Since it was legalized in the 1950's in the US, bingo has become one of the most popular past times ever, not just in the United States but also across Europe and elsewhere. And now that you can play bingo online, people that weren't previously bingo players but where just casino fans, have become bingo players as well, thanks to the fact that bingo is a common feature of many online casinos.

Although online bingo has all the excitement of live bingo, there is one feature of online bingo that really separates online bingo from live bingo and that makes online bingo much more profitable and even more exciting than live bingo - I'm talking about bingo bonuses and promotions.

Unlike bingo in a live bingo hall where the money you can win is completely dependent on whether or not you actually get BINGO on one of your cards, in online bingo you can win by either taking advantage of the bonuses that you get for buying bingo cards, or by taking advantage of the revolving promotions for players that online bingo rooms offer.

To explain a little about how online bingo promotions and bonuses work let's first take a look at online bingo bonuses. The first thing I should say is that online bingo promotions work a little differently than online casinos promotions - the values of bingo bonuses are usually a lot lower than the online ones. The reason for this is that the deposit values of bingo halls are much lower, so naturally the deposit bonuses will be lower. In the end it doesn't really matter that the bonuses are smaller because you're paying less for each bingo card than you're paying for the casino chips. 

The most common type of bingo bonus is a flat cash sign up bonus. This is a fixed amount of money usually around $20 that a player gets added to their account as soon as they sign up. If you're a bingo player looking for an online casino where you can play bingo, you should keep an eye out for casinos that offer either sign up bonuses or deposit bonuses. Deposit bonuses are not as common in bingo as they are in casinos but many bingo halls still offer them. Also sometimes called a match bonus, this is when the casino will deposit into your account a cash reward based on the amount of money that you deposit. For instance, if the casino offers a 50% deposit bonus and you deposit $100 then you will get an extra $50 added to your account on top of the $100 that you deposited. These signup and deposit bonuses are a great way to potentially increase your winnings at the end of a night of bingo.

Online bingo promotions are similar to bingo sign up bonuses and deposit bonuses but work slightly differently. Promotions usually change at a casino over a given period and usually have more to do with the actual bingo game play. For instance a common bingo promotion is to give cash rewards or redeemable points for getting certain patterns on your bingo cards. So in other words there will be other ways to win outside of just getting bingo.

Another type of bingo promotion rewards is your loyalty at the online bingo hall. The bingo hall would reward a loyalty player with either cash prizes or gifts. And if you're a real high roller these prizes can be really exotic and valuable. The way they usually work is by rewarding players for certain amounts spent on cards, or the amount of time they have been playing at the bingo hall. So for instance, if you've been playing bingo for a month, the bingo hall may reward you with a gift basket, or more likely a cash prize.

Both promotions and bonuses can add a lot to your online bingo experience and if you are new to the online bingo world and are looking for a place to play bingo online remember to look for bingo promotions and bonuses when deciding to sign up an account. If you're an existing online bingo player, you should try to stay up to date as to what the promotions are at the bingo room, and try to take advantage of them in your daily bingo rounds.