Iona Bingo

[GSPG]

 

I’m not used to Bingo, but a couple of observations from the cruise.

 

There must have been 400 in the Clubhouse playing bingo on several afternoon’s sea days. I guesstimate at £20 a go to play five games, there must have been at least £5,000 taken by the company on each of these sessions.

 

Payouts for 4 the games ranged from £100 to £180. The last game, the full house offered £5,000 IF you called house by the time the 44th ball was drawn. Thereafter, a consolation prize was offered, usually between £200 to £300.

Needless to say, no one called house by the 44th ball and in fact it took another 10 to 15 balls to be drawn to achieve a call.

 

So not a bad money maker for the company, taking something like £4,000 in profit.

 

As I believe bingo is heavily regulated, it was also strange where two calls for a line in an earlier game revealed the same identity card number being giving to the bingo caller which caused confusion that went ‘offline’ as the other games continued.

 

 

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, GSPG said:

 

I’m not used to Bingo, but a couple of observations from the cruise.

 

There must have been 400 in the Clubhouse playing bingo on several afternoon’s sea days. I guesstimate at £20 a go to play five games, there must have been at least £5,000 taken by the company on each of these sessions.

 

Payouts for 4 the games ranged from £100 to £180. The last game, the full house offered £5,000 IF you called house by the time the 44th ball was drawn. Thereafter, a consolation prize was offered, usually between £200 to £300.

Needless to say, no one called house by the 44th ball and in fact it took another 10 to 15 balls to be drawn to achieve a call.

 

So not a bad money maker for the company, taking something like £4,000 in profit.

 

As I believe bingo is heavily regulated, it was also strange where two calls for a line in an earlier game revealed the same identity card number being giving to the bingo caller which caused confusion that went ‘offline’ as the other games continued.

 

 

Bingo? On a cruise? No comment!

 

However, isn’t the regulation just within the UK? Used to be the case here that all the entry monies had to be returned in prize money, leaving only entrance charges and other attractions to make money out of!

[No pager thank you]

My understanding is that the Bingo is regulated under US rules, as it is an extension of a casino game.  May be wrong, but that's in all the onboard casinos. 

 

If it helps illustrate your point, on a recent cruise on Aurora where the typical number of players was anywhere between 35 and 60, we were (sad I know), able to work out the difference between incomings (£6-15 per player) and total payouts - around 30% I think on a couple of occasions.  Same for the "race nights." Good for income for the subsidiary. 

 

I think that the most allowed to be paid out is 50% of takings, but again that may be incorrect. 

 

Theoretically, I suppose, the company could lose if the bingo jackpot was won every day, however that is exceptionally unlikely to happen and indeed the early jackpot payouts are a rare occurrence - although I did hear that someone managed it on the Iona Maiden.  In case it is won, it resets to a much smaller amount to lower the net risk.

 

The "jackpot" does get paid out on the final sea day, unless it varies by ship.  In the last game, there is no ball count.  Clearly the jackpot is bigger for the players but is harder to win.  It is worth playing, some would say, for the (very unlikely) possibility that a win of the jackpot on the final sea day could clear your on board bill.  That could be achieved by a single stake of £15....

 

[pete14]

I don’t suppose anybody was forced to join in. They chose to pay and play, knowing the prizes on offer. I don’t see anything wrong with a company that has to make a profit, doing so. There may have been 400 players on that occasion but there was no way of knowing how many would choose to turn up. On other occasions, it may be only 50 or less. I don’t expect there were many who chose to play who expected to make a profit on the deal. 

[GSPG]

28 minutes ago, pete14 said:

I don’t suppose anybody was forced to join in. They chose to pay and play, knowing the prizes on offer. I don’t see anything wrong with a company that has to make a profit, doing so. There may have been 400 players on that occasion but there was no way of knowing how many would choose to turn up. On other occasions, it may be only 50 or less. I don’t expect there were many who chose to play who expected to make a profit on the deal. 

I didn’t see anyone being press ganged into playing. I just felt on these sea days when these sessions occurred along with all the demonstrations (with discounts if you turned up), offers, auction’s, reduction’s etc around the ship, it felt tacky to me. It would have been good at least if some of the large profit would have been donated to charity.

[Britboys]

Playing bingo on a ship is no different to any other form of gambling. The odds on making a profit are very low. You pays your money and.... well, for most that's it.

[Yorkypete]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I don’t suppose anybody was forced to join in. They chose to pay and play, knowing the prizes on offer. I don’t see anything wrong with a company that has to make a profit, doing so. There may have been 400 players on that occasion but there was no way of knowing how many would choose to turn up. On other occasions, it may be only 50 or less. I don’t expect there were many who chose to play who expected to make a profit on the deal. 

Firstly, you don't know the payout for each game until the start of the particular one. Secondly cards are sold from a couple of days before the game and those that turn up are usually all playing. We will never play it again as it is just a rip-off.

[jeanlyon]

I am always amazed at having bingo on a cruise ship.  Surely there must be more fun things to do.

[pete14]

24 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Firstly, you don't know the payout for each game until the start of the particular one. Secondly cards are sold from a couple of days before the game and those that turn up are usually all playing. We will never play it again as it is just a rip-off.

