Politics enter the bingo game

30th December 2009 11:01 AM

Our ailing bingo halls have done many things over recent months which have done them no favours in the popularity battle with online bingo sites. We have seen one pensioner turning to play bingo at online bingo sites following a ban from their local bingo hall for organising a trip to a rival bingo hall and more recently another pensioner has been banned for tell risqué jokes to her friends. These incidents alone  are reason enough for people to turn to online bingo sites but as politics enter the bingo game, bingo players of both online bingo sites and halls must wonder what the future holds.

This latest intervention comes from the Sudbury Town Council in Suffolk. They have taken, what some might deem a political view that the traditional bingo calls of ‘two fat ladies’ and ‘Legs Eleven are offensive and subsequently banned them. Terms such as two fat ladies and legs eleven have been used for decades and have even been adopted by online bingo sites, although some bingo sites have added their own terms to add some variation to the game.

The bingo caller for this bingo hall who is himself a councillor agrees that the move has taken some of the fun out the game but was advised by the council that the traditional bingo terms could land them in trouble if they continued. So it is no wonder that given the governments reluctance to lower the bingo tax to 15% and this latest intervention from a town council that more and more people are turning to online bingo sites to play this traditional game.

Bingo sites do not seem to be at the disadvantage of the bingo halls where they are not affected by the smoking ban and bingo sites are also not under the scrutiny of the local authorities. Sadly we are seeing more and more incidents that are affecting our halls in a negative way. This creates a positive which for the popularity of bingo sites as they rise further to the top in popularity.

Written by Hannah Jones

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