When you encounter a Bingo machine, it looks like a slot but has a bingo card on it. Do you have to do anything special to take part in Bingo?
On the machines that have the bingo cards: Do I have to opt in to play bingo or am I automatically playing the game for as long as I play that slot machine?
Laurie J.
When you make a wager on a Bingo machine, that wager is on the Bingo itself – the slots are just a visual representation of whether you won or lost on Bingo.
The major difference between a Bingo Machine (Class II) and a Slot Machine (Class III) is what you’re placing a wager on. With Bingo Machines, it’s Bingo. Your game is linked to other machines to meet the criteria of Bingo in terms of minimum number of players and so on. Occasionally, a Bingo machine may indicate it’s waiting for other players to ensure it meets the criteria necessary to complete a game of Bingo.
They’re generally found at tribal gaming casinos where Bingo is allowed and slots are not. Critical to this is the regulation that says that devices that assist in the playing of Bingo are legal.
Bingo machines therefore use a slot-like structure to approximate slots, even though you’re playing Bingo. In this way it’s meeting the letter of the law (Bingo) while giving players the experience they want (slots).
By comparison, a Vegas-style Slot Machine has an internal random number generator that, based on when the spin button is pressed, determines the outcome of the spin. So unlike the Bingo machines, which are linked to a centralized Bingo system, each Vegas-style slot is independent when it comes to determining the outcome of a spin.
Slots can be linked in other ways – to alert slot techs that something’s needed, to link progressives across a bank or casino, etc., – but that’s the key differentiator when it comes to how they function – one’s part of a larger game of Bingo, while another is individually determined.
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