A lot has been stated in the papers recently concerning the bingo industry being hurt as a consequence of the cigarette ban in the United Kingdom. Things have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for big tax cuts to assist in keeping the businesses alive. However will the online variation of this traditional game offer a salvation, or might it in no way compare to its real life opposite?
Bingo has been an classic game generally played by the "blue rinse" generation. However the game recently had witnessed a recent resurgence in popularity with younger members of society deciding to visit the bingo parlors in place of the clubs on a Saturday night. All this is about to change with the introduction of the anti smoking law across United Kingdom.
Players will no longer be permitted to smoke at the same time marking numbers. From the summer of ‘07 every public area will no longer be allowed to permit cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlours, one of the most common places where many people like to smoke.
The results of the cigarette ban can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already prohibited in the bingo parlours. Numbers have dropped and the industry is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Of course they have not cast aside this familiar game?
The answer is on the internet. People realise that they can enjoy bingo from their computer while enjoying a cocktail and fag and still have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself just about perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course betting on on the web is unlikely to replace the collective portion of heading down to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of players the law has left a lot of bingo players with little option.