By Penny Walker on Thursday, 21 Dec 2006 The imminent smoking ban in England is leading to a number of bingo firms seeking ways to enable the millions of players who smoke to continue attending bingo halls.
The ban is expected to come into effect on July 1st 2007 but members of the bingo industry, worth £1.8 billion, are concerned that this may be damaging to business, if players are prevented from smoking, Bloomberg reports.
Companies are now trialling handheld devices that will allow players to monitor games while outside taking smoking breaks, while others are proposing longer breaks between games.
Commenting on the situation recently, Ian Burke, chief executive officer of the Rank Group, said: "Unless other things change, we do expect a similar sort of impact in England and Wales."
The Bingo Association recently reported that five halls have already been forced to close following the introduction of the ban in Scotland, while operators in the country have experienced losses of between 17 and 27 per cent.
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