An abundance has been talked in the papers not long ago regarding the bingo industry singing the blues because of the smoking ban in England. Conditions have grown so poor that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested huge aid to assist in keeping the businesses alive. However will the online variation of this quintessential game present a salvation, or will it never compare to its bricks and mortar kin?

Bingo has been an familiar game normally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game lately had undergone a recent resurgence in appeal with younger people deciding to go to the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a Saturday night. This is all about to change with the legislating of the cigarette ban all over Britain.

Players will no longer be able to puff on cigarettes whilst dabbing numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 all public locations will not be allowed to permit cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most favorite places where many people like to smoke.

The results of the anti cigarette law can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already illegal in the bingo parlors. Players have plunged and the business is beyond a doubt fighting for its life. But where did all the players go? Certainly they haven’t given up on this established game?

The answer is on the internet. Gamblers realise that they can participate in bingo in front of their computer at the same time enjoying a drink and cig and still enjoy monstrous jackpots. This is a recent phenomenon and has happened almost perfectly with the ban on cigarettes.

Of course playing online can never replace the social portion of heading down to the bingo parlour, but for a group of people the rules have left a number of bingo players with little choice.