A Rank Night Out: Casino And Bingo
“RANK loses as smoking ban bites,” reports the Daily Mail.
The company behind Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos is not doing so well.
Why? Is it because punters would rather stay in and play online in the comfort of their own homes, rather than sat in some neon-lit, nylon carpeted throw-back?
Or is it because you cannot smoke in a bingo parlour or casino?
“The company behind Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos has been on the slide all year as the smoking ban and falling consumer confidence has taken a hefty toll on gambling revenues,” says the Mail.
Bingo halls are being sold off. Who buys them? “One sign of the times is that the buyers of the property have often been churches,” says the Mail. “They seem to be the ones with the money at the moment,” says chief executive Ian Burke.
More power to the religionists’ elbows in purging areas of the sink of vice and manmade fibres that is a bingo hall.
So is religion to blame for Rank’s misfortune, on top of the smoking ban?
Says the paper: “Rank now enters a tough Christmas period, when customers typically stay away from gambling shops and spend their cash on presents and food.”
Or they stay in and play casino games online. And you can smoke at home. We don’t advocate smoking as a rule, but if you want to, you can.
Play online and light up your life…
December 12th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
The no smoking rule may have reduced the number of people going to bingo clubs but there are plenty of women too who are now thinking twice about going to evening sessions when street crime is common and some are feeling frightened about returning home in the late evening.People who are lucky enough to win at bingo have sometimes found themselves the victims of crime and have been robbed when travelling back home.
If people feel that their local community isn’t safe or they hear about others who have been mugged they are twice as wary. Eyes down for a full house in British prisons !