A lot has been reported in the press not long ago regarding the bingo industry being hurt because of the cigarette ban in the UK. Things have become so bad that in Scotland the Bingo industry has called for huge aid to help keep the businesses afloat. However can the internet variation of this quintessential game offer a escape, or will it not compare to its real life opposite?

Bingo is an age old game usually played by the "blue rinse" generation. In any case the game lately had witnessed a recent comeback in acceptance with younger people deciding to hit the bingo halls instead of the discos on a weekend. This is all about to be reversed with the legislating of the anti cigarette law across Britain.

Players will no longer be permitted to puff on cigarettes while dabbing numbers. From the summer of ‘07 all public areas will not be permitted to allow cigarettes in their venues and this includes Bingo parlours, one of the most popular places where folks like to puff on cigarettes.

The outcome of the smoking ban can already be observed in Scotland where cigarettes are already illegal in the bingo halls. Numbers have dropped and the business is absolutely struggling for to stay alive. But where did all the players go? Of course they have not cast aside this age old game?

The answer is on the web. Gamblers realise that they can wager on bingo using their computer at the same time enjoying a beverage and fag and in the end, enjoy huge prizes. This is a recent phenomenon and has timed itself almost perfectly with the anti cigarette law.

Of course playing on the net is unlikely to replace the social aspect of going over to the bingo parlor, but for a group of players the governing edicts have left a number of bingo players with little option.