Understanding Bingo odds

Finding out the odds in bingo is quite easy - divide the number of bingo cards you purchase for one game by the total number of cards being played. For example, if you have five cards and 200 cards are being played in a session, your probability of winning is 5:200, which can be simplified as 1:40. The challenge is in finding out the number of cards being played in a session. One way to do this is to count the number of players in a session, and multiply that by how many cards on average are likely to be played by each. Remember, this will only give you an approximate number of cards in play.

Progressive jackpot games

This method of finding the odds cannot be used in progressive jackpot games. This is because the games don’t have a guaranteed winner at the end of every session. The probability of being able to win the progressive jackpot is contingent on the level of difficulty in being able to get the pattern the casino requires of you, within the total number of calls that will be made during the session. In a few progressive jackpot games, the odds are against the players, so much so that it may take a few months to land the big prize.

Odds of a ball getting called in the long run

Other than the method for finding out the probability of winning with regards to the bingo ticket, there are no other ways to understand your chances of winning in a game. The only equipment used beside the  tickets is the set of  balls based on which numbers are called. If all the possible balls in a game are loaded for calling, the chance that a ball will show up is the same as that of any other. For instance, if you are playing a 75 ball game, the probability of all the balls being called in the long run is the same at 1:75.

Even if a number gets called more times than another in a period of, say, an hour, it does not mean that the former is going to be called more than the latter in the long term. According to the law of probability, in the long run the number that was not called will be brought up as many times as another in the game. For instance, in one hour of a bingo game N-20 may get called three times, while G-12 may not have been brought up at all. The law of probability suggests that in the next few hours of play, G-12 will get called as many times as N-20. So buying cards that have N-20 and no G-12 will not give you an advantage in the long term.

Though it is not possible to increase your chances of winning in the game, there are a few actions that can bring down your winnings. One example is placing side bets, which are additional wagers that require you to spend more from your bankroll. In a proposition bet, you will have to wager that an outcome will happen or not. This is an additional risk, and if you take this you may lose a portion of your bankroll if you lose the bet.