Bingo rip off!! Why play at all. Do the math

[steveaaaa]

The boards are a little slow so I figured I would ask about the Bingo players out there.

Every cruise seems to have a 10 game for $10 session and that is just 1 card.Most seem to buy the 3 for $20. Last month on the Destiny I saw what I would guess is 300 to 400 people playing minimum. At the least they collected $3500 to a max of $8000. The game payed out $100 for the 1st game $110 for the second with a $10 increase per game.

Why in the world would anyone play with the current odds and the crap payout?

It would be one thing if they took a small percentage off the top and awarded the rest, but this is a joke! Have a free bingo session and award small prizes.

My next question would be...if only 6 people showed up would they still play?

Steve <----- I do play the free cruise session.

[MrPete]

We bet $10 and had to split the prize os $1200.

 

 

We were happy.

[ArkansasFish]

Yes, we do not play the bingo anymore!!

THey musta raked in the money on that. At least 10,000 and the prize was small.

Better odds in the casino.

[stokerhj]

As long as we're complaining about Bingo, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight how cheap Carnival is when it comes to the free cruise session. Especially with regard to ties. They can't give out two free cruises? Or split it and give two 50% discounts? The whole, "draw a number" scenario sounds fine until you are one of the people who ties and then has to walk away without a cruise. Happened to us on our first cruise.

[headhurt]

That exact same thing happened on our cruise. One of our tablemates tied with another person for the free cruise, and he ended up picking the lucky number and won the cruise. While we were happy for our tablemate, we were pretty disappointed that CCL didn't give both winners a free cruise. Its not like they would lose any money if they did. They make money hand over fist on the bingo...the least they can do is be a little more generous to the winners who shelled out the money to play.

[Cruisin'Susan]

hmmm...as i remember it is a 10 game round of bingo, 1 card 10.00, 3 cards 20.00. That is all you buy for all 10 games. Its not per game. Its for all the games. They usually start at 100.00 and go up 10.00 every game. So you have 10 chances to win. Not bad. But I agree on the free cruise. They should split it or give 2 cruises away.

[ripleysmom]

When I cruised on the Fascination a couple of years ago, I won a $500 prize the first night and a free cruise the last day. Bingo was berry berry good to me!!

[SoccerMom#3]

I completely agree that Bingo is not a money making event for those of us who play. My kids and I went to most Bingo sessions on our Pride cruise in July and didn't win a dime. Why do we go? It is one of the things that my kids and I enjoy doing together. They are too young to go to the Casino plus there is way too much cigarette smoke in the Casino for us. Also bingo is a fun way for us to see the staff and other cruisers and just be part of the cruise experience.

 

Bottom line, Bingo is a rip off but I guess it is just one more form of entertainment on the cruise.

 

Elise

[jemingway]

Carnival bingo is worse than every other cruise line I have been on with their one-game/big-jackpot approach.:mad:

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We won the first time we played (Sensation $500) - we should have stopped with that one.... The casino got all of that $ back by then end of that cruise anyway...:rolleyes:

 

Tom

[NewCruzer1]

...as i remember it is a 10 game round of bingo' date=' 1 card 10.00, 3 cards 20.00. That is all you buy for all 10 games. Its not per game. Its for all the games. They usually start at 100.00 and go up 10.00 every game. So you have 10 chances to win. Not bad.[/quote']

 

Everything is relative. That's not bad if you're just trying to pass some time and have a chance to win something while doing it. However, it's pretty bad compared to other existing bingo games. A couple of examples:

In Kentucky (for one location; there are many others), you can buy into a multi-game session that starts at $100 and ranges up to $1,000 per game for $15, but you get 18 cards to play, and the intermediate prizes can be $300, $400 and $500, too.

In Las Vegas, bingo is often a positive-expectation game, meaning if you played it regularly and well, you'd likely win more than you lose. They play for the same prize structure whether there are 5 players or 500 in the house. It's offered as a courtesy to guests, so you'll stay in that casino and perhaps your spouse or mate will lose money elsewhere while you play.

 

So, apparently, bingo on a cruise ship is like drinks, the choice of casino games, low service-staff wages, et al: an opportunity to separate more money from us low-fare cruisers. And, that's fair enough -- I don't have to play and, in fact, won't.

[IPingUPing]

Well, I won the bingo on my last cruise (the Jubliee from Jacksonville in June), and I have to say I was a bit surprised at the low turn out. They had it at 10:30am after a late night in port, so I am surprised if they covered the cost of the cruise on this particular session, though overall, I'm sure they didn't come up short.

