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How to Calculate Bingo Prizes

Bingo is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Primarily played by the older generation, playing bingo is not only great fun, the pace and numerical nature of the game helps keep the cognitive abilities sharp in later life. How you go about calculating your prize pot depends on whether the bingo game is being organized for a philanthropic, fun or competitive purpose.

Instructions

- 1
  Multiply the number of players by the cost of entering each game. If there are 100 players and it costs $1 to play a round, your total pot would be $100.
- 2
  Subtract the amount of profit you wish to make from the total pot. If the bingo event is being held for charity, you may wish to keep the whole pot back and offer small token prizes instead. Otherwise you need to offer enough of a prize to entice people to play -- 50 percent of the total pot should be sufficient. In the example, this would be $50. So $50 is your prize pot.
- 3
  Make clear what the winning pattern for the game is before you begin calling the numbers, i.e., cross, corners or line. Call the balls until somebody shouts bingo. If more than one person gets that pattern on the same ball, divide the prize pot by the total number of winners. If there are two winners, divide $50 by two: $25 per winner.

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