A lot has been talked in the papers not long ago about the bingo industry struggling as a consequence of the smoking ban in the United Kingdom. Conditions have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has asked for massive tax breaks to assist in keeping the businesses alive. But does the internet variation of this quintessential game present a escape, or might it in no way compare to its bricks and mortar kin?
Bingo has been an familiar game normally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game lately had undergone a recent return in popularity with younger members of society deciding to visit the bingo parlours rather than the discos on a Friday night. This is all about to be destroyed with the enforcement of the smoking ban all over Britain.
Players will no longer be able to smoke at the same time marking off their numbers. Beginning in the summer of 2007 all public places will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most favored areas where folks like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the smoking ban can already be seen in Scotland where cigarettes are already banned in the bingo parlours. Numbers have plummeted and the business is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where did all the players go? Obviously they haven’t given up on this classic game?
The answer is on the internet. Gamblers realise that they can gamble on bingo from their computer whilst enjoying a beverage and smoke and still enjoy monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself just about perfectly with the anti smoking law.
Of course gambling on on the web can never replace the social aspect of going down to the bingo hall, but for a group of people the rules have left a good many bingo players with little alternative.