Best Online Bingo Chat Rooms

Quick Summary

Gala Bingo used to run on Playtech software but moved over to Electraworks in 2021. This is the old Cozy Games network, but it’s now rebranded as an inhouse network for Entain brands.  A large number of players can be found on here despite only a few brands using it, as those brands tend to be big ones, like Gala.

When in Gala Bingo chat rooms I engaged with someone at some point in every game and every room, however, in pretty much most chat rooms I initiated the conversation.  The players are very keen to shout out their numbers and if they have one or two numbers left to go.

Busiest Chat Time/ The Chattiest Times

Interestingly, it didn’t really make a difference to the room chat depending on the time of day I played.  Rooms were just as chatty in the early afternoon as they were at 8.00pm in the evening.  One of the longest chats with the most people joining in I had was with people about food shopping (of all things), was around 1.00pm on a weekday.

The speedy games were not chatty at all purely because the games happen so fast and people seem to be focused on the numbers and their cards or they have pre-purchased and are not physically in the online chat room.

Gala has lots of players ‘shouting’ out 1TG, 2TG as well as the specific numbers they need to win.  This seemed to be the most common way players were communicating along with wishing each other luck and congratulating players on wins.

The most fun I had chatting was during the evening, the chat was light and just flowed, which meant that I stayed playing longer and when I finished playing I felt like I had met some new people.  I felt like I had socialised.

Player Type

There were a lot of chat room names that included the words nanna, granny, nan.  This suggests that there are mature ladies playing regularly.  Players on Gala often put the year they were born tagged into their chat room name with many having dates between 1950 – 1970 listed, which also suggests older players.  There seemed to be more female dominated chat names, using female names.

There was not a huge amount of bingo lingo chat which actually made it easier to talk to people, suggesting people were playing on a tablet or laptop. Players also didn’t really use the emoji symbols available, they were typing 1TG or 2TG instead.

Chat Room Host Presence

Chat room hosts were rarely present, only encountering 2 hosts over the 7 day period played.  When they were present they were in random games; there was no particular trend (i.e. in busier rooms).

On one occasion I started chatting to a host who was in the Philippines, they were very much participating in the flow of the chat and very pleasant, talking about the weather over there, they didn’t initiate conversation, simply joining in and answering logistical / help based questions.  However, at one point the host disappeared then upon retuning said he had lost power to his computer due to a storm!

Chat Room Games

No chat room games popped up when I was playing, nor was there any promotions detailed by a host.

Any Moaners Having A Moan

I didn’t really come across too many complainers, mainly just comments made in jest about the random number generator calling out the wrong balls; blaming ‘Bob’ because people didn’t win.

I never experienced any uncomfortable moments during my bingo game play and chat with Gala.

Regular Player Community

There is definitely a sense of people playing regularly in the same room at the same time and certainly knowing fellow players.  I didn’t come across lengthy conversations taking place between a few players as its likely they were using the private chat option but there were lots of hellos to specific players.

I got chatting to one player that always visits a particular bingo room as she likes the cheap tickets and it starts just as she gets home from work, she pre-bought her tickets for the days she worked.

Gala Bingo chat rooms are exclusive to Gala, so are not shared with any other site even though some of the rooms are.  However it was confusing that some chat rooms had many many people listed as online in that room which was very different to the number of actual players in the bingo game.

For example there were over 240 names listed as present in the All Sorts Bingo Room yet only 42 people actually playing.  This could be because people haven’t logged out, the website hasn’t updated, people are in the chat rooms but not playing bingo but still it remains a bit of a mystery.

Quick Summary

Mecca run on Playtech software. They share their games with brands like Kitty Bingo as they are both owned by The Rank Group, however, some of their games are exclusive to Rank brands and some are shared by other brands on the Playtech network. This means that sometimes you will be talking with a larger group of people depending on the room you choose.

Mecca bingo chat rooms have a really friendly atmosphere.  The chat hosts make you feel very welcome and are genuinely interested to get to know the players despite the vast numbers at times, and because of this, the player community seems really strong and people are making genuine friendships whilst enjoying the bingo.

Busiest Chat Time/ The Chattiest Times

The bingo rooms on Mecca were always fairly busy, however the rooms were certainly more quiet during the morning than around 8.00pm to 10.00pm in the evening.

During the evening, Mecca are running their big prize games with special guests and singers and over 1000 people in some cases were playing and counted as being in the chat room.

