An abundance has been talked in the papers recently about the bingo industry struggling as a consequence of the cigarette ban in England. Things have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has requested big tax cuts to assist in keeping the businesses from going bankrupt. However can the web version of this quintessential game provide a salvation, or will it in no way compare to its bricks and mortar peer?

Bingo is an familiar game normally enjoyed by the "blue rinse" generation. In any case the game of late had witnessed a recent return in acceptance with younger men and women deciding to go to the bingo halls in place of the clubs on a weekend. All this is about to be destroyed with the enacting of the smoking ban across England and Wales.

Players will no longer be allowed to puff on cigarettes while marking numbers. Beginning in the summer of ‘07 all public places will no longer be allowed to permit smoking in their buildings and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most favored areas where many people enjoy smoking.

The outcome of the cigarette ban can already be felt in Scotland where cigarettes are already not allowed in the bingo parlours. Players have plunged and the industry is absolutely struggling for to stay alive. But where have the players gone? Certainly they have not abandoned this enduring game?

The answer is on the net. Gamblers realise that they can bet on bingo from their computer at the same time enjoying a beer and cigarette and in the end, enjoy massive prizes. This is a recent development and has happened bordering on perfect with the anti smoking law.

Of course betting on online is unlikely to replace the social portion of going down to the bingo parlour, but for a demographic of people the governing edicts have left a number of bingo players with no option.