The old saying goes, “Take care of the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves.”
This budgeting mantra is generally true in all walks of life, because it’s actually about having the right mindset to get the most from your money; if you don’t spend frivolously on the small stuff, you will end up with more saved up for the big stuff.
We budget in all areas of our lives, from our household bills to our nights out, and bingo budgets are included here.
Whether you have £5 or £50 a week to spare for bingo, you will want to spread it out in such a way that you get the most value for money, and the best chance of winning – that’s just common sense, right?
Yet not all people think about their bingo budget. Maybe they think it’s a bit boring, I don’t know, but it’s certainly worth having a little think about, because at the end of the day it will help you get more bingo in your life without costing any extra – what kind of psychopath wouldn’t like the sound of that!?
Anyway, now I’ve insulted a good 50% of you, let’s get on with the article.
Why You Need a Bingo Budget
I’m not talking about sitting down with a spreadsheet here, I’m not that dull.
However, bingo is gambling and we all need to make sure that when we gamble we are keeping things fun – and there is nothing fun about over spending, so that’s one good reason right there.
A bingo budget, whether it be weekly or monthly or however you want to work it out, makes sure we keep to within our limits and don’t spend more than we can afford.
You will know what sort of spare cash you have left over for funsies after your monthly outgoings have been paid, and how much of that spare cash is used on bingo is up to you.
I would suggest keeping the amount as low as possible though, because then if you have the odd week where you want to play a bit more then you can treat yourself, whereas setting the budget too high you are more likely to get used to spending that higher amount and might even run out of funds early.
If you budget, you shouldn’t find yourself in a situation where you really fancy a game of bingo but don’t have any money left to pay for it.
In short, budgeting avoids disappointment.
The other reason a budget is a good idea, is because it helps us value the time we spend playing bingo.
You’re paying for the experience after all, so you should recognise that you are choosing to spend your hard-earned money on it as a way to enjoy yourself. Value that time.
How to Create a Bingo Budget in 3 Steps
This is nice and easy, and can be thought of in a few quick steps:
- How much disposable income do you have?
- How much of that disposable income do you want to set aside for bingo?
- How will you split that bingo budget up to make sure it lasts?
The first step is simply knowing how much you have coming in and how much you have going out. I will use a weekly time frame here because that’s what works best for me, but you don’t have to.
If you have £100 a week left over after all of your bills and essentials, than that is your disposable income. Your fun money.
So now it’s on to step two, figuring out how much of it you want to spend on bingo.
Not all of it, obviously, as you will probably want to have a drink with friends, order a takeaway, maybe buy a book or some jeans or something – whatever.
So you might decide to spend £20 of that £100 on bingo. Fine.
Lastly, you need to work out how to spend that £20 during the week in a way that suits how you play.
You might go to a bingo hall once a week, in which case that £20 will be enough for one session. However, if you play online for a short time say 5 days out of 7, you might want to limit yourself to around £4 per day you play.
It’s totally up to you how you split it up, and you can play around with your budget if you find it isn’t working, but just have it in the back of your mind.
9 Tips to Make Your Bingo Budget Go Further
However much you end up with to spend on your bingo, you will want to get the best value possible, and to do that, you need to take advantage of anything and everything that will make your bingo spends go further and last longer.
How strict you are with these ideas will completely depend on you, your circumstances, how much of a penny pincher you are – and wanting to get every last drop of value out of every penny you spend is no bad thing.
So have a read of the following and feel free to take any ideas you think may apply to you, and ignore any that don’t.
New Customer Offers
Sign up offers at bingo websites are generally the best offers available to bingo players, and the good news is that there are hundreds of bingo sites out there.
You could sign up to a new one every week and still not get through them all in a year.
It would be a bit of a faff, but if you really did want to get the most from your money you could consistently join new sites and use all the offers available until you get through them all.
It would take a long time, and the wagering requirements might give you finger strain from all that screen taping or mouse clicking, but you would certainly get a lot of action in.
What’s more, since most sites run on one of a few different bingo networks, you would even have access to the same content a lot of the time
Regular Customer Promotions
Some sites are more prolific with their promotions than others, but most run at least a couple of regular customer offers that are worth a look.
Although not generally as valuable as new customer offers, they still provide the opportunity to get more out of your budget than you would otherwise, so don’t ignore them.
A lot of sites have a daily free game now where you can win free spins or bingo tickets, others give you access to special big prize games if you deposit a certain amount, or reduce the price of tickets.
There are all sorts of things out there, with brands inventing new promotion ideas all the time, so make your you check this area when you log in as there might be something worthwhile in there for you.
Free Bingo
It’s hard to get better value than when something is free, and these days, most bingo sites offer free bingo in one form or another.
