National Bingo Game

The National Bingo Game, is a multiple game of bingo operated by the National Bingo Game Association since 1986 and played in some licensed British bingo clubs, every day (except Christmas Day).

The game was introduced under UK legislation as a game of multiple bingo.

It was launched in June 1986 as technology became available whereby clubs were able to connect to a game control centre via modem to receive a preselected list of numbers which were called in the same time window in each participating bingo club.

Clubs then relayed the details of the winner in their club back to the game control, who would then award the National Prize to the club whose winner had claimed in the lowest number of call across the country, and Regional Prizes to the clubs whose winners had claimed in the lowest number of calls in the given regions.

The format and pricing of the game has changed several times since its launch. Originally costing 25 pence per ticket, this has changed to 30 pence, 40 pence, 50 pence and £2 for a set of six tickets amongst others. Prize money has also varied during these changes and the National Prize is presently in the region of £5,000–25,000, depending upon the day of the week and session played, plus the Jackpot Prize – see § New Game.

Many players prefer to purchase a strip of six tickets, as this guarantees that all numbers 1–90 appear on the strip, so the players know that they will be marking the strip each and every time a number is called.

Technology has improved since the game began in 1986 and currently ADSL secure internet connection is used to collect and distribute data. The game works like this:

The National Bingo Game has been in operation for over 25 years and has an unblemished operating record under both The Gaming Board of Great Britain and currently The Gambling Commission.

There have been some controversial incidents with winners in the past, but these have tended to be few and far between. Of these incidents the majority of cases have been related to disagreements between players, where informal agreements between players to each share their winnings with the other/s, have not been honoured. That said there are also cases where some bingo customers share their major winnings with fellow bingo players, even when they are not present in the club. However, as these are independent agreements made between players the National Bingo Game Association, as operator of the game, has no official role in resolving such disputes.

Over the past 25 years there have also been a couple of occasions where underage players have gained admission to a participating club and purchased tickets for the National Bingo Game. As clubs are managed by independent operators the National Bingo Game has no direct control over this issue, however, operators are extremely diligent in trying to ensure no underage gambling takes place. Players participating in the National Bingo Game must be over 18 as an underage player would, by law and under the rules of the game, be ineligible to participate or claim any prize.

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Wikipedia