No Deposit Bingo – As Dead as the Dodo

There was a massive boom in players registering to join online bingo sites in the past decades as the taste for playing bingo in clubs diverted to playing online. This included some great rewards that you wouldn’t see at the local bingo club which included free bingo playing constantly, free gifts, birthday presents and a whopping sign-up offer which saw players receive up to 500% cash match on their first deposit. In addition to this, it was never hard to find a re-deposit bonus where players would receive free bonuses every time they made another deposit. These sort of welcome offers and re-deposits have gradually disappeared. But why?

Tax Laws

The current government has made a number of changes to the online gambling industry and there have been some significant changes over the past year or two. Many of the changes are in the form of taxation but also prevention measures to try and limit the number of people that have a gambling problem. Any bingo site that offers bonus money as an incentive is now to treat this as real money and are taxed on this as a result.

This is the main reason you will find that these sorts of promotions have reduced and are replaced with things such as “Spin the Wheel”, the offer you will find at Jumpman Gaming sites when you play bingo. The outcome of these sort of welcome offers is more around free spins being awarded which are not taxed.

In terms of prevention, you will see that in local betting shops the law is being changed on the machines to have a maximum £2 allowance per spin instead of the current £100, in our view this is a much needed change for the sake of player safety.

Alternative Sign Up Offers

You will still find some of the bonus match promotions online – they just aren’t as readily available as they previously were. If you do find one, it is important to read the small print in advance as there may be some complex wagering requirements that would prevent you from making a withdrawal. We have seen evidence of some wagering requirements exceeding x100 of your original deposit which would make it far more difficult to take any funds you win. Apart from the mega wheels as an alternative sign-up offer, there are other bonuses such as free spins or even gift vouchers given away to newbies.

Loyalty Pays

Another way to get some freebies from bingo sites is to become loyal to one site. As there are so many different options for bingo sites on the web, the sites recognise this and go out their way to try and keep the players who have registered by offering them all sorts of perks. The more loyal you are to an online bingo site, the more free perks are released. This can include things like re-deposit bonuses, free spins and even cashback on your losses. Except to notice changes to loyalty schemes coming in 2020-2021, again, in the interests of player protection.

There are still plenty of places online where you can grab a fab game of bingo. However, a crackdown in legislation has meant that you really do need to check the fine print before you place a deposit at a site. Make sure you do so and enjoy your bingo!