It might be a set number of free tickets to a specific room each week, or a free bingo room that is only open at set times, it could be anything really, but free bingo is definitely available at a lot of bingo sites.
There are cash prizes to be won too, so if you really want to stretch your budget as far as possible, making the most of free games is a good idea.
The downside is that the free games are very busy, so your chances of winning them are lower, but then again, if you think about entertainment value then winning isn’t the only reason to join in.
If your bingo budget is on the higher side this might not really appeal to you, as you have to be quite disciplined about when and where you play at some sites, but for anyone willing to set a reminder it’s a chance to win cash for nothing.
Chat Room Games
Let’s not forget the chat hosts, who often run silly side games or quizzes in the bingo chat rooms to try and engage the players and get them talking.
They sometimes do this by offering small prizes for the first correct response to a question, or for the people who are engaging most often.
You aren’t going to win any money with these games, but you can often bag free bingo tickets as prizes, so they offer extra chances to win the game for nothing.
You usually either have to have a funded account or have been playing for real money to qualify for the chat room game prizes, but you wouldn’t be there if you weren’t playing, and chat room games even run in rooms with 1p tickets so no one has to miss out on them.
The questions are usually proper easy to answer too, so it’s often all about how quickly you can type.
Loyalty Points or Trophies
If a bingo site wants to give you something back then take them up on it.
VIP tiers aren’t really a thing anymore after so many VIP managers abused their positions, but many sites still have some sort of loyalty scheme whereby players earn points for the money the spend at the site.
These build up and can then be ‘cashed in’ for whatever the site wants to offer you – usually bonus cash, free spins, or free bingo tickets.
Other sites might operate a trophy system, where the player earns mini awards for different achievements on site, like their first win, or their first deposit, or being a member for a year – whatever.
Collecting trophies help the player advance to higher ‘levels’ and at each new level they get a spin of a big prize wheel which hands out goodies.
It’s all essentially the same idea just packaged in different ways, but the bottom line is that you can end up with more than you pay for, which is what making the most of your bingo budget is all about.
Price of Tickets
A little obvious perhaps, but if you have a budget of £10 a week, and you like to play most days, then you shouldn’t be playing in rooms where tickets cost £1.
You are unlikely to win, you will burn through your money really quickly, and spend most of the rest of the week twiddling your thumbs because you can’t afford to deposit more funds.
Equally though, if you have a big old budget of £50, even buying the maximum number of tickets in a 1p room probably won’t get through all of that, and if you win it will be very small amounts too, so you might want to consider going to a more expensive room, or just reducing your budget if you’re happy with 1p tickets.
If you are somewhere in the middle though, and find you are getting through your budget too quickly, try dropping down to cheaper rooms and see if that helps your funds stretch.
Game Type
Pick games with more prizes like 90 ball bingo or games with extra features.
This way, not only will the games last longer and so give you more entertainment value for the money you spend, but also, you get more chances to win something per ticket.
By game features, I mean jackpots that can be triggered if you win in fewer than a certain number of calls, or games where you can collect tokens as you play which accumulate to give out prizes, that sort of thing.
Anything with a bit of extra purchase basically.
Just be careful if funds are limited that you don’t end up playing a game that completes really quickly just because it has extra features; a 40 ball game or something that is over inside of 30 seconds.
Time of Play
Timing is something else to consider, especially if you are on the lower end of the bingo budget.
It may not always be possible depending on your schedule, but if you can work things so that you play at quieter times of day, you might find yourself experiencing more wins.
Now obviously, if these are cash games, the prize will be reflective of how busy the room is, so those wins might be quite small, but semi regular small wins are better than zero big wins – which is what I usually get!
Thinking about the entertainment value again, it’s much more fun to win a small amount a few times a week then to never win anything because it is really busy.
If you are lucky, you might even find a quiet game with a set prize that pays out regardless of the number of people playing – that is an ideal situation because your chances of winning are increased but the prize stays the same, even when fewer people are playing for it.
Managing Winnings
Lastly, let’s talk about winnings.
I have a rule that if I win more than £5, I bank it, and if I win less than £5, I am free to spend it on more bingo, or slots, or whatever I fancy on the day.
This works for me, but for you it might be something different, who knows, the important thing is that you have a plan if any wins should come your way.
You wouldn’t want to fritter away a £30 win which could have got you a decent meal out just because you didn’t think ahead would you?
Even if you do want to spend your winnings, perhaps on games with higher ticket costs for the chance of winning bigger money, just make sure you will be happy with the choice you make, and that you have thought about it.
If playing more expensive games will feel like a treat to you then great, you’ve got value out of those winnings. However, if losing some money you just won would make you feel negative, just withdraw it.
Whatever you do, have a plan.