A lot has been talked in the press not long ago regarding the bingo industry being hit as a result of the cigarette ban in Britain. Conditions have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested huge aid to help keep the businesses alive. However does the online adaptation of this quintessential game provide a escape, or will it never compare to its land based kin?
Bingo is an ancient game generally played by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game lately had seen a recent resurgence in popularity with younger men and women deciding to go to the bingo parlours in place of the bars on a Saturday night. All this is about to be destroyed with the introduction of the anti smoking law throughout UK.
Players will no longer be able to puff on cigarettes at the same time dabbing numbers. Starting in the summer of ‘07 all public areas will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most common areas where many people like to smoke.
The effects of the smoking ban can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already banned in the bingo parlors. Players have plunged and the business is beyond a doubt struggling for its life. But where did all the players go? Obviously they haven’t given up on this classic game?
The answer is on the net. Players are now realizing that they can bet on bingo from their computer while enjoying a drink and cig and in the end, enjoy huge prizes. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself almost perfectly with the anti cigarette law.
Of course betting on on the internet is unlikely to replace the collective part of going over to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of people the law has left many bingo players with no alternative.