A lot has been talked in the papers just a while ago about the bingo industry struggling because of the anti cigarette law in Britain. Things have become so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for big tax cuts to help keep the industry alive. However will the internet version of this quintessential game offer a salvation, or might it never compare to its bricks and mortar peer?
Bingo is an classic game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game lately had witnessed a recent resurgence in acceptance with younger members of society deciding to visit the bingo parlors instead of the discos on a Saturday night. This is all about to be destroyed with the enforcement of the cigarette ban all over United Kingdom.
Players will no longer be able to puff on cigarettes whilst marking off their numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 all public areas will not be allowed to permit cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most favored areas where players enjoy smoking.
The results of the cigarette ban can already be seen in Scotland where smoking is already not allowed in the bingo parlors. Numbers have dropped and the industry is absolutely fighting for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Of course they haven’t abandoned this classic game?
The answer is on the net. Players realise that they can gamble on bingo from their computer whilst enjoying a drink and fag and still have a chance at monstrous jackpots. This is a recent development and has happened just about perfectly with the ban on smoking.
Of course gambling on on the internet is unlikely to replace the collective part of going down to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of players the rules have left a number of bingo players with no alternative.