Much has been stated in the papers recently regarding the bingo industry being hurt as a result of the anti cigarette law in England. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested huge aid to assist in keeping the industry alive. However will the online variation of this quintessential game offer a reprieve, or will it in no way compare to its land based opposite?
Bingo has been an familiar game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game lately had undergone a recent increase in appeal with younger men and women opting to go to the bingo parlors rather than the discos on a weekend. All this is about to be destroyed with the enforcement of the cigarette ban across England and Wales.
Players will no longer be able to smoke at the same time marking off their numbers. From the summer of 2007 all public places will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most favored places where folks enjoy smoking.
The outcome of the smoking ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already banned in the bingo halls. Numbers have plunged 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 established game?
The answer is on the internet. People are now realizing that they can bet on bingo using their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and cigarette and in the end, enjoy massive jackpots. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course playing on the net could never replace the communal part of going over to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of players the governing edicts have left a number of bingo enthusiasts with no option.