With online bingo becoming increasingly popular and new startups appearing on a monthly basis, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement and throw caution to the wind when signing up with a bingo site and to start depositing your cash. However there are a few general key indicators you should look at before registering and making a deposit. First of all before registering you should check which country the site is licensed, this information can usually be found in the footer and takes just a few seconds to glance over. If the country mentioned in one of the countries mentioned on our white-list then this is a good sign as the site will have to adhere to certain requirements set out by the UK's Gambling Commission.
Making A Deposit
If you intend on making a deposit there are a number of checks you can perform and certain ways of depositing that are generally a lot safer than other methods of payment. First of all it's worth searching on Google to see if anyone has had any problems. Try typing the following key terms to see if any information that looks suspicious comes up "[bingo site name] problems withdrawing", "[bingo site name] avoid". Quite often a quick search like that can reveal all sorts of interesting information from players who have had bad experiences.
The next vital check is to look at the Security Certificate. Most browsers allow you to view the properties of a webpage. On a PC you will see a padlock on the bottom right of your internet browser. You can then click on the padlock to view more information about the certificate. On a Apple Mac with Safari installed you will see https:// in the address bar and you can click on this to view information about the certificate. If you cannot see https:// on your Apple Mac then this means that there is a possibility not all parts of the bingo website are secure. Most Bingo sites won't have a security certificate for every page of the site and they tend to only be used on the Banking areas, as these are the parts of the website that need to be secure as they are transferring financial information.
If you are worried about handing over any kind of card details it is recommended you use a e-wallet system or voucher system. We have a list of bingo sites accepting PayPal, Neteller & Ukash. All of these payment options won't require any card details to be passed to the bingo site.
Playing Responsibly
Part of playing safely is playing responsibly. Bingo is classed as Gambling as there is an element of risk. Gambling by it's very nature means that you won't always end up with a prize or more money than you started with. If you feel that you can beat the system somehow or that when you lose, you have to keep playing to make your money back - this is a good time to stop playing. If you find that you can't stop playing then it is worth considering contacting an organisation like GamCare who can help you with counselling and provide you with support.
A Bit Of Detective Work!
If you are really nosey or have suspicions about a website or just really like to do your homework before playing a good place to start to find out who owns or is involved in a bingo site is by using a whois tool. You simply enter
the domain name (e.g bingoconartist.com ) into the box provided and it will sometimes return information about the owner of the website. Similarly you can find information about the companies involved in the website by looking in the "About" section. You can then enter the companies name into Google to find out more information. If the company is limited then you can use a company check tool to find out if the company is in any debt. You can also read about the directors of the company to see if they have a history of starting up and closing down other companies.
Our Stance On Fraudulent Bingo Sites
Whilst we do all of these checks on a regular basis at Busy Bee Bingo, sometimes no amount of detective work will help you avoid the bad bingo sites. All we can say is that we make sure that we list the safest bingo sites that we have a history of working with. If you do ever find that a bingo site is deliberately deceiving you or not allowing you to withdraw your winnings without a good reason, we recommend you contact us so we can resolve the issue for you.