It always amazes me that some people seem to object to large profits being made out of an activity that they choose to involve themselves in, in the hope of winning a large profit themselves. Profits from onboard spend by those who choose to spend, increase the bottom line figure on a cruise, perhaps contributing to the lower fares that people like. 

[jaydee6969]

25 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I am always amazed at having bingo on a cruise ship.  Surely there must be more fun things to do.

 

I am struggling to understand that statement.  You could apply the same analogy to any other activity onboard that other people dislike.  Luckily, we are all different and enjoy many different things.  My late gran was hooked on bingo, and was very fortunate to win a return TA on the QE2 maiden back in 1969.

Edited October 27, 2022 by jaydee6969

[jaydee6969]

41 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Firstly, you don't know the payout for each game until the start of the particular one.

 

Not any different from bingo halls on land then?  Until books are sold and money counted, then the payout is announced.

[davecttr]

With a 'house edge' of apparently up to 50% it would be basically just a con. However the price of playing a game is cheaper than games in the casino aboard. The simplest game in the casino is probably roulette with a house edge of just over 5%, the only skill required being knowing when to stop. The table game with the lowest house edge is blackjack at about 0.5% but that is only if you know how to play the game properly and have mastered basic strategy. Don't expect to win big money on blackjack either at the size of bets that we wager on a cruise. I notice that the games where players can chase the BIG PAYOUT are the most popular, except the big payout is a rare occurance for an individual player. I know, I have lost a LOT of money playing poker. Not any more, I stick to blackjack and roulette

[Harry Peterson]

51 minutes ago, pete14 said:

It always amazes me that some people seem to object to large profits being made out of an activity that they choose to involve themselves in, in the hope of winning a large profit themselves. Profits from onboard spend by those who choose to spend, increase the bottom line figure on a cruise, perhaps contributing to the lower fares that people like. 

Good point.  I’m always very grateful to the gamblers and heavy drinkers!

[TigerB]

Well, Lobstermania was our limit; made a net profit of £2.50 over the fortnight, happy with that!🦞💰😄

[Angel57]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

I am always amazed at having bingo on a cruise ship.  Surely there must be more fun things to do.

Many years ago (early 90s) on the old Victoria the afternoon bingo was great fun. The then cruise director (Ian Fraser) ran it at around 4.30pm and it was an absolute comedy routine from start to finish. I seem to recall the pot was rolled over if not claimed and then the jackpot was won on the last sea day (I’m not sure if P&O took any profit, but I somehow doubt it). There were always “looks” if someone won it if they’d not played previously 🤣🤣🤣 it was not digital and the balls were pulled out of a bag!

I wouldn’t play it now, but I loved it back then (and never won).

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

I am always amazed at having bingo on a cruise ship.  Surely there must be more fun things to do.

Bingo is an American obsession along with all forms of gambling - let's not even mention the Chinese.  It's a cheap profitable event for the cruise line.  Basically like the other cardinal "sin" of drinking, it's the way to make lots of money.  Those playing know the odds, I have had the odd game for fun on a wet seaday but I'd draw the line at the casino because I've no idea what I'm doing!!

[GSPG]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

I am always amazed at having bingo on a cruise ship.  Surely there must be more fun things to do.

Sadly not on this cruise. There was literally no break in the daily planner for sales etc, with just a few quizzes, some line dancing and gear would be made available on the sports court if you wanted a battle with the kids on board.

[GSPG]

1 hour ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

I am struggling to understand that statement.  You could apply the same analogy to any other activity onboard that other people dislike.  Luckily, we are all different and enjoy many different things.  My late gran was hooked on bingo, and was very fortunate to win a return TA on the QE2 maiden back in 1969.

Imagine that, winning a cruise. What a good idea that would have been and in relative terms for the company wouldn’t cost them much at all.

[Camberley]

I would hate to pour scorn on pursuits that others clearly enjoy both at sea or on land. It’s not hard to accept there are things for everyone to derive fun from. And good on them

[Yorkypete]

2 hours ago, pete14 said:

It always amazes me that some people seem to object to large profits being made out of an activity that they choose to involve themselves in, in the hope of winning a large profit themselves. Profits from onboard spend by those who choose to spend, increase the bottom line figure on a cruise, perhaps contributing to the lower fares that people like. 

I may be wrong but I believe the bingo is run by the casino. This has nothing to do with P&O as it is a franchise and so has no bearing on thye cruise price or lower fares.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Yorkypete

[GSPG]

12 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

I may be wrong but I believe the bingo is run by the casino. This has nothing to do with P&O as it is a franchise and so has no bearing on thye cruise price or lower fares.

Thanks, and I was unaware of this. That answers the question when the two winning cards were called out, both with the same supposedly unique number on the card, and the bingo caller said the casino had to deal with it.

 

I suppose with all the very technical slot machine’s on board as well, you would need ‘specialists’ to look after this. I just hadn’t guessed these operations weren’t by P&O.

 

[Harry Peterson]

24 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

I may be wrong but I believe the bingo is run by the casino. This has nothing to do with P&O as it is a franchise and so has no bearing on thye cruise price or lower fares.

It very much has a bearing on prices, because the franchise brings in substantial income, probably based on turnover and/or profits, to P&O. Without that sort of income (likewise the shop etc franchises) prices would be higher.