A lot has been written 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 massive tax breaks to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. However will the online adaptation of this quintessential game offer a escape, or might it in no way compare to its real life opposite?
Bingo has been an enduring game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game lately had undergone a recent increase in acceptance with younger men and women deciding to go to the bingo halls rather than the bars on a Friday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the enforcement of the anti smoking law all over UK.
Players will no longer be allowed to puff on cigarettes whilst dabbing numbers. Starting in the summer of ‘07 every public location will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most popular areas where players like to puff on cigarettes.
The results of the cigarette ban can already be observed in Scotland where smoking is already forbidden in the bingo parlors. Profits have plunged and the business is literally struggling for its life. But where did all the players go? Surely they have not abandoned this ancient game?
The answer is online. People realise that they can bet on bingo from their computer while enjoying a beverage and cig and still enjoy monstrous prizes. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself just about perfectly with the anti cigarette law.
Of course playing on the web is unlikely to replace the communal part of heading over to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of people the rules have left a lot of bingo enthusiasts with no alternative.