A lot has been stated in the press not long ago regarding the bingo industry struggling as a result of the cigarette ban in England. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded huge tax cuts to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. But can the online adaptation of this traditional game provide a lifeline, or might it never compare to its bricks and mortar peer?
Bingo has been an enduring game generally enjoyed by the "blue haired" generation. For all that the game recently had undergone a recent increase in appeal with younger men and women deciding to visit the bingo halls in place of the bars on a Saturday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the enacting of the cigarette ban all over England and Wales.
Players will no longer be able to smoke whilst marking off their numbers. From the summer of ‘07 all public areas will no longer be allowed to permit cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most popular places where players like to smoke.
The outcome of the anti smoking law can already be felt in Scotland where smoking is already banned in the bingo parlors. Numbers have dropped and the industry is literally fighting for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Certainly they haven’t forgotten this enduring game?
The answer is on the web. People know that they can enjoy bingo in front of their computer whilst enjoying a beer and smoke and still enjoy huge prizes. This is a recent development and has happened almost perfectly with the anti smoking law.
Of course playing on the web will never replace the social part of going down to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of people the rules have left many bingo players with no option.