Bingo is a popular online pastime. It is usually played at separate portals where players purchase bingo tickets and compete against each other to be the first to complete the patterns. The structure is identical to the games played in land based bingo halls.

The leading software provider Rival Gaming has developed online casino games based on bingo. These have been named as Instant Bingo and are found as a separate sub category under the specialty games section at Rival Gaming online casinos such as Ruby Royal. As in other online casino games, in Instant Bingo players will compete against the house and not against other players. Instead of being the first to complete the patterns in how many ever balls it takes, players will have to complete patterns within certain number of balls called to win payouts. The players will receive payouts based on the complexity of the patterns completed.

Many variants of bingo games are played at online bingo halls, each having a different card structure. Rival Gaming has chosen four of the most popular variants for its Instant Bingo games. The first Instant Bingo game is the simple Bingo 30-Ball. In this variant the bingo card has a 3x3 matrix. Each cell displays randomly chosen numbers from 1 to 30. Bingo 30-Ball has only one winning pattern, which covers all nine numbers. First the player selects the card value, the number of tickets and the number of balls to draw. The options for the number of balls are 20, 22 and 24. For 20 balls the payout is 80 times the card value, for 22 balls the payout is 27 times the card value and for 24 balls the payout is 10 times the card value.

The second Rival Gaming Instant Bingo game is Bingo 80-Ball. The card displays 16 numbers in a 4x4 matrix. The options for the number of balls are 35, 45 and 55. There are seven defined patterns. The smallest is Four Corners, which covers four spots and the biggest is Coverall, which covers all 16 spots. With 35 balls selected, Coverall offers a payout of 10,000 times the card value. As the number of balls selected increases so does the chance of completing the patterns and therefore the payouts decrease.

American Bingo is based on the variant that is popular in the United States. The bingo card is in a 5x5 matrix format. The central cell is a wild and is automatically marked in any pattern. The remaining 24 cells have numbers randomly selected from 1 to 75. The payout table has seven patterns, which are similar to the Bingo 80-Ball patterns. The options for the number of balls are again 35, 45 and 55. With 35 balls selected, Coverall offers a payout of 10,000 times the card value.

The last Rival Gaming Instant Bingo variant is titled European Bingo. It is popular in the United Kingdom and Europe. The bingo card has three rows with five numbers on each row. The cells display randomly selected numbers from 1 to 90. The three patterns in the payout table are Any Line, Any Two Lines and Full House. Players can choose from 45, 55 and 65 balls. With 45 balls selected, Any Line pays 5 times the card value, Any Two Lines pays 275 times the card value and Full House pays 10,000 the card value.