Cash bingo is primarily a commercial activity, and is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission. If you wish to provide cash bingo on a commercial basis you should consult the Commission.

Prize bingo is the kind normally played in funfairs and amusement arcades, for small participation fees and modest prizes.

It is typical of the prize gaming defined in section 288 of the Act, in which neither the nature nor the size of the prize are determined by the number of people playing or the amount paid for or raised by the gaming. Instead, the prize is put up in advance by the organiser of the game.

Under their existing permissions, bingo halls, adult gaming centres, travelling fairs, licensed family entertainment centres and holders of family entertainment centre gaming machine permits are automatically entitled to offer prize bingo. It may also be provided, for example in holiday camps and theme parks, under a prize gaming permit issued by a local licensing authority.

The maximum participation fee that may be charged for any one chance to win a prize in a game of prize bingo, wherever it is played, is 50p. The aggregate amount of participation fees, and the amount or value of prizes for which a game may be played, may not exceed £500.

Where prize bingo is played for money prizes, the following limits apply to the amount of a prize –

• Adult Gaming Centres – £50
• Licensed bingo premises (where under 18s are excluded) – £50
• Licensed bingo premises (where under 18s are permitted) – £35
• All other cases – £35