An abundance has been reported in the papers not long ago about the bingo industry being hurt as a result of the anti cigarette law in the UK. Conditions have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for massive aid to assist in keeping the businesses afloat. However does the online variation of this classic game provide a lifeline, or will it not compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo has been an ancient game usually enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game of late had witnessed a recent resurgence in popularity with younger people deciding to visit the bingo halls instead of the discos on a Saturday night. This is all about to be reversed with the legislating of the cigarette ban around Britain.
Players will no longer be permitted to smoke whilst marking numbers. From the summer of ‘07 all public areas will no longer be allowed to permit cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most favored locations where players like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the smoking ban can already be looked at in Scotland where cigarettes are already prohibited in the bingo halls. Players have plunged and the industry is literally fighting for its life. But where did the players go? Surely they haven’t forgotten this established game?
The answer is online. People are now realizing that they can enjoy bingo using their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and fag and in the end, enjoy monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself almost perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course betting on on the net is unlikely to replace the social portion of heading over to the bingo parlour, but for a group of people the rules have left a lot of bingo players with little choice.
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