Much has been reported in the papers recently concerning the bingo industry being hit as a consequence of the anti cigarette law in Britain. Conditions have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded big aid to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. However will the web version of this classic game present a escape, or might it never compare to its real life relative?
Bingo has been an familiar game normally played by the "blue haired" generation. However the game lately had undergone a recent increase in appeal with younger people deciding to go to the bingo halls instead of the discos on a weekend. This is all about to be destroyed with the legislating of the smoking ban all over UK.
Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes at the same time marking numbers. From the summer of ‘07 every public area will no longer be permitted to allow cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most favorite places where players enjoy smoking.
The results of the smoking ban can already be observed in Scotland where smoking is already forbidden in the bingo parlours. Profits have dropped and the industry is literally fighting for to stay alive. But where have all the players gone? Of course they haven’t given up on this age old game?
The answer is on the internet. Gamblers realise that they can participate in bingo in front of their computer whilst enjoying a drink and fag and in the end, have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself almost perfectly with the ban on smoking.
Of course gambling on on the net is unlikely to replace the collective part of going down to the bingo hall, but for a group of men and women the law has left a lot of bingo enthusiasts with little option.