A new report has revealed that every month on average two bingo halls are closing at a time in the UK and that in the past five years there have been 152 bingo clubs that have had to close down. Since the smoking ban of 2007 the research has shown that bingo clubs have taken a major drop in profit.
This low revenue comes from customers spending the breaks between bingo calls outside with a cigarette instead of smoking inside and playing the slot machines to pass the time. As a result of this the cash in take from fruit machines has gone down a by a third which is roughly £575 million- though part of this is based on laws now put in place banning certain machines from bingo halls.
So, if this report is to be believed, five years ago the UK had 678 bingo clubs and now they have 526. The report then goes on to say how the industry has dropped to a profit of just £125 million this year in comparison to the £250 million it netted in 2006.
However, when the smoking ban was introduced the industry predicted that clubs all over would close in favour of online bingo, however in reality less than 25% have closed. Debate is being raised how online bingo sites will fare if new legislation is brought in to tax the winnings as bingo jackpots are finding themselves being heavily taxed and many say this is discrimination against bingo.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Recent Comments