What we recommend instead
Spectra Bingo Verdict
Spectra Bingo only earns a middle-of-the-road rating as it fails to outshine its sister sites, and is likely to fall short of regular online bingo players’ expectations when it comes to game variety, loyalty rewards, bonuses, and promotions. Sad as we are to say it, if you’re curious about Cassava sites or Dragonfish software, you’d be better off heading over to 888Ladies or Wink Bingo.
Percentage score
Design & Usability
Up until 2015, the Spectra Bingo website was a shocking pink colour with very basic graphics and text. It’s since been treated to a modern makeover and toned down with a new blue and pink colour scheme. It’s also inherited two female and one canine superhero too, who appear on the homepage and promotions page.
The site uses the standard Dragonfish layout which consists of a simple main menu featuring options to join, view the promotions, and take a closer look at the bingo, slots, and casino games.
After you’ve signed in or registered, you can visit the cashier or lobby via the two buttons at the top-right of the homepage. A new menu option called “My Account” also becomes available, and it lets you redeem your loyalty points, view your balance and recent transactions, invite friends to join the site, and look at the status of your bonuses.
Some of the pages aren’t that easy to find – the help page being one of them – and for this reason, we’re awarding Spectra three stars for design and usability.
Software & Gameplay
Spectra Bingo makes use of Dragonfish software, which is high quality and provides smooth, enjoyable, and reliable gameplay. The lobby is well-presented with separate tabs for Bingo, Slots, and Wow games, and on the left-hand side, you can see your current loyalty status, account balance, and values of the bingo and instant games jackpots.
The non-networked rooms were pretty quiet when we visited the site mid-morning on a Friday, although chat hosts Bonkers, Honey, and Adrian were doing their bit to keep the conversation flowing.
Although Spectra hosts High 5 games, these aren’t exclusive to the site but are available through the Dragonfish software.
Safety & Security
Spectra has two licenses to operate – one from the Great Britain Gambling Commission (which also acts as Spectra’s regulator) and the other from the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner.
The site is also eCORGA certified, which means it offers safe and fair services, and there’s clear information about security, fair play, and responsible gaming.
Payments & Withdrawals
The banking options include Wire Transfer, Visa, MasterCard, Entropay, Paysafecard, Paypal, and Skrill, which covers most popular deposit methods. However, due to the enforced 48-hour wait for your withdrawal requests to be processed, getting your hands on your funds takes a little too long for our liking.
Customer Support
Customer support is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, there’s a 24/7 Help Room where can you talk directly with an agent. However, it’s not on a par with the live chat facility offered by other major operators as you physically have to enter the help room and converse via the chat window. Plus, you can’t save your conversation for future reference.
There’s a generic email address, and the Help page states that the team aims to answer all queries (N.B., note “answer”, not “resolve”) within 48 hours. There’s also a toll-free telephone number which operates between 9 AM and 1 AM, 7 days a week.
Bonuses & Promotions
Although a no-deposit bonus is absent from the promotions page, you can take advantage of a £20 bingo bonus and a £20 slots bonus on your first deposit of £10. Before you can withdraw any winnings made as a result of the welcome offer, you must wager both the bonus and the deposit amount through four times on bingo or eighty times on slots. The slots wagering requirement is particularly steep and, therefore, you may wish to pass on the bonus or ensure you only spend it on bingo.
Spectra’s made a slight effort to personalise the graphics on its promotions page, but in essence, all of the offers that are listed on it are common to sites on the United Bingo network. If you’ve never seen them before, you’ll probably find them quite exciting. After all, there are several big jackpot games to enjoy like The Big £10,000, Sure Win, Grab a Grand, and Zodiac Bingo.
Device Compatibility
Gossip doesn’t have a mobile app or a dedicated mobile page, but what it does have is a mobile-optimised website that you can access via almost any smartphone or tablet. The lobby is well organised, and gives you access to the full range of bingo rooms and jackpot games, as well as a lengthy selection of slots, scratch cards, and casino games.
Variety & Originality
Due to the bingo games being driven by Dragonfish, there are only two main variants on offer – 90-ball and 75-ball – although there’s one High 5 room where the games pay out five prizes. The variety of slots is much better with many Eyecon titles like Fluffy Favourites and Shaman’s Dream sitting next to NetEnt and IGT games like Cleopatra and Gonzo’s Quest.
The main problem with Spectra is that it’s not unique in any way, shape or form, and if the brand’s logo was removed from the site, you could be playing at any site on the Dragonfish network.
Loyalty & Rewards
The standard Cassava loyalty plan is offered at Spectra Bingo, and it allows you to move up the four loyalty levels by collecting Jewels when making deposits. There are a few perks such as monthly cashback, free spins, complimentary game cards, and a personal VIP representative (for players at the higher levels), but the amount of money you need to spend to make progress is positively eye-watering. Plus, you don’t even qualify for access to free bingo, as the entry to the free rooms is determined by how recently and how much you deposited.