The Basics 
This site endorses the practice of 21st Century Bingo
Been used to thinking of bingo as a game that groups of ladies and lonely old people go to play on the same night every week? Think you wouldn’t be seen dead in a bingo hall? Think again, because a bingo craze is sweeping the nation, particularly amongst groups of people that you wouldn’t normally associate with the game.
Much of this surge in popularity can be put down to the success of Internet Bingo, with a great increase in the sites where people can play the game. Bingo has joined other games such as poker in benefiting hugely from the success of online gaming. The popularity of the game online has been replicated in the bingo halls themselves, where the average age of players is lower, and halls generally are more representative of the country as a whole than they were prior to the boom in UK online bingo.
Many people have been critical of the increase in people playing all sorts of games online, but when playing online boosts the turnover of bingo halls across the country and opens bingo up to different audiences, the positives are clear to see. Clearly there are fears over the lack of regulation online, with dangers being that people could gamble away more money than they otherwise would due to the easy accessibility of the websites. But one clear positive is the fact that younger people are being attracted by the excitement of bingo.
In an age where the press regularly criticises younger people for wearing hoodies or loitering in groups, and when even those that stay at home are criticised for playing violent computer games, it is clear to me that any sort of harmless fun that can entertain young people while appeasing those that take great joy in criticising them can only be a positive thing. If younger people are playing bingo as a result of the increased presence of the game online, then that can only be a good thing.
The message here is: don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Those that are critical of bingo and continue to perceive it in the same way now as people did a few years ago are missing the point. Bingo has adapted to the modern era, and in moving with the times it has rejuvenated itself in a way few thought possible. In doing this, it has won many new fans.
