Could the Smoking Ban in the United Kingdom Force Bingo Players On to the Internet?
by Brennen on Wednesday, August 27th, 2025
An abundance has been talked in the papers recently about the bingo industry struggling as a result of the anti cigarette law in the UK. Conditions have grown so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded massive tax breaks to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. However will the web adaptation of this classic game offer a reprieve, or will it not compare to its land based relative?
Bingo has been an established game normally played by the "blue rinse" generation. In any case the game recently had undergone a recent increase in appeal with younger members of society opting to go to the bingo parlors in place of the clubs on a weekend. All this is about to be reversed with the introduction of the smoking ban throughout UK.
No more will enthusiasts be permitted to puff on cigarettes at the same time marking numbers. From the summer of ‘07 all public locations will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, one of the most favored places where folks enjoy smoking.
The results of the anti cigarette law can already be seen in Scotland where smoking is already forbidden in the bingo parlors. Players have dropped and the business is literally struggling for its life. But where did all the players go? Surely they have not cast aside this established game?
The answer is on the internet. Players know that they can enjoy bingo from their computer at the same time enjoying a cocktail and fag and still have a chance at big cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself almost perfectly with the anti cigarette law.
Of course playing on the internet is unlikely to replace the communal part of heading over to the bingo parlor, but for a group of players the law has left a good many bingo players with no alternative.
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