A lot has been stated in the press recently about the bingo industry struggling because of the anti cigarette law in Britain. Things have grown so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested massive aid to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. However will the internet variation of this classic game offer a reprieve, or will it not compare to its land based kin?
Bingo is an familiar game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. However the game recently had undergone a recent return in appeal with younger men and women deciding to hit the bingo parlours in place of the discos on a Saturday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the enacting of the smoking ban around England and Wales.
Players will no longer be allowed to puff on cigarettes at the same time dabbing numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 every public location will no longer be permitted to allow cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most popular places where people like to smoke.
The outcome of the cigarette ban can already be seen in Scotland where cigarettes are already banned in the bingo parlours. Numbers have plummeted and the business is beyond a doubt struggling for its life. But where did all the players go? Of course they haven’t given up on this age old game?
The answer is on the internet. Gamblers realise that they can enjoy bingo using their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and fag and in the end, enjoy big prizes. This is a recent development and has happened bordering on perfect with the ban on smoking.
Of course playing on the internet will never replace the collective part of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of men and women the governing edicts have left a good many bingo enthusiasts with no option.