Are Bingo Halls Going to be Turned Into Mini Casinos?

by Hollie Sanders

There have been some concerns expressed regarding the new ruling that is going to allow bingo halls to increase the amount of ₤500 jackpot slot machines back into their hallowed halls. These mainly stem around the fact that there are fears that bingo clubs will be turned into mini casinos. I hardly believe this can be true, I mean the, the amount of machines they are going to be allowed is only to double, and that is not from ten to twenty, it is from four to eight. Eight high paying slots can hardly constitute being a mini casino, can it?

This new ruling is in an attempt for the struggling bingo industry to try to hold its head above water, there are so many external factors that are currently plaguing the land based bingo industry that surely some concession should be given. The rules that apply to the UK land based bingo industry do not apply to online bingo or any other form of gaming.

The fact that the Sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe has said that the new ruling should assist in providing the industry with the ability to attract new customers. This move follows intense lobbying by the industry and Paul Talboys, the Chairman of the National Bingo Association has welcomed the news with open arms, while opposition MP’s have criticized it, saying that the Government should have allowed the bingo industry better tax breaks.

It appears that it is really just semantics on the part of the opposition MP’s, one side allows this and the other say do something else. This is probably the cause of all the trouble in the bingo industry in the first place, but finally they have realised that the bingo industry does play a crucial role in UK communities.