A lot has been written in the press just a while ago about the bingo industry struggling because of the cigarette ban in the United Kingdom. Things have become so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested massive tax breaks to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. But does the net version of this quintessential game offer a reprieve, or might it not compare to its real life relative?
Bingo is an familiar game normally played by the "blue haired" generation. In any case the game of late had undergone a recent return in acceptance with younger people opting to go to the bingo halls instead of the discos on a Friday night. All this is about to change with the legislating of the anti smoking law across Britain.
Players will no longer be able to puff on cigarettes whilst dabbing numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 every public area will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most favored places where people enjoy smoking.
The effects of the cigarette ban can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already forbidden in the bingo parlours. Profits have dropped and the business is beyond a doubt struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Obviously they have not cast aside this ancient game?
The answer is online. People realize that they can gamble on bingo in front of their computer while enjoying a beer and fag and still have a chance at massive jackpots. This is a recent phenomenon and has happened almost perfectly with the anti cigarette law.
Of course playing on the net could never replace the communal part of going over to the bingo hall, but for a group of players the rules have left many bingo players with little alternative.