Bingo

Gala Bingo

While many halls like to say that they are the biggest and the best, Gala may actually have a claim to the title. With 166 halls racking up over 250,000 members they are officially the biggest Bingo company in the UK. Plus it can't hurt their popularity that they pay in excess of 30 million out each week in winnings. We think that all these numbers add right up to show us that Gala has the know how to run one great game of Bingo.

Now many of you may be familiar with the old Gala bingo site, and when we say old here we mean circa 2006. This hall was a joint venture with the folks over at St. Minver. While the hall was very popular and delivered on some very nice games, eventually Gala decided to go it alone. They shut the door to Gala Bingo and started work on their own creation. Now open for business once again, it's time to go see if Gala can still deliver "The Bingo the Gets you Buzzing."

One advantage to playing with a very well known real world company is that you know what you're getting into. You can look into the company history and reputation before you ever set foot in the door. With Gala, players know that they can expect a safe and secure playing environment from a company they can trust. This is not some fly by night operation, but rather one that has cast their bid for the long haul.

First impressions are always important and we have to say that Gala really blew us away. Their hall is very visually stimulating with great colours and clear navigation. Even the newest Bingo fan should have no trouble finding their way around. We hope that their games are up to this same high standard.

Right smack in the middle of the home page you are tempted be a sign that proclaims those three beautiful words of, "Play Online Now!" What's even better about it in this case is that it actually works. All you need is Macromedia's Flash and you are ready to take advantage of all the Instant Play Bingo you can handle. As an added bonus for Gala is that this set-up is ready and waiting for a large variety of user systems, so if you are a Mac fan, all systems are go!

Visitors can poke around most of the Gala online site, and they can even look at the games. But there is no way to take part in the action if you do not set-up your very own account. In fact, if you are browsing under a visitor status, then you are even blocked from seeing the live chat going on in the hall. When we registered for our own account we found the first key difference between Gala today and the Gala of old. And it wasn't a good thing. There is now no new player bonus to be had at Gala Bingo. Since they do not offer free play on their games, this leaves no way for a new player to get a good fell for things before they have to drop their own cash. Gala needs to do some work here as they are not living up to their very own reputation.

We are very disappointed in the lack of incentives for new players, but Gala has other things going for them. If you decided to bit the bullet and drop some cash then you will be treated to some very fine games. The software loads quickly and offers a very smooth overall experience. Your games are delivered using a very advanced console that integrates the live chat features right into the main screen. For those of you who like to tinker with your fun, Gala delivers a nice set of user controlled options to maximize your game time. And best of all, all this fun is ready and waiting 24 hours a day. We were surprised to find that even the very early sessions that we checked in on could boast some very healthy crowds in the chat rooms. When you need a break from all this fun, the stop by the Instant Win section to try your hand at that style of fun, it might be just the break you need between sessions.

So it seems that all of our big disappointments with Gala Bingo have to do with the fact that they just fail to deliver when it comes to promotions. The hall waves some very tempting offers under your nose, but they are all followed with that old faithful, "Coming Soon!" reminder. We hope that they can live up to the promise, because right now they offer exactly nothing in this department and that is just unacceptable no matter how you look at it.

Promotions issues aside Gala reminds us why they are the best in the real world with their new online hall. Everything about their Bingo is offered up in the same high quality style we have come to know and love. We don't think that this hall would be a bad bet for any player. Go see for yourself what they bring to the table.

Click here to play at Gala Bingo now