A lot has been talked in the press just a while ago regarding the bingo industry being hit as a consequence of the anti smoking law in England. Conditions have become so awful that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for huge tax breaks to help keep the businesses from going bankrupt. But will the online version of this quintessential game provide a reprieve, or will it not compare to its land based peer?

Bingo is an age old game normally played by the "blue rinse" generation. However the game lately had experienced a recent resurgence in acceptance with younger people opting to go to the bingo parlors in place of the discos on a Saturday night. All this is about to change with the introduction of the anti cigarette law around United Kingdom.

Players will no longer be allowed to smoke whilst marking numbers. Starting in the summer of 2007 all public locations will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo parlors, which are possibly the most favorite places where people enjoy smoking.

The outcome of the anti smoking law can already be looked at in Scotland where cigarettes are already illegal in the bingo parlours. Players have plunged and the industry is beyond a doubt fighting for its life. But where have all the players gone? Obviously they have not abandoned this age old game?

The answer is online. Gamblers know that they can gamble on bingo using their computer while enjoying a beverage and fag and still have a chance at monstrous cash rewards. This is a recent anomaly and has timed itself almost perfectly with the ban on smoking.

Of course betting on on the internet will never replace the collective aspect of heading over to the bingo parlor, but for a demographic of men and women the governing edicts have left a number of bingo enthusiasts with little alternative.