Bingo My Bingo Blog

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

An abundance has been written in the press recently regarding the bingo industry singing the blues because of the anti smoking law in the UK. Things have grown so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for huge tax cuts to help keep the businesses afloat. However will the online variation of this classic game offer a reprieve, or might it never compare to its bricks and mortar equivalent?

Bingo has been an established game normally played by the "blue haired" generation. Although the game lately had seen a recent return in popularity with younger members of society deciding to go to the bingo parlors rather than the clubs on a weekend. All this is about to be reversed with the enforcement of the cigarette ban around UK.

No longer will players be able to smoke whilst marking off their numbers. From the summer of 2007 every public area will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most common areas where many people like to puff on cigarettes.

The results of the cigarette ban can already be felt in Scotland where smoking is already barred in the bingo parlours. Numbers have plummeted and the business is literally struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Surely they have not deserted this classic game?

The answer is on the net. People realize that they can wager on bingo in front of their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and cigarette and in the end, enjoy monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself just about perfectly with the ban on smoking.

Of course betting on on the net could never replace the collective part of going over to the bingo hall, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left many bingo enthusiasts with no choice.