When Cashcade launched Cheeky Bingo into the world of internet bingo the game took on a whole new dimension with players rushing to the new brand to enjoy bingo free play. Since Cheeky launched we have seen multiple brands launch with a similar ethos and as new bingo sites open weekly there are very few now that don’t have some sort of bingo free play offering. So what exactly is bingo free play and does it really do what it says on the tin or is there more to this story?
It used to be that many of the Internet bingo sites offered newly registering players a “no deposit required” welcome bonus so that they could trial the site before making any financial commitment. The registration process previously didn’t require the input of financial details but recently we have seen brands move away from the no deposit required bonus to the bingo free play offerings we see today. The outcome is the same; players get to trial the games with no initial outlay. However there has been much confusion with the free bingo offers as many internet bingo sites profess to offer “play for free, win for real”.
For a player who has not made use of the bingo deposit bonuses on offer at any of the brands offering free bingo this is not the case because in order to have any winnings derived from the bingo free play credited to a bank account or credit card an initial transaction must have been made.
We did see a few brands, namely Lots of Bingo, Bingolore and a couple of others on the Better Bingo Network (before it closed), offer bingo free play in its truest form for a short time but their offer soon came to an end. Players on these brands where given £5 free just for registering an account and then if they could accumulate total winnings of £50 or more they were able to withdraw without ever have to make a financial transaction.
Bingo free play has to be taken for what it is, the opportunity to trial a new brand before making the choice to deposit your own money at the Internet bingo site. You are never going to make money playing in the free bingo rooms; it’s pay to play that offers the big jackpots! (With the exception of a game on 9th July 2010 at Foxy Bingo where £10,000 was offered as the prize and every single player at the site could get three free tickets!)
Bingo Free Play Update
Since this article was originally written in July 2010 we have seen many changes to the bingo free play available online today. More and more brands are reintroducing the no deposit bingo bonuses that were quite prevalent in 2010. Additionally there are now a whole range of free play games available from various brands and the record for the largest value free bingo game still belongs to Foxy Bingo thanks to a campaign in 2011 where the brand played not one, not two but THREE £100,000 jackpot games which had no cost to play.
On some brands bingo free play is a daily event with special depositor free games and no cost rooms a regular promotion. You just have to know where to visit to make the most of the budget busting games.