Betfred Bingo Review:

Celebrating 50 years in business, Betfred is one of the most recognised brands in betting and gaming in the UK. Betfred Bingo, which was launched in 2006, is an integral part of the company’s multi-faceted gaming services. From one angle, it looks like Betfred Bingo offers everything a player could want – a generous welcome offer, a wide variety of bingo games and committed customer service. But read our detailed review to see where exactly Betfred Bingo scores highly and if there are any areas of the site that need improving.

Betfred is a privately-owned company and a brand most UK players will surely know. Its longevity in the business will no doubt reassure players, but Betfred Bingo has not relied solely on its reputation and has taken other steps as well to ensure players can play with confidence.

First of all, Betfred Bingo is licenced and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, meaning the company has had to make a demonstrable commitment to fair gaming and player safety. For players outside the UK, Betfred Bingo is licenced by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, which is also a highly regarded regulatory body.

Betfred, under the operating name of Petfre Gibraltar LTD, is enrolled in Trustwave’s Trusted Commerce program, which ensures financial transactions are kept safe. Bingo games at Betfred use Random Number Generators (RNGs) supplied by Sun Microsystems to ensure fairness. In addition, Virtue Fusion, the software suppliers, conduct their own in-house testing.

On review sites, Betfred does well overall, but some complaints from disgruntled punters do surface. However, on a whole, Betfred Bingo gets positive feedback from UK players.

There isn’t a huge range of deposit and withdrawal options at Betfred Bingo, but all the popular methods – PayPal, Visa, Skrill, Paysafecard, Neteller – are available. A £5 minimum deposit amount will also be attractive to players on a budget.

In addition to the welcome bingo offer, Betfred Bingo has plenty of other bingo promotions. These include value bingo nights (Tuesday and Thursday), a cashback scheme (separate from the loyalty scheme), cheap bingo tickets and prize giveaways. One minor criticism is that, unlike several other UK bingo sites, there is no ‘newbies’ room offering free bingo games for new customers. However, the overall bonus package offered by Betfred Bingo is very attractive and offers fair terms for players.

Betfred Bingo’s loyalty program and VIP scheme are tied in together, offering cashback for playing bingo, as well as slots, table games and scratchcards. You will earn 3 points for every £1 spent on bingo (slots, etc), moving up the loyalty levels as you accrue and maintain points. At the bottom level of the Loyalty Arcade, Green, the rate of exchange is 1500 points for £1 cash. The rate improves right up until you hit Orange, which offers a cash rate of 780 points for £1 in cash. The exchange rates also vary on each level, offering a better rate if you want to exchange for a slots bonus or bingo tickets.

There is a VIP level in the Loyalty Arcade as well, although players gain this status by invite only. The exchange rate is much better: 600 points will award £1 cash. However, there are no other visible perks to getting this VIP status.

Betfred Bingo is part of the Virtue Fusion Bingo Network, with software provided by top developers Playtech. The important thing to note is that Virtue Fusion brings a wide choice of bingo variants, some of which are exclusive to bingo sites on that network. In total, you’ll find 13 bingo rooms at Betfred Bingo, with 90-ball, 80-ball, 75-ball and 50-ball all offered, as well as unique 40-ball and 36-ball games. Themed rooms include Rainbow Riches Bingo, Who Wants to be a Millionaire Bingo and Cash Cubes Bingo.

Playtech also supplies a good chunk of the 100+ slots available on the site, including the two new titles from Age of the Gods series: Lord of Lightning and King of the Underworld, as well as titles like Fluffy Favourites and Britain’s Got Talent. There are popular slots from other top developers too, with Rainbow Riches (Barcrest) and Castle of Cash (Eyecon) well liked among bingo players. Many of the slots can be played as side games too.

Join up to Betfred Bingo and you can also of course play at Betfred Casino (and Betfred Sports for that matter) where you’ll be able to play hundreds of casino games. This probably is part of the reason why there is a limited selection of table games – blackjack, roulette, etc. – on the bingo site. Still, we would like to see a few more than the three games offered through the bingo lobby.

Betfred Bingo can be downloaded as a mobile app for iPhone/iPad and Android devices. You can find the  app at the iTunes Store for Apple devices, but Android users currently cannot access the app at the Google Play Store. You can however download the Android app directly from the Betfred site.

The bingo app is perhaps not ground breaking, but it reflects the recent refurbishment – now in a HTML5 format – of the Betfred Bingo site. In fact, the simplicity of the navigation of the app is arguably the most refreshing aspect. Three main tabs – bingo, games (slots) and options (help) – pretty much cover all you need.

12 bingo rooms are available on the app. While there are over 100 casino games on the app, Betfred has a banner on the site promising more games will be available soon.