Bingo Bonuses

Over the past couple of years there has been an explosion in the popularity of online bingo. One of the main factors that people are choosing to play online rather than at a local bingo hall is that the online version offers much better value for money – something that can be offered thanks to lower overheads and larger player pools. And part of this value comes in the form of bingo bonuses.

The most generous bonuses are those meant to draw in new players – we call these ‘welcome bonuses’ or ‘sign up bonuses’ (‘SUBs’). The table above lists the sign up bonuses currently on offer from top UK online bingo sites – you’ll probably recognise a lot of the names from the high street or from TV advertising.

As with all the bonuses on our website, the ones listed above are for UK bingo players so if you’re not from the UK you might not be able to claim them. The best way to find out is to pop over to the website of the bingo room you like the look of and read their terms and conditions (or ask customer support).

And remember, you need to be a new player at any of the sites in the list to be able to claim the bonus. Whilst this can be annoying if you already have an account at a site you want to claim the bonus for (especially if the offer has since changed to be more generous), most bingo sites will also offer regular bonuses and promotions to their existing players.

Types Of Bingo Bonus Offer

Generally speaking there are four kinds of bonus offer that you can claim when you sign up to a new bingo site – no deposit offers, match bonuses, spend bonuses and money-added bonuses.

• No Deposit Offers – No deposit bonuses are given to players when they sign up, without first having to make a deposit. You’ll notice these in the table listed as something like ‘£10 Free’. For more information on this kind of promotion, see our no deposit bonus page.
• Match Bonuses – Match bonuses are given in proportion to the amount you deposit. So it could be a case of depositing £50 to get a £50 bonus, or even deposit £10 and get £30 free. Match bonuses are added to your bonus balance immediately and can be played with right away.
• Spend Bonuses – These are very similar to match bonuses except that instead of being given immediately, they are ‘unlocked’ after you have bought a certain number of bingo tickets. So it might be a case of depositing and spending £10 on bingo, and then receiving a £30 bonus.
• Money Added Bonuses – These are extra bonuses that are given to players when they make a first time deposit, but the value is independent of the bonus amount. So for example, you might have an offer that will give you £10 free on any deposit value. Often these types of bonus are linked into games such as scratch cards or spinning wheels that will reveal the amount of your bonus.

These offers aren’t mutually exclusive and many bingo sites will offer multiple kinds as part of a bonus package. For example, a particularly generous bingo site could give you a £5 no deposit bonus, then take your first deposit and add a 200% bonus and then give you an extra £15 on top.

Bingo Bonus Requirements

Now obviously nobody is going to just hand you some bonus cash and say ‘off you pop’ – so to stop you just withdrawing your bonus as soon as you get it, it is paid usually paid into a bonus balance that is separate from your cash balance. Not all sites use a bonus balance, but the large majority do.

To convert your bonus funds into real money all you need to do is buy some bingo tickets. The tickets can be bought with bonus funds, and any winning will be paid out into your real money account.

However – sometimes you will then have to wager your real money balance a small number of times before withdrawing it. A general rule of thumb is that the more generous the bonus is in terms of percentage, the higher the wagering requirements (although this isn’t always the case). Standard bingo wagering requirements are around 2 to 4x the value of the bonus. Anything higher than this would need to have a very high bonus percentage to make it worth your while taking.

So when comparing bonuses, make sure you check the terms for each offer – a 100% up to £50 may very well be better than a 250% up to £50, provided you’re willing to risk the extra funds.

What you can wager your bonus funds on to complete the wagering requirements on also varies between bingo sites. Some will only let you play bingo, whilst others will also let you wager the funds on the bingo side games such as slots or scratch cards.

Bonuses For Existing Players

It’s not just the newbies that get the bonuses (although they do tend to get the lions share) and many bingo sites also offer a variety of bonuses and offers to existing players.  These include:

• Reload Bonuses – Some sites will offer you bonuses on your second deposit, whilst others offer bonuses on every single deposit you make. Other sites will offer bonuses periodically to their players. Re-deposit bonuses tend to be less generous than the initial bonuses, but they can still be in the 50% to 100% range.
• Loyalty Points – As well as loyalty bonuses, at many bingo sites you can earn loyalty points as you play bingo. These points can then be turned into cold hard cash, or bonuses (depending on the site).
• Loyalty Bonuses – Many bingo sites also offer bonuses to their regular players. Such bonuses are usually tied to how much you’ve played recently and can be in the form of a deposit bonus or even a completely free bonus.
• Chat Room Bonuses – Pretty much every bingo site will run chat games whilst the bingo games are taking place. These games usually revolve around trivia, guessing games or the fastest person to complete a task. The bonuses from chat room games aren’t usually that big (around £1) but they’re very plentiful – and if you’re active in the chat whilst playing bingo you can significantly top up your bingo balance.
• Free Bingo Games – Not really a bonus, but worth mentioning. Most bingo sites will offer some kind of free bingo. Some offer games round the clock, whilst others are only at set times. Free bingo games don’t generally have huge prize funds, but you can’t complain too much – seeing as they’re free! Many bingo sites hold bigger free bingo games for regular players, or around special events (such as Christmas).
• Live Win Bonuses – This one is only at Bingocams and offers players a 15% bonus on any winnings if they use their webcam to celebrate their win.