How to be safe when choosing an online bingo site

A common question on the minds of many first time online gamers is whether or not the games are fair. Of course, this is a perfectly understandable and reasonable worry. The world today is full of people who are trying to scam us out of our hard earned cash. After all, who hasn’t received at least one spam letter involving words like “crisis”, “urgently needed” and “immediate payment”, together with a contrived story explaining how you’ll magically receive a large sum of money if you hand over your bank details. Incidentally, if you’re a newcomer to the internet and you haven’t received an e-mail like that yet, you’d be well advised to ignore it.

Testing games before being released

Online games, on the other hand, go through rigorous testing before being allowed on bingo sites. The well-known UK brand Mecca Bingo, for instance, has all of their games tested by third party experts before adding them to their sites. They also require them to be approved by the Alderney Gambling Commission before actually adding them to their site, and it’s fair to believe that any other reputable bingo site would follow much the same procedure. Slot games which are regulated this way are actually required to publish information on what chances you have of winning, so if you’re ever concerned, look for details on their login page.

Always remember that it’s actually very sensible to wonder if the games you’re playing are “legit” or not. All in all, while it’s important that you’re having fun while you play, it’s equally important that you have a fair chance of actually being a winner. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to judge the legitimacy of any one bingo site. They are under no special obligations to publish statistics on the number of players in their games or the number of cards which have been bought. However, you should be able to see the random number generator certificates displayed on bingo sites, and with the social media side of online bingo games (the chat rooms, as well as Facebook and others), you can try and keep track of how much you and your friends are actually winning.

Of course, a set of common sense rules apply when choosing a bingo site to play – the same kind of common sense you’d apply anywhere else. Do you trust this site? Have you seen it reviewed anywhere. Does it show contact details or have connections on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook? If so, what do other people say about it on those sites? Before signing up, it will take you only a couple of minutes with Google to check these simple facts. You can check to see if the site is also licensed by one of the UK White list jurisdictions such as Gibraltar or Alderney.

Check before you buy

If you’re not sure whether a site is legitimate or you have any reason not to trust them, then it’s a simple matter of walking away – just like you’d walk away from a dubious trader in your local market. There are hundreds of bingo sites available now on the internet, so if you don’t like the look of one, you will always have plenty of others to choose from – after all you will run out of cash well before you will run out of sites that you can legitimately play at. Even if you’ve already signed up with one site, you’re under no obligation to keep renewing that one account. There’s nothing to stop you from trying a few sites while you look for one which you prefer.

Trust, trust, trust

Remember, how and where you gamble is entirely up to you. Take care with your money, stay close to your friends, and choose somewhere you trust. As long as you’re keep your wits about you, online bingo games can be safe, fair, and a lot of fun!