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From July the 1st 2007, the smoking ban kicked in in England, and the results for bingo halls have been disastrous, seriously affecting player numbers and prize money. Some players have suggested holding Smoking Only bingo sessions, but this would be impossible legally. The only place where you will be able to smoke and play bingo now is on your computer at home.
Many bingo players are now turning to online bingo as an alternative. As this is played at home, the smoking ban has no effect on it at all - in fact, once the smoking ban starts to cover the whole of the UK, it is expected that online bingo will really take off! There is a wide choice of different sites, and we review many of them on this site.
Well known bingo companies like Gala Bingo
and Mecca Bingo have been operating their bingo websites for some time now, and there are several other long established online bingo companies like Bingos.co.uk and Chitchat Bingo, all of which will be the only option for the bingo-loving smoker. Clicking on the links above will take you directly to their sites, or you can read one of our reviews.
In Scotland, a smoking ban was introduced in March 2006, and early reports indicate that this has been disastrous for the country's bingo clubs. Income (and therefore prize money on some games) has dropped by up to 50%, and many clubs have already closed because of this. In the long term, it is estimated that up to half of the bingo clubs north of the border will shut down because of the smoking ban, and it seems very likely that when it is introduced in the rest of the UK the same thing will happen there.
In the other parts of the UK, a smoking ban in all enclosed public spaces took effect in 2007. In Wales, the ban started on the 2nd April 2007, while the smoking ban in England started a little later, on the first of July. During the vote about the ban on smoking conducted in Parliament, MPs were given the choice of whether or not to make private member's clubs exempt. They chose not to do this. As 60% of bingo players are smokers, and do not want to have to stand outside in the cold to have a puff in the winter, the many bingo players who smoke cigarettes and other tobacco products will seek out alternatives. Some binog companies are also reluctant to build any form of shelter outside for their smoking members, fearing that this would encourage them to go outside more often, and harming the income of the bnigo clubs.
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