Many players are drawn to online bingo because of the ease and convenience of the game, but many players who are new to online gambling have doubts about the software. They wonder if the game is fair or if they are somehow being cheated. They are told that the games are fair, but they have no way of knowing. The best they can do is be insured by the site administration. A little understanding of fair play will help alleviate the player’s fears.
The fairness of a bingo game depends on the number selection process. The number selection process should result in the selection of numbers independently and at random. The situation is best illustrated in land bingo, where bingo balls are mixed in a mixing chamber. When one of the balls goes into the tube, it goes to the caller and announced the number. Then the players cover the number where it appears. If the bingo balls have the same weight, then each ball has an equal chance to enter the tube and be called. There is no way to predict which number will be called or pattern for calls. In this situation, each bingo card has an equal chance of being the winning card.
When the bingo balls are not equal in weight, then the game is not fair. Each ball does not have the same chance of being selected, as the lighter balls will float to the top of the mixing chamber and will be pulled into the air tube and called more frequently than the heavier balls. There may be a pattern in the calls. The selection process is not random and independent, it depends on the weight of the balls. The cards that have the numbers corresponding to the lighter numbers have a better chance of winning than other cards and the alert player will soon learn to select cards that have these numbers.
Online bingo software contains a program called Random Number Generator (RNG) and this program generates numbers that have the characteristics of randomness independently. This corresponds to the equally weighted ball situation. Online gambling sites have their software tested for fairness and they post this information on their website to ease the concerns of their players. Players can enjoy the games and activities on the online bingo site without worrying about the fairness of the game.
