A lot has been written in the papers not long ago about the bingo industry struggling as a result of the cigarette ban in Britain. Conditions have grown so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for massive tax cuts to help keep the industry alive. However can the online variation of this traditional game present a escape, or might it not compare to its real life equivalent?
Bingo has been an age old game historically played by the "blue rinse" generation. In any case the game recently had seen a recent increase in acceptance with younger members of society deciding to go to the bingo parlours in place of the bars on a weekend. This is all about to get flipped on its head with the enacting of the smoking ban across England and Wales.
Players will no longer be allowed to smoke while marking off their numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 all public areas will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most common areas where players like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the anti cigarette law can already be looked at in Scotland where cigarettes are already banned in the bingo parlors. Players have plummeted and the business is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Obviously they haven’t abandoned this ancient game?
The answer is on the net. Gamblers realize that they can participate in bingo from their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and fag and in the end, have a chance at big prizes. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself almost perfectly with the ban on smoking.
Of course playing on the web is unlikely to replace the social part of heading over to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of men and women the governing edicts have left a good many bingo players with little option.
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