A lot has been talked in the press just a while ago about the bingo industry being hit as a result of the smoking ban in Britain. Things have grown so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for huge aid to assist in keeping the industry afloat. However can the internet version of this traditional game offer a escape, or might it not compare to its real life opposite?
Bingo has been an age old game normally played by the "blue haired" generation. In any case the game of late had seen a recent comeback in appeal with younger men and women opting to visit the bingo halls in place of the clubs on a Saturday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the introduction of the smoking ban all over Britain.
No more will enthusiasts be able to smoke while marking off their numbers. Starting in the summer of ‘07 every public area will no longer be allowed to permit cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most common locations where many people enjoy smoking.
The results of the smoking ban can already be observed in Scotland where smoking is already not allowed in the bingo parlours. Players have dropped and the business is literally fighting for its life. But where have all the players gone? Surely they haven’t deserted this age old game?
The answer is online. People are now realizing that they can wager on bingo from their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and smoke and still enjoy huge jackpots. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself just about perfectly with the anti cigarette law.
Of course gambling on on the net is unlikely to replace the social portion of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the rules have left a number of bingo enthusiasts with no alternative.