Let’s face it; play bingo is hardly going to arouse a thrill-seeker into taking it up in attraction to its high risk stakes. Over sixties, playing bingo in a community hall does not seem to register with the seedy possibilities of a stake-out associated with poker for example. But do not be fooled. There are hazards to the game of playing bingo and whilst they may be small and hardly worth deterring a player who enjoys the game socially and for fun, it may be interesting to know that there have been concerns over the play bingo game.
The UK’s National Bingo Game Association recently announced that according to their study, people who have stressful careers tend to be more stressed and worked up when playing bingo than they are when dealing with stressful situations at their work. The result suggests that even people who are capable of dealing in highly stressful situations cannot resist the stress that a highly charged game of bingo can cause when they play bingo.
It is the anxiety of being so close to winning that can drive people’s who play bingo excitement higher and higher and therefore their disappointment is greater and greater if they lose. You think that you have just one number left, you must be so close now and it is easy to lose sight of the fact that by this stage there are probably quite a few others who play bingo in the exact same position as you are.
More worrying than the stress however is the violence that has been associated with playing bing. Although rare, cases have occurred and because a high percentage of bingo players tend to be single females, their vulnerability becomes very apparent.
Many have pointed to online bingo as the solution but others say the risk is so small, it is hardly worth losing the social aspect of the bingo game and open oneself to the risk of compulsive play bingo on the internet. A woman who won thousands playing bingo was recently shot in the stomach after refusing to hand money over to her assailants who apparently watching her playing bingo.
The 39 year old won almost $6000 near to West Palm Beach by playing bingo a single night. Upon refusing to hand over her money who won by playing bingo, she was shot through the window of her car. Luckily she survived and was later treated in hospital, but the incident has prompted many to raise their voices over the concerns of gamblers leaving casinos or gambling halls with large amounts of money and also those who play bingo.
Similar incidents have been reported in Europe and in some cases bingo halls (being less protected than the wealthier casinos) have actually been held up. The chant has been that online gambling – play bingo online – is a safer option. Credit card fraud is deemed to be much lower, it is easier to track winnings and there is no risk in carrying large amounts of cash around late at night when returning from your playing bingo night.
You are in the comfort and security of your own home. The problem is that this is very much part of the problem for compulsive gamblers. To play bingo game on the internet is very different to play bingo game in a social atmosphere. The object of playing bingo purely for money seems to be exemplified by the fact that one does not even have to check one’s own cards.
It is automatically scanned by the bingo site. There are few limits, no way of seeing if the bingo player is a minor or intoxicated and the mental and social stimulation are abundantly missing. There is concern that people who play bingo may be retreating further and further into the comfort and security of the artificiality of a screen in order to avoid the dangers outside.
The Governor of the state of Washington decided that a large threat to the people who play bingo of that state was the concept of playing bingo too frequently. There is concern that the pla bingo game is taken too nonchalantly in the debate on compulsive gambling.
It is, after all a game that is easy to become addicted to. As playing bingo becomes more and more popular, the cash prizes have become higher and higher and the variety and options of bingo games are becoming more and more expansive. At the end of the day however, bingo is still a comparatively low-risk pastime. It can be enjoyable, social and a great way to spend an evening – play bingo.
Perhaps all that is needed is just a remembrance that it is still a form of gambling, whether played in a church hall or a Vegas casino and that although lower in threat, the dangers are still always present.
How to Play Bingo on a Budget
For most of us who play bingo, budgets are necessary, no matter how much we dislike them. We don’t have a source of unlimited funds to use as we like so we need to set aside our income in portions for all of our monthly expenses. Of course within our monthly expenses we need to include some money for entertainment.
Our favorite type of entertainment is online bingo so every month we will set aside some money to play bingo. Our personal bingo budget is $25 per week so we try to figure out what is the best way to stretch our bingo dollars and make it last for the entire week.
Play Bingo for Free
At the beginning our focus was on free bingo money. We checked out all of the top online bingo sides and found out which offered the best no deposit bonus. Out of these sites we joined several of them and played for a couple of weeks without having to spend anything.
Our main objective was to see which sites were more fun, friendlier and offered the best value for money. Most of the sites where we play bingo online did offer excellent free no deposit bingo bonuses except that when our luck was good and we did manage to win, we were unable to withdraw our winnings.
This was expected as we were playing for free after all, so after testing out several sites we decided that it was time to make a decision and choose an online bingo site. In choosing this site we considered the fun and friendly factors first. There were several sites that we really enjoyed so it helped us to narrow our choices.
Next we looked at the best bingo bonus on offer and VIP levels. We could clearly see that staying at one bingo hall and building up our loyalty bonuses was better than jumping around all the time. Also, it was nice to see some familiar people when we logged in each day. Our plan was to stick with our chosen bingo hall, frequently play bingo for a few months and see how it worked out.
Play Bingo and Have Fun
Jump ahead a few months and we are still at the same online bingo site. We are happy where we are and are keeping to our bingo budget. But, somehow we feel like we are missing out on some big jackpots and prizes that other bingo sites are offering.
We decided to check out some more new bingo sites. We joined and again played the free bingo bonus. We signed up for the newsletters to keep up on the latest bingo promotions. The problem is that between the original sites that we checked out and the new sites that we joined we were getting more than 10 emails everyday promoting the latest contest or bonus. We didn’t expect this.
We were actually just hoping to get an email now and again when something big was going on. After a couple of weeks and a couple hundred emails we decided this was just getting annoying. We unsubscribed to all of the bingo newsletters and found a great online bingo site that has all the latest offers and promotions so that we don’t bombarded with offers.
We now check in with that site once or twice a week to see if there is anything exceptional and we can also check the bingo reviews for more details on these sites and the best places to play bingo. So now after six months we are still very happy with the original bingo site that we have chosen. We are very loyal to that bingo online site, but we do keep our eyes open for some bingo promotions that are too big to avoid.
We have played at a few different sites when there is a huge jackpot, a new car, a trip or some other amazing offer. It is kind of like playing the lotto. We play bingo games if there is a big jackpot, but most of the time we stick with our regular site that is familiar, friendly and gives us great value for our bingo dollar and they offer our favorite online bingo games.
