Much has been reported in the papers just a while ago concerning the bingo industry singing the blues because of the smoking ban in the UK. Things have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested big tax breaks to help keep the industry afloat. But can the internet variation of this traditional game offer a reprieve, or might it not compare to its bricks and mortar relative?
Bingo is an familiar game normally played by the "blue haired" generation. For all that the game of late had experienced a recent resurgence in popularity with younger people deciding to go to the bingo parlours rather than the bars on a Saturday night. All this is about to be destroyed with the enforcement of the cigarette ban across UK.
Players will no longer be allowed to puff on cigarettes while marking off their numbers. Starting in the summer of ‘07 all public locations will not be allowed to permit cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most common areas where players like to smoke.
The outcome of the smoking ban can already be seen in Scotland where cigarettes are already illegal in the bingo halls. Players have plunged and the business is absolutely fighting for to stay alive. But where have all the players gone? Certainly they have not forgotten this established game?
The answer is online. Players know that they can play bingo using their computer at the same time enjoying a cocktail and fag and still have a chance at massive jackpots. This is a recent development and has timed itself just about perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course playing on the internet will never replace the communal portion of going over to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of men and women the governing edicts have left a number of bingo enthusiasts with little alternative.