Can the Anti Cigarette Law in Britain Take Bingo Players On to the Internet?
Much has been talked in the papers not long ago regarding the bingo industry singing the blues as a result of the smoking ban in Britain. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has demanded huge tax cuts to help keep the industry afloat. However can the net version of this quintessential game provide a lifeline, or will it in no way compare to its land based opposite?
Bingo has been an classic game generally enjoyed by the "blue haired" generation. Although the game recently had witnessed a recent return in appeal with younger men and women deciding to visit the bingo halls instead of the bars on a Saturday night. This is all about to get flipped on its head with the enacting of the anti cigarette law throughout England and Wales.
Players will no longer be allowed to smoke whilst marking numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 all public places will not be permitted to allow smoking in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, one of the most common areas where folks like to puff on cigarettes.
The results of the smoking ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already barred in the bingo parlors. Players have dropped and the business is absolutely struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Certainly they have not abandoned this classic game?
The answer is on the net. Players know that they can play bingo in front of their computer whilst enjoying a cocktail and smoke and in the end, have a chance at massive prizes. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself just about perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.
Of course gambling on on the internet can never replace the communal portion of going down to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of players the law has left many bingo players with no alternative.