How I chose which bingo sites to include
When choosing which sites to include in our Best Bingo Sites list, I decided to focus not on welcome offers but on the quality of the bingo experience, and in particular what each site has to offer to bingo players over and above other sites on the same platform. Here are some of the things I thought about when putting this list together.
Quality and variety of bingo games
How many bingo rooms are there and what types of bingo do they offer? How busy/popular are they?
Best bingo payouts
Are the prizes in the regular bingo rooms big enough to be worthwhile? What fixed jackpot games do they run and how often? How does the RTP (Return To Player) look?
Best bingo sites for winning
Do they have bingo games offering extra chances to win? (5 line bingo, Roll On, etc) Do they have equal chances bingo games where everyone has the same number of tickets?
Exclusive bingo rooms & promotions
What bingo games and/or promotions does this bingo site have to offer, that other sites on the same software don’t have?
Player rewards & promotions
How does the site incentivise and reward existing players going forward? Are there reload bonuses, daily free games, a reward scheme? What type of promotions do they run apart from the welcome offer?
Community & chat
How does the chat work? Is it supplied by the network or does the site have its own chat hosts? Do they run chat games and if so, how often and what can you win? Is the chat lively? Are the chat hosts friendly and entertaining?
Player friendly terms & conditions
Is the play order bonus first (better) or cash first? What are the wagering requirements? What time limits are there on bonuses? What restrictions are there on what you can play with a bonus? Are there any fees for deposits or withdrawals?
Range of other products on site
The quality of the bingo experience is central to how I’ve ranked these bingo sites, but even hardcore players may like to have a go at something else from time to time. The range of slot games and betting products that can be played with the same wallet may not be the be-all and end-all, but it is an important extra.
“Best in class”
There’s at least one representative of every major bingo software product on this list despite some platforms clearly being much better than others. For example, the lack of a proper pre-buy facility on the Dragonfish bingo software means that the bingo rooms can be very quiet at off peak times, with hardly any chat and depressingly small prizes. In my opinion this (amongst other things) puts all Dragonfish bingo sites at a big disadvantage to say, all Virtue Fusion bingo sites and if I were to make a simple list of my personal top ten favourite sites it probably wouldn’t include any Dragonfish sites at all. The Dragonfish software has far too many fans to be left off the list entirely, though, so I’ve gone with a “best in class” policy and included a couple of the best Dragonfish bingo sites I’ve come across in the years I’ve been playing.
The wow factor
I’ve tried out all manner of different bingo sites over the last 10 years – probably more than a hundred – and so many of them have been boring or instantly forgettable. The best bingo sites I’ve played at have managed to keep me interested and engaged and continuing to play there over a long period of time.
How I chose which bingo sites NOT to include
But what about the hundreds of bingo sites that didn’t make the cut?
Well, because I wanted to focus on the quality of the bingo experience lots of perfectly decent sites that are basically casinos with a bit of bingo on the side, have been left off my list. The quintessential site of this type is Leo Vegas; although they have the excellent Pragmatic Play bingo product complete with their own exclusive bingo room this is eclipsed by the quality of the slot and casino offering and also the welcome offer is for slots not bingo.
I’ve also avoided including sites that are much the same as each other and that means it’s a big fat no to the majority of Dragonfish bingo sites.
I haven’t included any Jumpman bingo sites at all as not only are they all the same as each other, they don’t give out any bingo bonuses at all and they don’t have a chat facility in their bingo rooms which is a bit of a deal breaker. While these sites may be ideal if you mainly want to play slots with the occasional game of bingo, the bingo experience is very pared down.
Finally, I’ve avoided including any sites which have significantly worse terms and conditions than otherwise similar sites. For example, it’s normal at Virtue Fusion bingo sites for the play order to be bonus first and for free spins to have no wagering requirements, so I haven’t included the Virtue Fusion site that has a cash first play order and 30x wagering on free spins (and no I’m not going to name and shame it here).
UK Gambling Commission Licences
Bingo Site
Licence Number
Rating
Visit
Unibet Bingo
45322
4.8
Go to Unibet Bingo
Heart Bingo
39576
4.8
Go to Heart Bingo
PlayOJO
39326
4.8
Go to PlayOJO
Paddy Power Bingo
52819
4.8
Go to Paddy Power Bingo
Buzz Bingo
2355
5.0
Go to Buzz Bingo
Mecca Bingo
57924
4.9
Go to Mecca Bingo
Jackpotjoy
38905
4.8
Go to Jackpotjoy
Coral Bingo
54743
4.6
Go to Coral Bingo
Loony Bingo
58267
4.1
Go to Loony Bingo
Foxy Bingo
54743
4.2
Go to Foxy Bingo
