An abundance has been reported in the press recently regarding the bingo industry struggling as a result of the smoking ban in England. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for huge aid to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. But does the internet adaptation of this classic game present a escape, or will it in no way compare to its bricks and mortar equivalent?
Bingo has been an familiar game usually played by the "blue haired" generation. However the game lately had witnessed a recent comeback in popularity with younger men and women deciding to go to the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a Saturday night. All this is about to change with the legislating of the cigarette ban all over UK.
Players will no longer be permitted to smoke whilst marking numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 every public location will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most favored locations where many people like to puff on cigarettes.
The outcome of the smoking ban can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already barred in the bingo parlours. Numbers have plunged and the industry is beyond a doubt struggling for to stay alive. But where did all the players go? Obviously they haven’t cast aside this familiar game?
The answer is on the internet. Players know that they can gamble on bingo using their computer whilst enjoying a drink and cigarette and still have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has happened bordering on perfect with the ban on smoking.
Of course playing online will never replace the communal portion of going over to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of men and women the law has left a good many bingo enthusiasts with little alternative.