During one of my sessions in the evening I engaged with 14 other players in various conversations.  I felt like I was on a night out and made loads of new friends.  I really enjoyed this experience.

Player Type

Mecca seems to appeal to all ages but predominantly women judging by the types of chat names.  There are some daft and cheeky names in use which players may have regretted choosing because you can’t easily change your chat name once it is set.

The design of Mecca is quite playful so it does have a more feminine feel about it.  Many of the players had families as they mentioned the school run and bedtime routines, which could suggest that a number of players are average of 25-45 years.

Many many players love to use the emoji buttons to communicate in chat, which on Mecca are quite cleverly chosen. This means that you can easily respond to jokes and feel like you are part of the fun and joining in without having to type too much.

Chat Room Host Presence

Mecca has a very active host presence, in fact there was a host present more often than not.  Without fail, they always responded to a question or an initial ‘hello everyone’ from me.  The host always asked me how I was and asked if I needed any help.  Feel free to ask them questions.

The host ran some chat games which seemed to be popular amongst players and they also started conversations.  The host told me on on occasion that they are always present in two rooms but the swap over every hour.

When I played at around 8pm, there were obviously players that were regulars as the chat host was asking them more personalised questions.  Even though I was new to the room, the host was very engaging and included me in the chat.

I learnt that a number of the hosts were based outside of the UK, one host being in Mauritius.  She was very very friendly and said to all players that we were more than welcome to visit her in Mauritius.  I could sense this particular host had quite a few fans, potentially players choosing the room that she was hosting in because she ran lots of games and was really chatty to everyone.  Just imagine if we all turned up to Mauritius.

Chat Room Games

The chat room games were a lot of fun and loads of players always participated.  A popular game was for players to watch the balls as they are drawn and when a ball with the number 1 in it is drawn they need to type ‘Kellys Eye’, followed by the number’.

It wasn’t always the first person to answer correctly that would scoop the prize, which was bonus funds or small amounts of cash (50p), the host said the prize goes to the fifth person to respond.

Any Moaners Having A Moan

I did come across a few moaners, players suggesting games are rigged and the same players always winning, spending loads of money and not winning a thing.

This only every happened in rooms without a host presence.  I didn’t engage overly with these players, as you never know how much others are playing with (unless they tell you, which many did).

Interestingly, I did experience a player being a tad on the rude side, not offensive or aimed at anyone but just a bit below the belt with some comments and the host was very quick to remind the player of appropriate language and the chat room rules.  The host did this in a tactful manner which meant nobody felt awkward after the comments had been shared.

Regular Player Community

Mecca definitely has a lot of regular players and certainly the chat rooms are pretty chatty places to be.  People were much more open to chat in the Mecca rooms, discussing tattoos, what people were eating for lunch  / dinner, what people were watching on the TV at that time and even chatting about random acts of kindness players had done to others.

The chat hosts seem to work hard to foster this chatty friendly atmosphere.  Accessing the chat room was easiest using my laptop, however there were never issues with the Mecca app when joining in using my mobile device. You can see who is on a mobile device there there is a small mobile phone symbol attached to the chat comments those players make.

Some of the Special Bingo rooms such as Burst and Emoji Bingo and Best Odds Bob have shared chat rooms, so when you are chatting along with playing a game of bingo, not everyone is playing the same game which took away from the atmosphere a little for me.  These rooms were also on the whole much quieter that the traditional bingo game rooms so I tended not to play and chat so much in them.

Quick Summary

Coral is famous for its high street betting shops and online sports betting.  They are another brand who moved away from the Playtech platform to Entain’s own Electaworks Network (formerly Cozy Games) so only recently has the site interface completely changed (2020).

Coral Bingo actually feels quite sterile, all of the games seem identical with minimal difference in theme or game feel. The interface for the chat room is simplistic.

No host presence to spark conversation or initiate games.  I Sense that people are not bothered about the authenticity of the game, they pre-buy the tickets and don’t have any desire to chat in the rooms.

Busiest Chat Time/ The Chattiest Times

When I played on my mobile phone sadly the whole app kept freezing, I needed to refresh page which meant I lost chat history.  I played at all times of the day but unfortunately something kept going wrong with the connection.

I actually got pretty frustrated with my mobile phone in the end and I switched back to playing on my laptop.  The chat function on mobile phones is very difficult to use.  I made a comment and for a good while nobody responded and tumbleweed may well have rolled over my key board, then finally a little comment popped up from a female type username who responded.

