Bingo Bosses Turn Casino

Tagged as: Bingo Blog, Gala Bingo | by Hollie Sanders

Loopholes in the law have got three Birmingham Bingo Bosses having a look at turning their bingo halls into mini-casinos, by filling their bingo halls with gambling machines. Gala bingo announced their intention to close the Great Barr bingo club this week and they have made an application to split the Rubery, Erdington and Stockland Green clubs to be able to have them filled with gambling machines. They will hear if this application has been approved on Tuesday next week.

Apparently there is no mention of bingo in their application and this could be quite a worry for bingo players in these areas. It appears that if a business makes and application for four licenses on one premises, it can’t be regarded as having four separate premises and this is where the loophole comes in, although representatives in the council licensing services have accused Gala Bingo of trying to circumvent rules that govern the amount of gaming machines in bingo halls.

While no facilities for the playing of bingo appear on the plans, it seems to me that Gala Bingo are trying a slight of hand trick to see if they can have this application for four separate licenses passed. Heaven knows something is needed to be done about the draconian laws governing the UK land based bingo industry before it all comes to an abrupt halt. The last thing we want to see is more land base bingo closures in the UK and I say that if Gala Bingo has found a loophole and it works, well good for them. Although in all probability, once this is discovered, the Government will do its best to shoot the industry in the foot on this.