A lot has been stated in the press not long ago concerning the bingo industry being hit as a result of the cigarette ban in the United Kingdom. Things have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for big aid to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. However can the web version of this traditional game offer a salvation, or might it not compare to its land based relative?
Bingo is an ancient game generally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game lately had undergone a recent increase in popularity with younger men and women opting to visit the bingo parlors in place of the bars on a Saturday night. All this is about to be destroyed with the legislating of the smoking ban around England and Wales.
Players will no longer be allowed to smoke at the same time marking numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 all public areas will not be allowed to permit cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most favorite locations where people like to smoke.
The effects of the smoking ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already banned in the bingo parlours. Players have dropped and the industry is literally fighting for its life. But where have all the players gone? Certainly they haven’t abandoned this age old game?
The answer is online. Players know that they can participate in bingo from their computer while enjoying a cocktail and cigarette and in the end, enjoy monstrous jackpots. This is a recent development and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on smoking.
Of course wagering on on the web can never replace the communal part of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a group of men and women the governing edicts have left a number of bingo enthusiasts with no alternative.