A lot has been talked in the press recently regarding the bingo industry being hit as a consequence of the smoking ban in the United Kingdom. Things have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested big aid to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. However does the net version of this quintessential game offer a reprieve, or might it never compare to its bricks and mortar relative?
Bingo has been an age old game generally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game recently had witnessed a recent return in acceptance with younger people opting to go to the bingo parlours instead of the bars on a weekend. This is all about to be destroyed with the enforcement of the cigarette ban all over United Kingdom.
Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes whilst marking off their numbers. Starting in the summer of ‘07 all public locations will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most common areas where many people like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the anti cigarette law can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already not allowed in the bingo halls. Numbers have plunged and the business is literally struggling for its life. But where did the players go? Of course they haven’t forgotten this familiar game?
The answer is on the web. Players realise that they can gamble on bingo from their computer at the same time enjoying a drink and fag and still have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has happened almost perfectly with the ban on smoking.
Of course gambling on on the net is unlikely to replace the collective aspect of going down to the bingo parlor, but for a group of men and women the governing edicts have left a number of bingo players with no choice.