I’ve lived in Spain for almost five years of my life at this point, but I still try to seek out new experiences whenever I can. Just a few weeks ago, I had the chance to try something completely new to me — not just in Spain, but in my life in general: playing bingo at a casino.
In the U.S., all my experiences playing bingo were at, like, church picnics or silly college campus events. And in the U.S., I’ve never been to a casino, unless you count the lobby of Las Vegas hotels on family vacations, or the slot machines at the Las Vegas airport. Needless to say… I had never actually gambled before.
But this new experience in Spain combined playing bingo, being at the casino, and gambling.
If you want to try playing bingo in Spain, here’s everything you need to know.
What You Need To Play Bingo in Spain
We actually first had the idea to play bingo when we visited Valencia over Easter weekend. But on the walk there, we realized I didn’t have any legal identification on me. When I thought we were going to a community center to play with a bunch of abuelas, I wasn’t sure why I would need my passport for that.
But now, knowing you play bingo at the casino in Spain, it makes a lot more sense.
Here’s what you need to bring with you for your bingo night:
- Legal identification proving you are 18+ years old. For EU citizens/residents, your national ID card or residence permit will work; for all other nationalities, you need to have your original passport.
- Lots of coins! Of course, in Europe, €1 and €2 coins are common, and these work great for playing bingo. Most places will probably have an ATM but it’s nice to come prepared.
That’s pretty much it. When you arrive at the casino, you’ll have to present your ID in the lobby to “check in,” and then you’ll be able to move into the bingo hall.
The Spanish “Bingo Hall”
The rest of this article is going to be specifically about the place where I played bingo, but I imagine it’s not too different from one place to another.
Our “bingo hall” had a door with a light above it that let you know whether it was OK to enter, or whether you needed to wait. This is so you don’t interrupt the players by coming in during the middle of a round.
When we went through the doors, we found ourselves in an absolutely massive room. There must have been at least 300+ people there, and they were most certainly not all abuelas. Friend groups, family groups, couples… it seemed like every demographic was represented.
A staff member led us through a sea of round tables to one that was nearly empty — each table seemed to have about seven chairs, and we had a group of five people, so we took our seats at the table next to a couple who was already seated, discarded bingo cards strewn around the table.
Inside the center of the table, there were three screens, each of which was tilted upward at an angle so that everyone around the table could see one. At the present moment, it was showing a La Liga fútbol match… but only for a minute. Because the next round of bingo was about to begin.
How To Play Bingo in Spain
Right before each round, the staff members will come around to each table selling the cartones, or bingo cards. The price (at least where we went) varied by round — usually they were €1.50 each, but sometimes they were €2 or even €3 for a card. This is where having a ton of smaller euro coins can come in handy. (If you pay them with a €20 bill, for example, they may hand you a chip stating that you paid with a €20 and they’ll have to come back and bring you change later.)
Some people buy several cartones at once and play all of them during the round to increase their chance of winning.
But keep this in mind: You are in Spain… so you are going to be playing bingo in Spanish. So my friends and I opted to share cartones at first as we learned to adjust to the rapid-fire reading of the numbers in our non-native language.
Here’s exactly how to play bingo in Spain (at least at our casino):
- Each carton had three rows of five numbers. There are no B-I-N-G-O columns — just plain numbers, between 1-99.
- The round starts, and the room goes quiet. The numbers are called out extremely fast.
- Usually after about 15-25 numbers are called, someone (or multiple someones) will call out LÍNEA! This means that they have completed an entire horizontal row of five on their card.
- The game briefly pauses while the winners are confirmed.
- Then, the second half of the game begins. Number-calling is resumed until someone completes all the numbers on their card — what we Americans would call playing “blackout.” But here, if you complete your whole card, you call out BINGO!
- The round ends. The staff members come around and start selling cards for the next round.
Other Things To Know About Playing Bingo in a Casino in Spain
The whole thing happens so fast, but there is something that can make it a little easier on you, especially if you’re not a native Spanish speaker. Remember how I mentioned those screens inside the table? During the round, they also display the last three numbers that were called.
These screens, along with TVs around the perimeter of the room, also show information about the number of cartones sold per round, as well as the prize pot for winning línea and bingo. Of course, when more cards are sold, or when cards cost €3 instead of €1.50, the prize pot is larger. But the pot is split between everyone who called línea or bingo at the same time.
When we went, it seemed that there were between 200-250 cards sold each round, and the línea winnings were usually between €30-40; the bingo winnings were usually between €150-200.
There were also a few other grand prizes that were listed on the screen, and we weren’t sure what they meant, so we asked our new friends who were sitting at the table. It seems like the way you win these — and the names of the prizes — can vary significantly from casino to casino.
At our bingo hall, the Reserva Prima winnings were €16,263.08, and the Reserva Prima Extra was worth €21,817.92, which you could win by getting bingo within a super low number of balls being called. Apparently no one had won either of those in decades (maybe ever) but I guess it’s nice knowing it’s theoretically possible.
Anyway, this might come as a huge shock, but none of us won anything in bingo that night. Not even línea! A couple of times, we got a number or two away from winning bingo, but someone always beat us to it. We also only each played one card at a time, and we didn’t play every round, so a lot of other people probably had quite the advantage over us.
It was nice to have the opportunity to sit out a round or two whenever we wanted. Playing bingo could be a little bit stressful, and it was a good opportunity to order food and drinks to the table! There was a little plastic tower on each table, and you’d just flip a switch that would turn it red when you wanted something — and soon enough, a waiter would come over to take your order.
The wine pours were generous and not too expensive. The food was actually decent (I’m told) though nothing had a price listed on the menu. You know how casinos are… no clocks, and no prices on your food, apparently. 😜
Anyway, it was a fun night doing something different and I’m surprised how much I enjoyed it! You won’t find me at the casino every weekend or anything, which is definitely for the best, but it could be good for a random night out or taking visiting friends to go experience something new.
(Of course, if you choose to play bingo or go to the casino in Spain, please be responsible, set limits, and don’t gamble more than you can afford to lose.)
Have you ever played bingo in Spain or another country? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
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