How to choose the right bingo site

If you’re new to the online bingo world, you might be wondering what to look for before joining a site and, with so many to choose from, how to find the most trusted bingo sites. Here, we’ll be outlining everything to consider before signing up to a site.

What to look out for with a new bingo site

Although all online bingo sites have their own unique features, there are several essential things to look out for when picking a new bingo site. 

1. Signs you can trust the site

There are several things to look out for to determine whether a site should be trusted. The most important one is that it meets regulations. You can check if a bingo site is licenced by looking for the UK Gambling Commission logo at the bottom of the site. Here at tombola, all our games use a Random Number Generator, which has been tested by an independent auditor and approved by the Gambling Commission, to ensure the bingo games are fair. We also have our very own dedicated safeplay team, which is available 24/7, to keep you safe whilst gambling. Any awards won is another sign of trusted bingo sites, and we have been the recipient of many online bingo awards over the years.

2. Bingo community

Playing the games is just a small part of the online bingo experience and we’d always recommend finding a bingo site with a strong bingo community. Here at tombola, we have at least one dedicated chat room for each bingo game and have over 220 Chat Moderators to keep you safe and create a friendly, fun and sociable environment on the site. There's also chat quizzes, where you can win £1 in bonus funds. The fact that our chat rooms are open 24/7, and you don’t even have to be playing to enjoy the chat, is another reason to join the tombola community.

3. Account security

When looking for trusted bingo sites, account security is one of the key things to look out for. It’s probably the number one concern for anyone looking to play online but, thankfully, the majority of bingo sites are highly secure these days. Most sites use SSL encryption, which is a technology used by online banks to put your mind at ease that none of your personal and financial information can be accessed by a third party.

4. Unique bingo games

All of our games are designed and created in house, and you won’t find them on any other online bingo site.

Whilst we do have our own take on classic bingo variations, such as 90-ball and 75-ball bingo, the majority of our games are a completely new concept. Take Blocks for example, where the aim is to clear 6 of the same coloured blocks whilst also playing for a secondary score prize. Overall, we have a wide variety of more than 20 exclusive bingo games to choose from. 

5. Welcome bonuses

Many sites offer welcome bonuses for new players. At tombola, we give our new players a welcome offer of 100% on their first deposit up to £50. That means, if you deposit £50 when joining, you receive a £50 bonus to give you £100 in total to play with. Whilst you can’t withdraw your bonus money, you don’t have to play through any wagering requirements as you do on many other sites. You can, however, withdraw any winnings at any time.

No deposit bingo

As well as our amazing welcome bonus, there are also several ways we offer no deposit bingo.

We also offer a great refer a friend scheme. If you're a member of tombola, you can invite a friend or family member to the site with a free £5 bonus. They can try out our games without depositing and, if they enjoy it and go on to deposit and spend £20, you'll receive £20 bonus money. You'll even get ongoing rewards whenever they win! 

It’s also worth checking out what upcoming bingo promotions a site has before joining. A bingo promotion is where prizes are boosted to a guaranteed amount on certain games at specific times. 

6. Customer support

Whilst playing online bingo, you might find you need to contact customer support for a variety of reasons and all trusted bingo sites will have an accessible customer support section. As with when you need customer support in any industry, you want help as quickly and as easily as possible and the more options the better.

At tombola, our customer support team are available 24/7 and we offer help via the telephone, live chat and email. We also have our very own dedicated, and fully trained, Safeplay team who can help with guidance and advice on our handy responsible gambling tools.

Bingo Moderators

Not only are our CS team and safeplay advisors available 24/7, our Chat Moderators are too. You'll find them popping up in our Chat Rooms at all hours of the day and their job is to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere on the site. They love a natter and are always happy to answer any questions you may have. 

7. Payment options

One of the main things you might be looking for when searching for trusted bingo sites to play is what payment options they have available. When depositing, you want to be able to deposit and play as quickly as possible. When withdrawing, you want the winnings in your bank as soon as possible.

While bingo sites are not able to offer Credit Cards as a deposit method, due to new regulations that came into effect in April 2020, it’s always worth looking at what Debit Cards they accept. Here at tombola, we offer Visa Debit, Mastercard and Maestro and all withdrawals should be in your bank within 5 working days.

If you are looking to get started, you can also read up on our tips for playing online bingo.

8. Fair Gambling

Land-based bingo is a game of chance which cannot be pre-determined and online bingo works in the same way.  At tombola, we use an industry standard Random Number Generator to determine the results of each game. This ensures all our games are fair and our online bingo winners are genuine. We've got a dedicated page if you would like to find out more about fair gambling.