What has smoking got to do with bingo?
Nowadays, the answer is: a lot. UK officials implemented the ban on smoking in public places recently, and bingo clubs is no exemption to the rule. Since the implementation of the smoking ban, sources say that attendance in bingo clubs like Mecca Bingo, has dropped significantly.
One can deduce from this information that many of the bingo players who go to these clubs are smokers indeed. Some say that they smoke during bingo sessions to get rid of their nervousness. Others believe that smoking gives them luck, while others still are just compulsive smokers.
UK officials did not intend to decrease the number of players in these bingo clubs when they announced the ban. In their mind, they just wanted to lower the number of smokers in their area, most especially in public places. This is because there are people out there who do not smoke but are put in danger because of second-hand smoke. Officials just want the public to be more considerate of the non-smokers.
This is true. In a bingo club or hall, you can't say that every single player is a smoker. Thus, if you expose the non-smokers to those bingo players who smoke, you expose them to dangerous air. They become victims of this polluted air, and they could not escape since every one of them, smoker or not is inside the bingo club.
There had been recommendations to ease this conflict. Some suggested that instead of complete ban, why not require bingo club owners to make separate halls for smoking bingo players and non-smoking ones? After all, this strategy has been done already in restaurants all over the world.
There's still no word whether UK officials are open to this idea. They're still bent on implementing a complete smoking ban in public places such as bingo clubs.
As of now, bingo club owners can do nothing but follow the rules or their bingo clubs will be shut down. They just have to think of ways to attract bingo players into their clubs, even if these players are not allowed to smoke inside.