A lot has been stated in the press just a while ago about the bingo industry struggling because of the cigarette ban in Britain. Conditions have grown so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for big tax breaks to help keep the industry from going bankrupt. However will the net version of this traditional game offer a reprieve, or might it never compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo is an established game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. However the game of late had witnessed a recent comeback in appeal with younger people opting to go to the bingo parlors instead of the bars on a weekend. All this is about to be destroyed with the introduction of the smoking ban all over Britain.
Players will no longer be allowed to smoke at the same time dabbing numbers. Starting in the summer of ‘07 all public places will no longer be permitted to allow cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most common places where many people like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the anti smoking law can already be felt in Scotland where smoking is already forbidden in the bingo parlours. Players have plunged and the business is beyond a doubt struggling for its life. But where did all the players go? Obviously they haven’t forgotten this enduring game?
The answer is online. Gamblers realize that they can enjoy bingo using their computer while enjoying a drink and smoke and in the end, enjoy huge cash rewards. This is a recent development and has happened just about perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course wagering on online can never replace the social part of going over to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left many bingo players with little alternative.