An abundance has been written in the press recently concerning the bingo industry being hit as a result of the cigarette ban in the UK. Things have grown so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested massive tax breaks to assist in keeping the businesses afloat. But will the net adaptation of this traditional game present a reprieve, or might it not compare to its real life kin?
Bingo is an familiar game generally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game of late had seen a recent comeback in popularity with younger people deciding to go to the bingo parlours in place of the discos on a Friday night. All this is about to get flipped on its head with the legislating of the smoking ban all over United Kingdom.
Players will no longer be able to smoke at the same time marking numbers. From the summer of 2007 every public area will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most popular locations where players enjoy smoking.
The outcome of the anti cigarette law can already be felt in Scotland where smoking is already barred in the bingo parlors. Players have plunged and the industry is absolutely struggling for its life. But where have all the players gone? Certainly they have not deserted this familiar game?
The answer is on the net. People know that they can gamble on bingo using their computer at the same time enjoying a beverage and cig and in the end, enjoy huge prizes. This is a recent development and has timed itself almost perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course playing on the internet can never replace the social aspect of heading over to the bingo parlour, but for a group of players the rules have left a lot of bingo players with no alternative.
