Much has been written in the press recently about the bingo industry being hurt as a consequence of the smoking ban in the United Kingdom. Conditions have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded massive tax breaks to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. But can the web variation of this quintessential game present a reprieve, or will it not compare to its bricks and mortar relative?
Bingo is an classic game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. In any case the game lately had undergone a recent increase in popularity with younger people deciding to hit the bingo parlors rather than the discos on a Friday night. This is all about to be reversed with the enacting of the smoking ban all over England and Wales.
No more will players be permitted to puff on cigarettes while dabbing numbers. From the summer of 2007 every public location will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most common places where people enjoy smoking.
The outcome of the anti smoking law can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already prohibited in the bingo halls. Players have plummeted and the business is absolutely struggling for its life. But where have all the players gone? Obviously they have not deserted this classic game?
The answer is online. Gamblers realise that they can wager on bingo from their computer while enjoying a beer and cig and in the end, have a chance at huge jackpots. This is a recent anomaly and has happened just about perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course playing on the net could never replace the communal part of going over to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of people the law has left many bingo enthusiasts with little option.