A lot has been reported in the papers not long ago about the bingo industry being hit as a consequence of the smoking ban in Britain. Conditions have become so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded big tax breaks to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. However does the online version of this classic game offer a reprieve, or will it never compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo is an familiar game historically played by the "blue rinse" generation. However the game recently had witnessed a recent return in acceptance with younger men and women deciding to visit the bingo parlours rather than the bars on a weekend. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the legislating of the smoking ban around England and Wales.
Players will no longer be allowed to smoke while dabbing numbers. From the summer of 2007 all public areas will no longer be permitted to allow smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most favored places where many people like to smoke.
The outcome of the anti smoking law can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already not permitted in the bingo parlors. Numbers have dropped and the business is absolutely fighting for to stay alive. But where have all the players gone? Of course they have not cast aside this familiar game?
The answer is on the internet. Players realize that they can gamble on bingo using their computer while enjoying a drink and cigarette and in the end, enjoy monstrous jackpots. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course gambling on on the internet is unlikely to replace the social portion of heading over to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left a lot of bingo players with no choice.