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Gala Bingo Game Rigging Incident - Old News Archive

Posted On: Saturday, 11 April, 2009

I'd have got to this story earlier, but I was away most of the week taking a break from the internet and all. It's a pretty staggering story really, and I'd love to know more about the actual mechanics of what went on how the people involved were able to affect the outcome of the bingo. According to the Sunderland Echo, the worker was sacked from the Sunderland Gala Bingo and another suspended for their part in the alleged £10,000 scam.

It seems the employee was able to control a number in the High 5 game, although how this was possible and how it was able to affect the out come of the game is not explored in detail. Given the random nature of bingo, the randomness of the RNG and the book sales, I've never thought bingo was fixable from the operator's side, so this is a real first in the regulated modern era of the game.

The incident has been reported to both the local police and the Gambling Commission, so hopefully more detail will emerge in the future. The £10,000 prize money was not given after the disputed win, and was returned to the prize board. In the pre-computerized days I heard tales of players fixing games by completing numbers on their ticket and then obscuring the numbers they'd altered with heavy marking, but never the other way around. In the 4 years this site has been going I've not heard of anything like this, so I will be following it with keen interest.

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bingosupermarket said...

Hi Diobach
I do not know the facts of what happened at Gala and the report stated that a special code was used but allow me to indulge you with a theory of how this may be possible. I hasten to add it is impossible for this to happen in any of our clubs as the option is disabled and I am not stating this is what happened at the Gala in Sunderland.

Here goes
You get someone to buy a ticket and the caller makes a note of the bingo numbers that are required to get a full house. A few years ago, stage equipment was not linked between clubs for a link game, so a master club would call the game whilst the other clubs on the circuit would turn a key putting the RNG into link mode. This mode would allow the caller to hear the numbers being called and the slave clubs would type the numbers into the RNG for display purposes. The tickets could then be checked as though a normal game had been called. I suspect if an unscrupulous caller had access to this function and noted the numbers for the winning ticket then they could fool the crowd into thinking a random game was being called when in fact it was in link mode.

In this day and age, RNGs are now linked so this feature is not really required and a solution to this problem would be simply to disable this function from the RNG.

This is only an opinion and a theory on how a game can be rigged. All bingo games are audited and on many RNGs you can go back to see if the game was called in this manner.

I think it is also worth noting that it was the first time that this sort of thing has happened in bingo and in the report on Gala, they were caught and are being brought to justice and I think Gala should be applauded for the measures they are taking to ensure the honesty and integrity of the bingo industry.

Dio Bach said...

Ah yeah, that makes sense. I had to type the numbers in myself as a caller when we did the link games. But if the actual numbers were going out over the speakers, I'm not sure how they could get away with doing it. That certainly sounds plausible though. And yes, hats off to Gala for their stance on this.

bingosupermarket said...

Sorry I don't think I was totally clear in my explanation. I meant the caller would go into link mode but would be calling an in-house game, so the caller would select and call the numbers that he chooses over the pa. I was merely explaining that the unit had an option to select your own numbers for link game purposes but the key can be turned at any time during a session. Customers would see and hear the numbers that the caller is choosing to enter, no other clubs would be involved.

Dio Bach said...

Ok, yeah - I follow that now. I suppose if the manager was on stage though as well (do they still do that in link games?) then it would have been a very daring plan.

Anonymous said...

I was working at a Gala club at the time. The game was called from Sunderland and it was rigged using the ';Link Key';.

Gala did not handle it well for multiple reasons. Why was the link key still in the rng though it has no use? It was in place at my club too though the only time I used it was for a joke where I started the game with the number 99 because all the players were watching the monitors and calling early. (my fault for calling the wrong numbers! lol!)

It still is a legal requirement for the manager to take the stage during link games but they rarely do. I';ve called dozens and was accompanied only once!

Then there was the way recompense was made... by paying out the scammed jackpot on top of another High 5 game. Those in club at the time got a bargain but the folks that actually got scammed received nothing. Not even an apology!

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