A lot has been reported in the papers just a while ago about the bingo industry being hit because of the cigarette ban in England. Things have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for big tax breaks to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. However can the web variation of this quintessential game provide a reprieve, or will it not compare to its land based equivalent?
Bingo is an established game usually played by the "blue haired" generation. However the game recently had experienced a recent comeback in popularity with younger men and women deciding to visit the bingo halls instead of the clubs on a Saturday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the enforcement of the smoking ban throughout England and Wales.
Players will no longer be able to smoke whilst dabbing numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 all public locations will not be allowed to permit cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most popular areas where people enjoy smoking.
The results of the smoking ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already not allowed in the bingo parlors. Numbers have dropped and the industry is absolutely struggling for its life. But where have the players gone? Obviously they have not forgotten this familiar game?
The answer is online. People know that they can play bingo using their computer at the same time enjoying a beer and fag and in the end, enjoy monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has happened just about perfectly with the ban on smoking.
Of course playing on the internet is unlikely to replace the social aspect of heading down to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of players the rules have left a number of bingo players with no option.
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