No Deposit Bingo

Imagine playing bingo for free and getting paid in real cash for winning. Impossible as it may sound, that’s exactly the concept behind “no deposit bingo,” one of the hottest trends among bingo promotions currently on the Internet. And the opportunity is not being promoted only by new sites hoping to capture their own slice of the growing bingo market. Many of the best established and top-rated online bingo rooms are also making this offer.

Why It Exists

As the name implies, no deposit bingo allows a player to obtain tickets, join in sessions, daub cards, and collect winnings in cash without risking any money whatsoever. It is not even necessary to transfer funds into a bingo account from a credit card or bank.

These offers are usually limited to first-time players at online bingo rooms as part of a Welcome Bonus or sign-up promotion. The idea is to attract new clientele. There are usually several terms and conditions that players must abide by, but in most cases these something-for-nothing offers are the real deal.

Bingo sites have a good reason for not making newcomers pay to play. In the face of stiff competition, they need to leverage every trick in the book to gain and retain customers. The practice of giving away free samples to attract crowds of prospective buyers is as old as retail marketing. The cost is small and the potential rewards are huge from a strictly business point of view.

How It Works

Typically, a special promotion code must be used upon registration to qualify for no deposit bingo. The offer may take several forms. For example, some sites have specified Free-Roll Bingo sessions scheduled daily or weekly, to which new players are invited. Bookmaker William Hill provides one such site. There is no ticket charge, and the top prize may be in the range of £5~£10. Each player is issued one card for free; additional cards are available at a small price. Note, however, the prize that is won may be restricted “bonus cash,” which can be used only for ticket purchases, not for withdrawals.

A different type of no deposit bingo is “bonus cash” on sign up. The amount of cash awarded is usually not much—often as little as £1~£2 and usually not more than £10~£20, although some sites have been encountered with bonuses as high as £25, £35, and even £50. The amounts may be held in a special bonus account from which withdrawals may not be made, and the bonus cash is strictly to be use for ticket purchases. ITV Bingo and 888 Ladies Bingo are examples of sites with such offers.

No matter what version of no deposit bingo is available, there is almost always a restriction on withdrawing any winnings. One of these is called a “play through” requirement. At the low end, the player may need to wager (i.e., buy tickets) equivalent to 3X the bonus before any funds can be transferred out. More commonly, the requirement is 20X and sometimes even 30X. What this means is any winnings must be used to “play through,” until the stipulation has been met.

Another, less draconian restriction is the withdrawal minimum. Almost all sites specify that cash taken out of the account must be at least £10, £20, or £30. If the bonus received initially was only £1~£2, it may take quite a winning streak to attain this minimum without depositing some cash at some point.

It should be stressed that only offers that require no funding whatsoever can be considered true no deposit bingo promotions. The best of them do not ask for any banking or credit card information, either, and if that seems to be a requirement for qualification, simply move on to the next site.

Published on: 23/11/2010

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