Posted by Jace | Posted in Bingo | Posted on 22-08-2024
Much has been reported in the papers not long ago regarding the bingo industry singing the blues because of the cigarette ban in England. Conditions have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for big tax cuts to help keep the industry alive. However can the internet adaptation of this classic game provide a reprieve, or will it in no way compare to its real life equivalent?
Bingo has been an established game normally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. Although the game lately had undergone a recent increase in popularity with younger members of society opting to visit the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a Saturday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the introduction of the cigarette ban all over Britain.
Players will no longer be allowed to puff on cigarettes while marking off their numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 all public areas will not be permitted to allow smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo halls, which are possibly the most favored places where people like to puff on cigarettes.
The effects of the anti cigarette law can already be looked at in Scotland where smoking is already barred in the bingo halls. Numbers have dropped and the industry is literally struggling for its life. But where did all the players go? Surely they haven’t given up on this familiar game?
The answer is on the internet. Gamblers are now realizing that they can wager on bingo using their computer whilst enjoying a beer and fag and in the end, enjoy monstrous jackpots. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the ban on smoking.
Of course playing on the web is unlikely to replace the collective part of going down to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left a number of bingo enthusiasts with little option.