game had been removed from Jumpman sites.  It was only a matter of time until it was dropped from Buzz too in early 2022.

Why did this happen? Well, unfortunately Bingo Millions has an absolutely dreadful RTP and players don’t like that one bit!

 

Bingo Millions RTP

The RTP of Bingo Millions games varies widely (see table below) but on the whole it is quite low, comparing extremely badly to slot games (where most RTPs are 90% or more).     It doesn’t look great next to regular bingo games either; most bingo games don’t have a quoted RTP but many bingo games at Tombola guarantee to pay out 80% or more and at bingo.com all bingo games pay at least 70%.

It’s also disappointing to find that the version with by far the best RTP, Bingo Millions Turbo, is also the one with the least entertainment value (the game is played at breakneck speed and is over in seconds).

 

Where To Play Bingo Millions

 

Bingo Millions Variants & Prizes

These prize tables were all correct as of October 2020 but please check before playing as several changes have been made since the game originally launched and further adjustments could be made at any time.

Bingo Millions 90 (retired)

Tickets 50p, £2.50 for a strip of 6.  Maximum tickets per player 60. Played 10pm Wednesdays and Saturdays

Bingo Millions 90 Instant

Tickets 20p, £1 for a strip of 6.  Plays every 5 minutes.

Mega Bingo Millions 90 (retired?)

Tickets £1, £5 for a strip of 6.  Special game by announcement, ran every few months.

Bingo Millions 80 (retired)

Tickets 50p, £2 for a strip of 5.  Played 10pm Thursdays and Sundays.

Bingo Millions 80 Instant

Tickets 25p, £1 for a strip of 5. Plays every 5 minutes.

Bingo Millions 75 (retired)

Tickets 50p, £2.50 for 6.  Played 10pm Tuesdays and Fridays.

 

Bingo Millions 75 Instant

Tickets 20p, £1 for 6.  Plays every 5 minutes.

Bingo Millions Turbo (90 ball)

Tickets 10p each.  Plays on demand – but play close attention, it plays so fast that if you blink you’ll miss it!