Online bingo by its nature, is an addictive pastime.

Having fun, the thrill of winning and just being immersed in that bingo atmosphere is … intoxicating.

Unfortunately, there are cases when people take this too far.

Ultimately, they cause problems for themselves and cast a negative sheen on online bingo.

There’s more:

A story recently broke about a lady called Kelly Nield, who accumulated debts of £45,000 through online bingo.

The media are branding the sites involved as the real villains, when this is simply not true.

We all have a choice, which means we can choose how much we play with.

It seems incredible that so much money can be spent on these sites, when the average ticket price is merely 10p!

kelly-nield-foxy-bingo

Undoubtedly, she was playing slots as well to rack up that kind of debt.

Regardless of the games she was playing, an amount way below that magnitude would set off my personal alarm bells.

She was playing at online bingo sites such as Foxy Bingo and Gala Bingo.

So, was it their fault?

Well, the media are certainly giving them a kicking.

In reality, they did nothing wrong.

Foxy Bingo or Gala Bingo didn’t ask her to deposit that money and both sites have tools to help people who think they may have a problem.

So, what now?

This is indeed a sad case, but a rare one in the online bingo community.

Evidently, there is not enough exposure to the tools that players can use to stay in control.

I thought I would share my personal tips to play bingo responsibly.

After all, we all want to have fun with bingo and stories like this could have been avoided.

Set yourself a budget for your online bingo

Set yourself a budget for your online bingo

Set yourself a bingo budget: only play with what you can afford to lose and use a payment method with limited funds. For example, Paysafecard lets you deposit money at a paypoint facility, top up once a week with your funds for bingo and boom, you’re sorted!

Using top-up payments allow easy money management

Using top-up payments allow easy money management

Set yourself a deposit limit: if you would prefer to use a solution provided by the bingo sites, then you can set yourself a deposit limit. You set your own limit and how much you are allowed to deposit on a monthly basis, meaning you can only deposit the amount you set.

beach

Take a break! Somewhere like this gorgeous beach would do 😉

 

Take a break: think you are spending too much money and need some time out? Bingo sites will offer a self-exclusion period where they will limit your access for a specified amount of time. Some bingo sites will even offer an exclusion period of up to 6 months.

Take up a hobby - bingo is not the only way to have fun

Take up a hobby – bingo is not the only way to have fun

Balance bingo with other activities: bingo isn’t the only way to have fun! Why not take up a new hobby, spend time with loved ones or spend time reading up on the latest celeb gossip.

And finally, if all else fails… Seek help: If you have gone through the above steps and you still find yourself experiencing problems, you may want to look at professional help. You can get in touch with the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 for more help and advice.

So these are my top tips, but I’m sure our savvy readership has some tips of their very own. How do you keep in control with you online bingo? Let us and other Two Little Fleas readers know in the comments!

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