A lot has been talked in the papers recently regarding the bingo industry struggling because of the anti smoking law in Britain. Conditions have grown so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for big tax cuts to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. But does the internet adaptation of this quintessential game provide a salvation, or might it never compare to its real life peer?

Bingo has been an ancient game usually played by the "blue haired" generation. In any case the game of late had undergone a recent increase in popularity with younger men and women opting to visit the bingo halls instead of the bars on a Saturday night. All this is about to be reversed with the enacting of the smoking ban throughout England and Wales.

Players will no longer be able to smoke at the same time marking numbers. From the summer of ‘07 all public locations will no longer be permitted to allow cigarettes in their locations and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most popular places where folks like to puff on cigarettes.

The outcome of the anti cigarette law can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already not allowed in the bingo parlors. Numbers have plunged and the industry is literally fighting for its life. But where did all the players go? Obviously they haven’t given up on this age old game?

The answer is on the web. Gamblers realize that they can play bingo from their computer while enjoying a cocktail and smoke and in the end, enjoy big jackpots. This is a recent anomaly and has happened bordering on perfect with the anti cigarette law.

Of course wagering on on the internet is unlikely to replace the communal part of heading down to the bingo hall, but for a group of people the law has left a good many bingo enthusiasts with little option.