Gala Bingo Review

Gala Bingo Overview

Gala Bingo is a household name when it comes to bingo. There are currently 175 Gala Bingo Clubs throughout the UK, which equates to about 24% of the market. Their online operation is incredible – with a sensational 1.2 million active players. Gala merged with Coral in 2005, meaning that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Signing Up

Players who have an account with Coral bookmakers can also use it to play at Gala. Otherwise, signing up is simple enough. Just enter your username, password and postcode and let Gala do the rest. You may find, that your username has already been taken, which is what happened to me. Gala will suggest you a new one, or you can go back to the drawing board yourself. Depositing a fiver was easy enough, although it automatically went into my ‘Lotto account’. Nevertheless I transferred it into bingo money with a few clicks of the mouse.

Homepage

I must admit that the homepage isn’t the cleanest and most innovative in the business. I have no qualms about the navigation – because tabs are all clearly presented down the left hand column. It was simply too flash and busy for my liking. However, you can find out about Gala Clubs near you and any other Gala promotions that are running at a particular time. As well as a radio campaign, Gala also have their own TV channel – Gala TV.

Gala TV is a bingo room that is only open during selected hours of the day – usually evening time. Gala TV before 6pm is automated, so I personally wouldn’t play Gala TV before then, even if Sharon Osbourne is calling the numbers. You can play using your remote control and heading over to Sky Channel 861. You can then log in with your Gala details, or sign up in case you haven’t already done so. It is worth noting that connected through your TV means that you will be charged at your local rate.

Alternatively, you can play Gala TV through your PC simply by choosing TV Bingo in the lobby. There is a television feed in the top right hand corner, broadcasting live games until 2am (real presenters included!). A great addition if you like your bingo to be live, but I’m fairly indifferent.

Playing Gala Bingo

At Gala Bingo you can earn 2 Nectar points for every £1 spent on bingo. Nectar points are of no use to me, so I took a look at other promotions. The £20 free play bonus when you deposit £5 is magnificent value – especially when you win twice in your first 2 games at Gala. Gala use their own software which is refreshing, as most other sites share software. This means that there are a number of different font colours to choose from and animated 3/2/1 TG symbols in chat.

The CMs and customer support were very prompt and helpful, as I tried to get to grips with their 1TG bonus. That’s right, Gala will pay you 50p if you lose the 1 line, 2 line of full house prize by just one number. Great news for players who count themselves as unlucky! The 50p consolation is only available once every 24 hours.

Gala have a plethora of bingo room, featuring 90,80 and 75 ball bingo. You may have thought that they wouldn’t have as many mini games as their competitors, but in fact, they rank as some of the best in the business. Whether it’s Deal or No Deal, Football Top Trumps or Virtual Horse Racing – Gala have something for everyone. Remember that you can also buy scratchcards and play all of your favourite progressive jackpot slot games at Gala – you get the full package. The chat was great, but we were more impressed with the Gala software.

Our Verdict

Gala Bingo ranks as on of the best sites we have reviewed. The great bonuses on offer, huge variety of side games and countless bingo rooms means that Gala is one of the best in the industry. Frankly you wouldn’t expect anything less from such an established brand.