Life is Funny

If you play Bingo at a bingo hall for money, be very careful how you spend your money.

Many bingo addicts believe that if they know how all the bingo games work, that they’re somewhat of an expert, and they are increasing their chances to win.

Yes, that is true, but at what cost?

It all boils down to mathematics.

Let’s say there are 300 people in a large bingo hall, and everyone is playing the exact same games as you, and investing the same amount of money.

When you buy a “regular booklet” of bingo cards, that have 9 cards for each game, and there are a total of 15 games played, and it costs you $25 for the booklet, how much does it cost for your chance to win?

$25 investment / (divided by) 15 games = $1.66 per game.

If the average prize is $200 per game, you’re paying $1.66 with a 1 in 300 chance to win $200

Now, some bingo halls will have a special bonanza, where tickets cost $50 cents each. Let’s say that the prize is $1,000 and everyone buys 10 tickets.

You’d be paying $5.00 with a 1 in 300 chance to win $1,000 which is the equivalent of paying $1.00 to win $200 if you were to divide it up. As you can see, the special bonanza game is a better deal. This is why people go to bingo halls anyway, to win large jackpots.

So buying a lot of “regular game” cards is not in your best interest. Dollar for dollar, you are paying a higher amount for your chance to win.

How about those special games? Also known as side bets. Sometimes during an intermission the electronic bingo terminals will let you wager 25 cents with prizes of 25 cents, 50cents, $1.50, $7.50, and $25.00

But if the odds are like this:

win 25 cents (1 in 5) cost is 25 cents for an average win of 5 cents
win 50 cents (1 in 15) cost is 25 cents for an average win of 3 cents
win $1.50 (1 in 50) cost is 25 cents for an average win of 3 cents
win $7.50 (1 in 500) cost is 25 cents for an average win of 1.5 cents
win $25.00 (1 in 5000) cost is 25 cents for an average win of 0.5 cents

So eventhough your wager amount is very small (25 cents), the average win amount is also very small, so you’re completely wasting your money.

Play the game 40 times during a 1/2 hour intermission, and you’ve wagered $10.00 with your average total wins to be $2.00, which means you’re going to lose $8.00 of your wager amount on average.

This is the gravy money for bingo halls. All the little $1 side bets, the little 25 cent electronic wagers, etc. These side bets payoff very rarely to the players, which means a higher rake for the bingo hall.

A smart bingo player will not participate in these side bets. The increased chance of winning is too expensive and not value smart. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST!

The bingo halls know the science behind how it all works. These little side bet games are there to soak you in.. Very few people get rich from them.

In addition, one of the multiple bingo parlor games that is connected by phone, where everyone buys a bingo card for $4 and has a chance to win $10,000 if they get 3 lines in 23 numbers called, is not a good value for the money.

Let’s say there are 10 bingo halls connected to this network. Each one has 300 people in it, with an average person buying 2 of these $4 tickets each.

That is 6,000 bingo cards being played, at a cost of $4 each, which is $24,000 taken in by the bingo hall. The prize is $10,000

Now you’ve paid $8 already. Your chance is 2 in 6,000 of winning a prize of any sort which means you have a 0.0000000003% chance of winning.

Do you really think it matters to double up, pay $16 for 4 cards, and have a 4 in 6,000 chance of winning, which equals to a 0.00000006% chance?

It’s still an almost 0 chance of winning, so why spend so much? Your odds are VERY VERY LOW. You’d do better at the regular bingo hall games, because atleast there your $1.66 gives you a 1 in 300 chance of winning $200

Wouldn’t you rather have a 1 in 300 chance of winning, instead of a 4 in 6,000 chance?

This article is difficult to understand, becauser it is a lot of math, and I’m not a mathematician, but the concept remains the same.

Your order of play at a bingo hall or bingo parlor should always be, IN THIS ORDER:

#1. Play all special jackpot / bonanza games are are In-hall only. This is your best chance at winning for the least cost.

#2. Play the regular games that are In-Hall only. This is an equal “best chance” of winning, at the next cost level

#3. For the multi-bingo hall games that are connected by satellite or a network, AVOID THEM, or play the minimum you can. The chance of winning is extremely low, and the cost is usually very high.

#4. For the side-bets, electronic intermission 25 cent games, all the little “Here, give a $1, and if you bingo on a certain number win 3x your bet” type games, AVOID THEM COMPLETELY. Your odds are very low, your payoff frequency is very low, and the money you are handing over would be better spent buying more bonanza or special tickets anyway.

Good luck, and have fun playing BINGO!