This one little comment made me feel warm and fuzzy because I genuinely thought nobody was out there in the Coral bingo world.

Player Type

User names are very mixed and there do seem to be more masculine type names than noticed on other bingo websites.

This is likely to be because Coral is predominately a sportsbook betting website and players maybe play a bit of bingo on the side with some loose change they have in their account.  We also know that even though online bingo is more popular with women, men love playing it as well.

Chat Room Host Presence

The hosts popped up regularly, moving between rooms from what I can tell. This was good because you never got bored of the same person, there was always someone new coming in to lead the conversations. On the other hand, they always announced where they were going next, so you could follow them if you were mid-chat.

Chat Room Games

No games, but the chat hosts do give out rewards to players who are active in the rooms, so it could pay to be sociable at Coral!

Any Moaners Having A Moan

Came across an interesting comment from one player saying that Coral have loads of ‘Bots’ which are fake accounts that win over and over again.

I checked this with the Live Chat and Coral were very helpful saying that they didn’t have bots, that many players pre buy their tickets with Coral so it has a different feel in the chat rooms.

Regular Player Community

I get the impression that players were not visiting the Coral bingo lobby exclusively.  It felt a bit like players might be used the betting website for other bets and dabbled in a bit of bingo on the side.

That said, there where quite a few players so it obviously is popular. But it just didn’t hit the spot for my chatting needs.

This is a little odd because there are quite a few rooms exclusive to Coral customers, so you would think a regular group of players who liked those rooms would get to know each other. Maybe it’s just such a big brand and known for other things that it attracts a different type of bingo fan.

Quick Summary

Kitty Bingo is owned by the Rank Group but runs on Playtech software, just like Mecca.  It pretty much offers everything Mecca does, however there are some rooms that aren’t shared between the two, so you won’t always be chatting with everyone on the network.

The hosts are really friendly and always responded to my hello’s and comments but fellow players seem to be quiet as mice at Kitty.

Busiest Chat Time/ The Chattiest Times

Having visited the site a number of times over the week I couldn’t help but notice there was never really that many players in the chat rooms with often under 30 names listed, yet there were vast numbers of players with purchased tickets, suggesting that most players were over on the Mecca Bingo website or they pre buy their tickets and don’t physically ‘play’ the game.

I did have a few random chats here and there, but mainly with the host in the room.  Whilst it was fab to engage I did get that tingling feeling that the host is probably being paid to chat to me so there wasn’t that genuine connection.

Player Type

As experienced on many of the sites, chat room names and player user names are heavily dominated with female type names, but there were a few male names and lots of dates of births added which covered a broad range of dates.

I noticed a lot of incomprehensible usernames, for example one similar to: “yyyyyppplll555”.  These stood out more to me because it made me wonder who or what that user actually was.

Chat Room Host Presence

The chat room hosts at Kitty were really friendly and pretty much always said hello if I posted a comment in the chat room.

I commented to one that I noticed the room was very quiet and she responded saying that the room chat is fairly quiet at Kitty but there are some chatty players that often play around 6pm and 8pm in the evenings.

Chat Room Games

There were not as many chat room games as I had experienced at other sites, they seemed to be played routinely at 6pm each day and the chat room was a bit more lively then, however the chat was focussed around shouting out numbers or 2TG or 1TG or the answer to the chat games.

Any Moaners Having A Moan

Yes, sadly there were quite a few, people suggesting the site is rigged and commenting that they never win and they are leaving the site.

Regular Player Community

I genuinely didn’t notice if there were any regular players like I could at Mecca.

Bingo Networks Without Chat Rooms

Since the online bingo revolution began, chat rooms have always been an integral part of the experience. Online brands wanted to mirror the real life game as accurately as possible, so the ability to socialise was important.

In more recent times, however, a few networks have made the controversial decision to get rid of them all together.

Dragonfish, for example, no longer include the ability to chat with your roomies in their bingo rooms. They used to have this feature, so the decision to get rid of it could indicate a change in direction for online bingo. Pragmatic Play entered the bingo market in 2018 without even trialling a chat option, and given they were the new network on the block they clearly felt it would help them stand out.

I suppose this isn’t a bad thing. There are plenty of bingo sites that do support chat rooms and hire chat hosts etc., so players who want a conflab can still get that. Maybe some people would prefer to play without those distractions though, and these chat free alternatives provide what they are looking for.

As I have discussed elsewhere on the site, bingo is always been good at reinventing itself, so perhaps this is just the next stage in a natural progression for online bingo?