Much has been talked in the press recently concerning the bingo industry being hurt because of the cigarette ban in Britain. Things have grown so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested big aid to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. However can the online adaptation of this quintessential game offer a reprieve, or will it never compare to its land based kin?
Bingo is an age old game normally played by the "blue haired" generation. Although the game of late had undergone a recent increase in popularity with younger men and women deciding to hit the bingo parlours rather than the clubs on a weekend. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the enforcement of the smoking ban across United Kingdom.
Players will no longer be allowed to smoke at the same time marking numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 all public places will no longer be permitted to allow cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most favorite areas where many people like to smoke.
The results of the anti smoking law can already be looked at in Scotland where cigarettes are already forbidden in the bingo halls. Players have dropped and the business is absolutely fighting for to stay alive. But where have all the players gone? Certainly they haven’t forgotten this enduring game?
The answer is on the internet. Gamblers realise that they can gamble on bingo from their computer at the same time enjoying a drink and cig and still enjoy big prizes. This is a recent development and has happened almost perfectly with the anti smoking law.
Of course playing on the web will never replace the collective portion of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left a good many bingo players with no choice.