[glrounds]

With the odds on most gaming devices including BINGO on most cruise ships, most proprietors would get KICKED OUT OF NEVADA by the Nevada Gaming Commission. :mad:

 

Never gamble on cruise ships. You're just donating. :rolleyes:

[bthorn1108]

With the odds on most gaming devices including BINGO on most cruise ships, most proprietors would get KICKED OUT OF NEVADA by the Nevada Gaming Commission. :mad:

 

Never gamble on cruise ships. You're just donating. :rolleyes:

 

If you play the table games, you stand almost as much of a chance on a cruise ship as you do in Vegas, albeit they cut the shoe a little thick for my taste in blackjack. However, 3 card poker, Caribbean Stud poker, Let it Ride, and Roulette are about the same as in Vegas (Craps carriers lower odds on a cruise ship).

[Karried]

Royal Caribbean was the best for Bingo. We had never played and got caught up in the excitement, two people in our party one - one got $1000.00 and one $100.00. The final jackpot was $15,000.00 and the lounges were packed full for Bingo on the last day - it was so exciting and fun. An elderly lady won and she had been given her first cruise as a retirement present.

 

I was really disappointed in Carnival's Bingo games - small prizes, small turnout - although one gal we hung out with did win $600.00 on Bingo.

[LSUtraveler]

On our last cruise I let my son play bingo. He never played it before. He won a $1,000 dollars and split the prize with another person. He was thrilled with $500.

 

We were playing it just for the fun of it. Never thinking we would win anything. Kinda like playing at the casino, you hope to get lucky but chances are slim that you will come away winning.

So we played for the fun of it and the heck with the odds. However we only played one game. If you don't want to lose, don't gamble.

[cruiserNC]

I agree that the odds are terrible and Carnival should award the cruises who tie on the free cruise at least something maybe 300 bucks for second place? They still can lose. We do play bingo mainly just for the entertainment its always a hoot to watch people screm out bingo.

[sgriff17]

I agree the odds aren't great, but why should bingo change? It's the consumers right NOT to play.

 

BTHORN - why do you say Craps odds are lower on a cruise ship? I always seem to do much better on a ship. I agree totally that Blackjack is a joke.

[hstrybuf]

We played one session of bingo on one of our earlier cruises. After that, we decided we had better things to do with our time and money.

[Nliedel]

Sort of like food at an airport you are a captive audience and the odds are NOT in your favor.. Just one of the things you have to deal with if you want to play. I don't play slots or bingo on a cruise.. Craps odds (unless you are playing odds) are craps odds and I go for it..

[K.T.B.]

With the odds on most gaming devices including BINGO on most cruise ships, most proprietors would get KICKED OUT OF NEVADA by the Nevada Gaming Commission. :mad:

 

Never gamble on cruise ships. You're just donating. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe for some, but even if I lost $100 on my next cruise (which is what I always begin with), I'm still ahead by about $75 based on what I won on my previous 2 cruises..... :)

[dtchem1]

I don't think people really care or think about odds. How many people play their state lottery where the odds are about 10 gazillion to 1. It's just the thrill that you could win something and playing is fun and it's a social thing. Maybe the prizes are small compared to the lotteries, but it's $10.00, and you are on vacation, so enjoy.

[Cruising89143]

I gamble for fun. I do not expect to win anything and do not get upset if I don't. It is a way for me to have some fun and pass the time away.

[beachpeople]

I played all week on our first cruise and won nothing. My husband played the last day of that cruise and won $2500! :)

[jiggs]

I agree the odds aren't great, but why should bingo change? It's the consumers right NOT to play.

 

BTHORN - why do you say Craps odds are lower on a cruise ship? I always seem to do much better on a ship. I agree totally that Blackjack is a joke.

 

 

He may mean that they are lower because of the odds you can take...from what I remember, odds are set at 2Xs where the domestic casinos offer 2,3,4,5 and 10x odds...your odds of rolling the dice are the same no matter what...

 

I agree to avoid the slots, but tables are tables...sure the cut is a little deeper at blackjack, but that really only an issue if you're trying to count...consering they don't use auto shufflers or CSMs I don't mind sitting for some $10 games...inexperienced players bother me more than anything...

 

And, to stay on topic, as far as bingo goes, its a small investment for one person to win a decent prize...its just when you add up how many people are playing its a win-win for Carnival...I feel that if they lowered the price they'd get more players and proabably make even more money...big business doesn't think quanity over price though...