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A lot has been written in the press recently concerning the bingo industry singing the blues as a result of the smoking ban in Britain. Conditions have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded huge tax cuts to help keep the industry afloat. But will the net variation of this traditional game present a reprieve, or will it never compare to its real life equivalent?
Bingo has been an age old game normally enjoyed by the "blue haired" generation. For all that the game of late had undergone a recent increase in popularity with younger people opting to hit the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a Saturday night. This is all about to be reversed with the legislating of the smoking ban around England and Wales.
No longer will gamblers be allowed to puff on cigarettes at the same time marking numbers. From the summer of 2007 all public areas will no longer be permitted to allow cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most common places where players enjoy smoking.
The results of the anti cigarette law can already be looked at in Scotland where cigarettes are already barred in the bingo halls. Profits have dropped and the business is literally struggling for its life. But where have the players gone? Certainly they have not abandoned this age old game?
The answer is online. Players realize that they can bet on bingo using their computer at the same time enjoying a beverage and smoke and in the end, have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course playing online could never replace the communal part of heading over to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the law has left a number of bingo players with no alternative.
