by fgtsd » Sat Nov 20, 2010 1:36 am
As a poker player who plays a more unusual poker variation I sometimes get the urge to have a crack at the big field tournaments. This means playing on U.S. facing sites, so kick off time is around midnight to 2am, and if I go deep then probably won't finish till 4 or 5 in the morning. So I thought I might have a go at the bingo offers on the main U.K. Bookmaking sites that I use for matched betting.
So over the course of a month I did:
Ladbrokes – deposit and play £5 get £20 free
Betfred – deposit and play £10 get £30 free
William Hill – play £10 and get £25 free
Bet365 – play £5 and get £25 free
Skybet – play £5 and get £15 free
Paddy Power – play £5 and get £ 20 free
(note the deposit element necessary for both Ladbrokes & Betfred)
All the sites are provided by Virtue Fusion, Ladbrokes & Bet 365 seem to share the same software and most of the games seem to be between 1p-10p per ticket. The other 4 all share a slightly different form of the software with most games costing between 10p-50p per ticket.
Once you have played the necessary amount the bonus money is credited to your account straight away, the only exception being Ladbrokes which was credited within 24 hours. In all cases the bonus money is used before any cash you have in your account.
So I played at around 3 to 4am in the morning, buying max tickets where possible. There seemed less players on the Laddies/Bet365 software so I had more wins but of a smaller amount. There were more players on the other sites but with more expensive tickets the prizes were bigger. All in all I came out with a clear profit of £165.
On Ladbrokes you can use the bonus money on the mini games including Roulette & Blackjack, I used most of it on bingo and just had the last couple of quid on Blackjack. Also on most sites you can buy your tickets in advance, (not quite sure how far ahead) so you don't have to sit there playing bingo.
When you compare the bingo bonuses offered by the above 6 bookmaking sites to those offered by other bingo sites, ( e.g. Sunbingo, Poshbingo e.t.c.) there are some distinct differences. The bookies offer smaller first play bonuses, (£15-£30) but with much more generous terms, (£5 for £25 = 500% first play bonus for Bet365).
The bingo sites are happy for you to deposit £100 as a first deposit but most sites will go no further than giving you a 200% first deposit bonus. This makes me think this might be the point where making a profit becomes a matter of chance. So for me I will happily take on bingo offers if they offer me at least a 250-300% first play bonus, otherwise I will give it a miss.