Winning $50K at Bingo?

My friend got a flyer from SP advertising their "BIG" 2 day Bingo tournament in November. After reading (studying) the flyer I realized for a $295 buy in, you have a chance to win $10K for every game (20 games) and $50K for the blackout game. The same payouts for the second day, so this tournament is paying out a half million bucks! Now I'm no mathematician but doesn't that appear to be pretty good odds for only a $295 buy in, or am I missing something? I think the maximum number of players is around 1200, but as you know in Bingo, there is always a winner for each game so they will be paying out $10K for every game and $50K for the two blackout games. Unlike Keno where you have chances to win that kind of cash but those odds are terrible. So again.... am I missing something here?

 

I was a bingo caller/manager in a bingo hall in Canada. Many (maybe most) players would buy in for significantly more than the minimum. I can guarantee that SP is NOT going to be giving away money!!

 

Odds are against the blackouts being won. The other $10K games should be won unless there are some game restrictions on those too.

 

Remember also that more often than not there is more than 1 winner per game, so yes, they will give out 10K/game, that gets divided by all of those that yell bingo. Not sure if they use electronic cards there or not, but if they do, it will not be uncommon for many to buy 2 - 4 cards each.

 

Here is the flyer: http://southpointcasino.com/casino/bingo/500000-super-gala

The room holds 1260 people so their break even point is an average buy-in of $400 per person assuming a sell out for both nights. If I'm reading the flyer correctly, the $295 only gets you paper sheets. Electronic sheets will cost you $395 minimum because you have to buy 2 add-on packs at $25 each.

 

very likely the blackout will be paid out as advertised. I have gone to a few of these similar tournaments and the blackout is always paid out. There are special circumstances/games in regular bingo where you can buy special cards to win....for example... 23,000 if you get a blackout in 50 numbers or less...but this is a different. They just want to break even on the tournament I think. They make their money by attracting the bingo players to their property and having them spend while they are there. It is a lot of fun if you like bingo and a good excuse to go to Vegas.

 

I used to love playing Bingo - to this day it is the only type of gambling that I am ahead in (besides the stock market) - even with the terrible odds.

The reason I am still ahead is that I quit playing, I was spoiled by high stakes buy in.

At the local Indian Casino, they used to run a $695 buy in game every year, my wife started buying me in for my birthday (she hates Bingo), after a few years they quit doing this, and I found that after the rush of playing cars, $50k, $100K a game, the normal $100 buy in I used to love was boring!

One thing I found during that time, was the average Bingo player had no Idea of the odds. The whining that went on when they sat there needing one number to Bingo, when there were still 47 numbers out, was legion. I would tell them the odds were 46 to 1 that they would hit, and get blank stares in return.

 

Thanks all for your input, after some limited research I found this ongoing tournament is legit. Yes, every game is paid $10K and the "blackout" game is a $50K guaranteed payout. Yes, there can be multiple winners but I am told many games there is only one sole winner. I believe Vegasfan hit the nail on the head with his/her statement that they just want to break even on the tournament and the purpose is to attract the 1200 plus bingo players to play in their casino during the tournament. I found many of the players are locals and this alone has convinced me to enter this tournament and convinced me I am going to win at least 10K or possibly 50K! (Hey, you got to think positive don't you?) I'll let everyone know how I did and thanks again for the information.

 

Yep, lots of money at bingo. Foxwoods in Connecticut does a million dollar blackout on July 4th.

 

Well I didn't win the $10k but had a great time.(see the paragraph below). Just knowing the fact someone in that room will be winning big bucks every game makes for an exciting time all afternoon. Did I mentioned the entry fee includes breakfasts and dinner for both nights, lunch while playing bingo, and complimentary drinks too? It also provided a room for 3 nights for $50. It was so much fun we are planning to go to the next one in the spring of next year and filling a table with all our friends, should be a lot of fun especially if we form a pact to share any winnings equally.

Like I said above, I didn't win the $10k however I did get a bingo on one of the warm up games on the 2nd day. Those 10 warm up games each paid $1000 and I had to split with another person that had a bingo the same time as mine. That $500 paid for my entry fee and the extra cards for each day so I felt like I was playing on house money. We had a blast being with all the old (some rich) people. Lol

 

Thanks for the report back. That sounded like a great promotion and you did very well in spite of not hitting a big one.