Bingo Sites Likely to Scam You

When playing in a live bingo game, if you disagree with something or feel cheated, it is relatively easy to walk up to the bingo hall manager, verbally express your issues, and state your concerns. Typically, the house manager offers you a sufficient explanation, clarifies a rule, or makes things “right”. Because this is typically done face-to-face, it puts the mind at ease. Additionally, the bingo room manager understands that the hall in which he manages is part of the community. If he wrongs a player, the entire town is sure to hear about the wrongdoing.

Unlike the live realm, online bingo sites do not have such a finite community in which they reside. Their virtual bingo hall is not situated anywhere near a town centre. Thus, the management “may” not be as accommodating when it comes to dealing with customer complaints. Additionally, the implications of “cheating” a player are not as severe from a social aspect. Thus, bingo sites are not AS concerned with their reputations as their live counterparts might be. Even if the operators are concerned about their reputation, it is not always clear whom you should contact if you have an issue with an online bingo site. There is rarely a physical address listed. Very few websites list their actual manager. Quite often, the farmed out player support team are not in a position to understand your concerns, let alone act on them.

A few years ago, we established ourselves as an online bingo player advocate to assist Internet bingo players with resolving any disputes they have with an online bingo site. Since we established ourselves as an advocate to online bingo players, we have received numerous complaints about a variety of online bingo sites. Having a relationship with an independent player advocate is important to online bingo players due to the often-translucent nature of online bingo and online gambling sites. Some of the complaints we receive from players are nothing more than a misunderstanding of legitimate policies and procedures about safe, licenced, and ethical bingo sites. Most of these misunderstandings are bonus related, with players not understanding why their bonus money cannot be cashed out. When we receive such a complaint, we do our best to mediate between the player and the operator so that the communication gap is bridged. Usually, the player walks away happy with the full understanding of the policy in question.

Other complaints, however, are quite legitimate. Sometimes, players are unable to establish contact with a bingo site. Other times, players are told they are unable to receive their funds in a timely fashion without paying a ridiculous fee of which they were unaware. Still, other times, a player’s cashout request sits in “pending” status for months on end. As player advocates, we aim to minimize these types of complaints. We have committed ourselves to reducing these types of complaints in the only way we are able to do so. The types of bingo sites that we receive complaints on are usually beyond our realm of influence and are seemingly “above” the law. Technically, these rogue bingo sites are “below” the law, as the majority of the complaints stem from bingo sites claiming to be licenced in one country that does not have a regulatory body for online gambling or online bingo. The country in question is Costa Rica.

Costa Rican bingo sites account for over 80% of the player complaint emails we receive. Unfortunately, because there is no regulatory body in Costa Rica to hold these rogue bingo site operators accountable to, there is very little we (as advocates) can do to hold these bingo sites accountable to their players. Once a player deposits at these unlicensed bingo sites, the party is over and depositing players will be lucky to receive their money back when they request a withdrawal. If the player is fortunate enough to receive their cash out, there is usually a ridiculously steep fee for the withdrawal. In addition, the withdrawal limits are set very low, so that bingo players trying to take their money off the bingo site have to process the entire cashout over the course of many weeks.

Whilst our advocate service can do little BEFORE a deposit is made, we can make a difference by publishing our list of rogue, unethical, unregulated, and unsafe bingo sites. Through educating online bingo players about which bingo sites are safe and which are believed to be scams, we hope to starve out the bingo sites who we feel lack integrity. The bingo sites on our blacklist are not worthy of your money. You are likely to lose out or be scammed if you deposit at the sites on our list. A bingo site who appears on our list of unsafe bingo sites cannot buy their way off the list. As mentioned on other pages of our portal, our opinions are not for sale. If we do not believe in a bingo site, we will not endorse them and no amount of money is worth our integrity. Whilst this list will not eliminate the chances of players being “wronged” completely, it will greatly reduce the odds of being scammed when playing online bingo.