A lot has been stated in the papers just a while ago concerning the bingo industry struggling as a consequence of the smoking ban in Britain. Things have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested big tax breaks to help keep the businesses alive. However does the internet adaptation of this traditional game present a lifeline, or might it in no way compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo is an classic game normally played by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game recently had undergone a recent comeback in appeal with younger members of society deciding to visit the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a weekend. This is all about to be destroyed with the legislating of the cigarette ban around United Kingdom.
Players will no longer be able to smoke at the same time marking numbers. Beginning in the summer of 2007 all public places will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo halls, one of the most common locations where players like to smoke.
The effects of the anti cigarette law can already be seen in Scotland where cigarettes are already not permitted in the bingo parlors. Numbers have plunged and the business is literally fighting for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Of course they have not given up on this age old game?
The answer is on the net. Players realize that they can bet on bingo in front of their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and fag and in the end, enjoy big prizes. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course betting on on the net is unlikely to replace the communal aspect of going over to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left a number of bingo players with no alternative.