Much has been talked in the press recently about the bingo industry singing the blues as a result of the anti cigarette law in the United Kingdom. Conditions have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for huge aid to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. However can the net variation of this traditional game offer a salvation, or might it in no way compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo is an age old game generally played by the "blue haired" generation. However the game of late had experienced a recent return in appeal with younger men and women deciding to hit the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a Saturday night. All this is about to be destroyed with the legislating of the smoking ban throughout England and Wales.
Players will no longer be permitted to smoke at the same time marking numbers. Beginning in the summer of 2007 every public area will no longer be permitted to allow smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo halls, one of the most common areas where many people enjoy smoking.
The effects of the cigarette ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already not allowed in the bingo parlours. Numbers have dropped and the industry is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Certainly they have not deserted this familiar game?
The answer is on the internet. Gamblers realize that they can bet on bingo in front of their computer at the same time enjoying a beer and cigarette and still have a chance at huge cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself just about perfectly with the anti smoking law.
Of course gambling on on the web is unlikely to replace the social portion of going over to the bingo parlor, but for a group of men and women the rules have left a lot of bingo players with little alternative.