Bingo

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

An abundance has been written in the papers recently about the bingo industry being hurt because of the anti cigarette law in Britain. Conditions have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for big tax cuts to assist in keeping the industry from going bankrupt. But will the net variation of this traditional game provide a lifeline, or might it never compare to its land based relative?

Bingo is an enduring game usually played by the "blue haired" generation. For all that the game lately had experienced a recent return in appeal with younger men and women opting to hit the bingo halls instead of the bars on a Friday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the enacting of the cigarette ban around Britain.

Players will no longer be able to puff on cigarettes at the same time marking numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 all public areas will not be allowed to permit cigarettes in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most favorite places where players like to puff on cigarettes.

The outcome of the smoking ban can already be observed in Scotland where smoking is already not allowed in the bingo parlors. Numbers have dropped and the business is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where have all the players gone? Surely they haven’t abandoned this enduring game?

The answer is on the internet. People realize that they can enjoy bingo from their computer whilst enjoying a beverage and smoke and in the end, enjoy huge jackpots. This is a recent development and has timed itself almost perfectly with the anti cigarette law.

Of course playing on the net is unlikely to replace the collective part of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of players the governing edicts have left a lot of bingo players with no choice.