tombola Review: Own-Brand Bingo, Tiny Tickets and a Debit Card Catch
tombola builds its own bingo games, sells tickets from about 1p and attaches no wagering to its welcome bonus. We weighed that against a debit-card-only cashier and a slots range that lives on a separate arcade site.
Our verdict
tombola is still the UK bingo site to beat on games you cannot find elsewhere and on cheap tickets. The welcome match is up to 50 pounds, and its winnings are not tied to wagering. Payments are debit cards only, reported withdrawal times conflict, and slots sit on a separate Arcade app, so it is a bingo-first choice.
Best for: UK bingo players who want exclusive games and low-stake tickets
- Price
- Free to join
- Operator
- tombola
What we liked
- In-house games that are not available at other bingo sites
- Bingo tickets from about 1p up to about 2 pounds, per BingoSites
- 100% first-deposit match up to 50 pounds with no wagering on the bonus, per BingoSites
- Regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, with 24/7 support by chat, phone and email
What held it back
- Debit cards only (Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard): no PayPal or other e-wallets
- Withdrawal times are reported as 1 to 2 hours, up to 3 working days, or 3 to 5 working days
- Slots and scratchcards sit on the separate tombola Arcade site and app
Most UK bingo sites sell the same games from the same suppliers in a different skin. tombola does not. It has built its games in-house since launching in 2005, so some of what you play simply does not exist at a rival. That is the pitch, and the pitch holds. What nearly lets it down is the cashier: debit cards only, with withdrawal times that depend on which page you believe.
A disclosure before the detail. tombola's own site refused our connection (HTTP 451), so we could not read its terms first-hand. Facts here come from BingoSites, Casino.org and the App Store, and we mark the places where they clash.
What you get that others do not
BingoSites says the games are made by tombola's own team and are not offered elsewhere, spread over 28 bingo rooms covering at least seven variants from 30 ball to 90 ball. Casino.org's review opens on the company's track record of transparency and trustworthiness, a reputation it calls well deserved.
Exclusive games matter more than a long list of supplier logos. If every site you try runs the same third-party rooms, a format you cannot get anywhere else is a real reason to open an account, and that is the clearest case for tombola.
The flip side is portability. Because the software is tombola's own, your habits, favourite rooms and any strategy for choosing them stay on one site, so switching later means starting over with unfamiliar games.
Tickets from 1p
BingoSites puts bingo tickets at roughly 1p up to roughly 2 pounds. The App Store listing for the main app also mentions a maximum stake of 2 pounds on every bingo game, together with responsible-play tools, which fits that range. A penny ticket is the point of the product: it lets you play for an evening on a small, fixed budget.
