A lot has been reported in the papers just a while ago regarding the bingo industry being hit because of the anti smoking law in Britain. Things have grown so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded huge aid to help keep the industry from going bankrupt. However can the net version of this traditional game provide a lifeline, or might it never compare to its bricks and mortar opposite?
Bingo has been an familiar game usually played by the "blue haired" generation. Although the game of late had experienced a recent comeback in appeal with younger men and women deciding to hit the bingo parlors rather than the bars on a Saturday night. All this is about to be destroyed with the introduction of the anti cigarette law all over UK.
Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes at the same time marking off their numbers. From the summer of 2007 every public place will not be allowed to permit smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most common locations where people like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the cigarette ban can already be felt in Scotland where smoking is already forbidden in the bingo parlours. Profits have plunged and the business is beyond a doubt fighting for its life. But where did all the players go? Surely they have not deserted this familiar game?
The answer is online. Players realise that they can participate in bingo in front of their computer at the same time enjoying a cocktail and fag and in the end, have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent development and has happened bordering on perfect with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course gambling on on the web is unlikely to replace the social part of heading over to the bingo parlor, but for a group of players the governing edicts have left a lot of bingo players with little choice.