How to Win with General and Mathematical Bingo Strategies September 2023

It is impossible to win a bingo game without the help of the Lady Luck. But while bingo is a game of chance, some strategies and playing styles might boost your winning odds. 

You will find players who spend hours designing the right strategy before they decide to participate in a session. If you are a newbie, you might not be familiar with the winning strategies at bingo. You’ve come to the right place because this article will discuss various tactics that you can apply on your way to victory.

We will divide the strategies into two groups – general and mathematical approaches. Check them out below and try to find a winning strategy suitable for your playing style!

General Strategies

You can consider the general strategies more like expert tips and tricks to stick to when playing bingo. These can be great for all players, but especially for beginners who are only entering the online gaming world. Here is an overview of strategies that you can apply when purchasing tickets.

Counting Cards

No, we are not talking about counting cards strategy you use in blackjack. When it comes to bingo, the card is considered a ticket for a single game session. A strip can contain multiple cards or tickets, but you should be careful regarding the maximum number of cards purchased.

The experts do not recommend purchasing more than four cards per session, especially if you are a beginner. The limit is set to four because it will enable an optimal gaming experience. It secures that you can mark the numbers on all tickets manually, which allows you to enjoy the live draw.

You can increase the number of purchased cards and activate the auto-daub feature. It will mark the numbers automatically, which means you won’t miss any number. However, when buying tickets, make sure to compare them with the prize fund and confirm that the purchase is a worthy investment. 

Buy Less Cards and Play More Games

Here is an interesting approach for online bingo – how about purchasing fewer cards per session and participating in more games instead?

Let’s say that the main prize fund for your session is ₤20. You bought ten tickets worth ₤1 each, which means you invested ₤10. If you end up not winning anything for two sessions, even the main prize in the third session won’t compensate for your investment.

An alternative approach involves purchasing fewer cards but participating in more games. By buying two cards instead of ten, you will take part in more draws. That will give you ten chances to win the main prize with the same investment of ₤20.

Choose Cards with Median Numbers 

You will find that some mathematical strategies rely on this theory. The idea is simple – the sum of all numbers on the ticket divided by the total count should be as close as possible to the median number.

The median number depends on the variation selected, and it goes as follows:

• 30 ball bingo – 15
• 50 ball bingo – 25
• 75 ball bingo – 38
• 80 ball bingo - 40
• 90 ball bingo – 45

Since statistics are based on long-term calculations, it is important to stick to this strategy for multiple sessions. If the median number of drawn balls during a session was far away from the predicted median, the odds are it will be closer to the median next time. That could increase your odds in the next bingo game in the same room. 

Mathematical Strategies

Is there a better way to boost your winning chances than using mathematics and statistics to your advantage? Many players believe that this is the right path to increasing your odds of earning prizes when playing bingo. Here are three different approaches to take when choosing bingo cards and buying tickets for an upcoming session!

Basic Strategy

The basic strategy involves assessing all numbers and factors that could affect your chances in a particular bingo game. 

These are some things that are worth taking into account:

• Single or multiple rewards – does the game offer a single grand prize without lower tiers? That could reduce your winning odds. But if the game offers multiple reward levels, that automatically increases your chances of qualifying for at least one.
• Players participating and tickets sold – the next thing to consider is how many players are there in the room with you. In online bingo, the number of sold tickets means an increased prize fund. More players might mean additional tickets sold, which might decrease the chances of winning with your card. 
• The jackpot size – the sum awarded for winning the grand prize might be calculated based on the number of tickets sold. Some rooms have a guaranteed prize pool, which means the jackpot might be unusually high compared to the sold cards. Those sessions are an excellent chance to aim at large prizes.

Now, based on the specifics of the room, you want to decide how much to invest. First of all, analyze a single card price. That will help you to decide whether you want to buy one or more tickets for the session. 

Purchasing multiple tickets is the way to increase your odds of winning. However, there isn’t much reason to purchase 15 cards worth ₤1 and invest ₤15 in a game where the prize pool Is ₤18. You have a lot to lose, and the winnings don’t seem worth it. 

The trick is to balance your investment with all the mentioned factors above. If you calculate everything smartly, you can increase the payout percentage to 80% or more.

Tippett’s Strategy

Before we start discussing the Tippett’s strategy, let us mention you can only use it in the 75 ball bingo variation. But while the Tippett designed the technique for this variation, you can also use it for the 90 ball bingo. However, it will require some adaptation because you will have to change the median number.

Leonard Henry Caleb Tippett was a scientist from Great Britain. He specialised in statistics, and that is how we came up with his bingo winning strategy. Tippett was impressed by the gambling industry, and you can find multiple papers where he explained the scientific aspect involved in gaming. 

The original idea of this strategy is that you increase the odds of matching specific numbers, the longer the session lasts. Tippett believed that the more bingo numbers are drawn, the closer the median number will be to 38. Since his favourite bingo variation used 75 balls, he divided that in half, and that is why 38 is the median number used.

This theory suggests that if you add all the values on a particular ticket and divide them with the total number per card, the result should be either 38 or close to it. 

When purchasing a ticket, there will be 24 numbers on each offered card. It will take a calculator and some time to calculate the median number of each ticket, but it might be worth it. If you believe this theory, you should always pick cards whose median value of numbers is as close to 38 as possible.

You can use this strategy for the 90 ball variation. The only difference is that you should choose 45 as the median value. 

Granville’s Strategy

If you don’t like the previous theory, you might prefer the one developed by Joseph E. Granville. His strategy has something in common with the Tippett’s. They both believe that picking the tickets carefully is the key to improving your chances of winning.

Those who played bingo before might have even tried this strategy. They probably did without being aware that an entire theory was developed regarding that approach. The idea is to check the results of the previous session and pick the numbers that are different from the ones drawn then. 

Here is an example – the previous session had 12, 22, 32, 52, and 82 all drawn. Based on that, you assume that there won’t be as many numbers in the upcoming session. That means you select the tickets that don’t have plenty of numbers finishing in “2.” 

You can also use this approach in the opposite direction. If no numbers finishing with “4” were drawn in the previous session, there might be a couple of them in the upcoming draw. That might make choosing the tickets with those numbers worth trying.

Granville designed a strategy based on the three basic premises.

These include:

• There will be around the same quantity of even and odd numbers drawn during the session. 
• There will be around the same quantity of low and high numbers drawn during the bingo game. 
• There will be roughly the same number of balls ending with 0, 1, 2...9. 

Granville believes the above are the rules of randomness. That is why each bingo game should follow those premises.

Finally, allow us to mention that no winning strategy will guarantee a victory in bingo. You can use them to make the entire experience more fun. They might even boost your chances of winning, which is why it is worth giving them a try. 

See also:
Local Bingo Halls
Special Bingo Bonus Codes
Good bingo sites to play at in the United States