A lot has been written in the press just a while ago about the bingo industry being hit because of the anti cigarette law in the United Kingdom. Conditions have grown so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded big tax cuts to help keep the businesses alive. However does the online variation of this classic game present a salvation, or will it never compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo has been an established game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game recently had undergone a recent comeback in acceptance with younger men and women opting to go to the bingo parlours rather than the clubs on a Friday night. This is all about to be reversed with the introduction of the cigarette ban throughout UK.
Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes while dabbing numbers. Beginning in the summer of 2007 all public places will no longer be permitted to allow smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most popular areas where folks like to smoke.
The effects of the cigarette ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already prohibited in the bingo parlours. Players have plunged and the industry is absolutely struggling for to stay alive. But where did all the players go? Surely they have not given up on this age old game?
The answer is on the web. Players realize that they can play bingo using their computer whilst enjoying a drink and cig and in the end, have a chance at big jackpots. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on smoking.
Of course betting on online is unlikely to replace the communal portion of heading down to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of players the rules have left a number of bingo players with no choice.