Bingo is a very popular game all over the world. It is a game chance as randomly selected numbers are drawn and players have to match this number with those appearing on 5x5 matrices that are either printed or electronically generated and is usually called as "card". The first person that could form a specific pattern (usually a straight line) is the winner. In UK, Australia and New Zealand a similar game knows as Housie is played in which a printed ticket of 15 numbers is used and they are printed in three lines containing five numbers each.

In the online version, a similar game is played on the Internet. Instead of using a ball used in a bingo hall, online bingo sites use a random number generator to generate the number for the game. But the actual online bingo is played more like online poker or online casino games. One notable feature of online bingo is the chat functionality. This is to create a sense of community and interaction amongst online players.

Some of the sites require the players to download free software to play the game. Other sites use Java or Flash based games that allow the online player to become online immediately after registering in a player account on the site.

The players are to fund an account so as to win prizes. But, many of the sites offer free bingo games where a player could earn a small amount as prize money and there is no gambling involved. Some other sites require no deposit. Players on these sites get the experience of playing the game but there is no monetary transaction involved.

Most of the sites that require money to play the game generally use a standard e-wallet option. Some of these sites offer a number of incentives to deposit, including matching bonuses where the site will provide rewards to the player by matching a percentage of the deposit amount.

To curb gambling, the US government has recently introduced restriction on the use of credit cards for US citizens. The law now prevents any US based payment providers for receiving any payment for online gaming.

It has been found that more women then men play online bingo and they are mostly in the age group of 35 to 54.

According to some statistics, there are over 357 online bingo sites that are presently active. The game is most popular UK followed buy USA, Canada and Sweden.

Therefore, there is enough choice for a bingo live player to choose an online site to play the game. Any Internet search would provide a list of these sites. Live bingo player might select one of these sites as per their choice.