[ English ]

Much has been reported in the papers just a while ago concerning the bingo industry being hurt because of the cigarette ban in England. Conditions have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested massive aid to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. However can the web variation of this quintessential game provide a reprieve, or might it never compare to its land based relative?

Bingo has been an ancient game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. For all that the game lately had seen a recent comeback in appeal with younger people deciding to hit the bingo parlours in place of the clubs on a weekend. All this is about to be reversed with the introduction of the cigarette ban throughout UK.

Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes at the same time marking off their numbers. From the summer of 2007 every public place will not be permitted to allow smoking in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, which are possibly the most popular locations where folks enjoy smoking.

The effects of the smoking ban can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already illegal in the bingo parlors. Players have plummeted and the industry is absolutely fighting for its life. But where did all the players go? Of course they haven’t deserted this ancient game?

The answer is online. Players realise that they can enjoy bingo using their computer while enjoying a drink and cig and in the end, enjoy huge cash rewards. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself bordering on perfect with the anti smoking law.

Of course playing online can never replace the social part of heading over to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of men and women the law has left a number of bingo enthusiasts with little choice.