Bingo and Probability

Posted on July 14th, 2010

Bingo, both online and offline, is a game of chance. Land based bingo halls usually use a bingo machine with balls drawn at random and the online version of the game uses a random number generator. The results are the same using both devices; random selection of numbers. No special skills are necessary to play bingo and millions around the world play bingo regularly. The only strategy players can use to increase the odds in their favor is to purchase and play as many cards as possible. Land based players must mark their bingo cards manually limiting the number of cards that can be played.  Online bingo players can use the ‘auto daub’ function and play dozens of virtual bingo cards simultaneously. While land based players can easily make mistakes while marking several cards during a game the software used by online bingo sites make mistakes impossible.

There are many factors that can influence a bingo game, the number of cards in play, the cost of each card and the size of the jackpot. A mathematician, Joseph E. Granville, did extensive research and came to the conclusion that most bingo games follow predictable patterns. Granville believes that it is possible for a player to implement a strategy for picking bingo cards that will increase the player’s chances of winning. Granville also believes that even in games where it is not possible to select the cards players can optimize their chances of winning by actually playing fewer cards which is contrary to the popular belief that playing more cards improves the chances of winning.

Granville says it is necessary for bingo players to understand the concept of ‘random.’ He says that players should pay attention to the first 10 numbers in a bingo game. Since, he continues, it usually takes about 10 or 12 calls before a game is finished, a player can get an idea of what numbers will be called in future games and can pick bingo cards accordingly. According to them laws of probability there is the possibility that there will be the same amount of numbers ending in 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and 4’s. As an example if the first number called is B41, the probability of a second number ending with 1 will be less because there are now more balls left with numbers other than 1. If the first game was won by with a card using the numbers of 1 and 3 the chances of the same numbers winning the next game are slim. By paying attention to the numbers winning each game the player can eliminate numbers that have a slim possibility of coming up.

Sound complicated? For those of us not good at math it probably is but that need not ruin the fun that a good game of bingo can provide.