Much has been reported in the press not long ago about the bingo industry being hit as a result of the smoking ban in Britain. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for big tax cuts to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. However does the online adaptation of this quintessential game provide a lifeline, or might it not compare to its bricks and mortar peer?
Bingo is an age old game usually played by the "blue haired" generation. For all that the game lately had seen a recent resurgence in acceptance with younger people deciding to hit the bingo parlors in place of the clubs on a Saturday night. This is all about to be reversed with the enforcement of the smoking ban throughout Britain.
Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes whilst marking numbers. Beginning in the summer of 2007 all public areas will not be allowed to permit smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most common locations where folks enjoy smoking.
The results of the anti cigarette law can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already banned in the bingo parlours. Numbers have plunged and the business is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Obviously they haven’t deserted this classic game?
The answer is online. People realise that they can wager on bingo in front of their computer at the same time enjoying a cocktail and smoke and still enjoy big cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself just about perfectly with the anti smoking law.
Of course wagering on on the internet could never replace the social part of heading down to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of players the law has left a number of bingo players with little option.