A lot has been reported in the press recently regarding the bingo industry being hurt because of the anti smoking law in Britain. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested huge tax cuts to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. But will the net version of this quintessential game provide a reprieve, or might it not compare to its land based relative?
Bingo is an familiar game normally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game lately had undergone a recent resurgence in appeal with younger men and women deciding to hit the bingo parlors rather than the clubs on a weekend. This is all about to be reversed with the legislating of the anti smoking law across UK.
Players will no longer be able to puff on cigarettes while dabbing numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 every public area will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo halls, one of the most favored areas where players enjoy smoking.
The results of the cigarette ban can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already illegal in the bingo parlours. Numbers have plunged and the business is absolutely fighting for to stay alive. But where did all the players go? Of course they haven’t abandoned this classic game?
The answer is on the web. Players know that they can gamble on bingo using their computer while enjoying a beverage and cigarette and still enjoy monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has happened almost perfectly with the ban on smoking.
Of course betting on on the web could never replace the collective aspect of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a group of people the law has left a good many bingo players with little option.