Welsh bingo hall update
Smoking ban hits Bingo night tills
Sep 8 2007
by Gavin O’Connor, South Wales Echo
Smokers are staying away from bingo halls in their droves. Gavin O’Connor investigates how the smoking ban is hitting the bingo hall tills
BINGO halls across South Wales are feeling the drag of a major profit slump six months into the smoking ban.
And managers are bracing themselves for more dwindling revenue when the colder weather soon kicks in.
The serious profit slide has been caused by smokers avoiding the big cash-generating games to catch up on a quick puff outside the buildings.
Since April, when the ban came into force in Wales, the whole culture of bingo playing has changed, say staff, players and managers.
The numerous bingo halls the Echo contacted all reported a drop of between 15 to 20 per cent in revenue and workingmen’s clubs and associations where a pint and a fag go hand in hand have also said the same.
A worker at a Castle Bingo hall, who did not want to be named, said: “There have been meetings about the drop in revenue but I’m not sure exactly how much we’re suffering by.
“The paper games which take place early in the evening are fine – the problem relates to the telebingo and 25p, 50p and ?1 games where most of the money is made.
“Players, the majority of which are smokers, use these times as opportunities to nip out for a fag. The fruit machines are also emptier than they’ve ever been because of this.”
Kelly Davies, 23, of Merthyr Tydfil, has been a member of Castle Bingo since the she was old enough to play.
The company set up in the town exactly 11 years ago this month.
Kelly said when interval of the paper games takes place at 8pm, there’s a mass exodus of smokers through the door before an 8.15pm resumption.
“The ban is an absolute nuisance when you want to play,” said Kelly.
“You’ll regularly get about 40 smokers outside where the fag end trays have been put. It’s totally changed the evening and I’ve noticed there’s definitely less people going now.”
There are believed to be three million bingo players in the UK.
Kelly’s friend, Alison Griffiths, 31, of Cherry Grove, Gurnos, is one of the smoking-ban casualties.
She stopped playing three months ago because of the new law.
She said: “Everything is interrupted now and you can’t enjoy it the same because it’s a different experience.
“I think a lot of people feel the same.”
South Wales’ biggest bingo operator Castle Bingo refused to comment in any way on the smoking ban but managers at competing clubs say the issue is very real and worsening.
St Minver, which operates the world’s largest bingo network, carried out a survey of 3,000 UK bingo players to find out their attitudes towards the ban.
The survey found internet gaming services would experience a boom with more and more smokers putting their feet up at home, lighting up and clicking online.
The study revealed 62 per cent of bingo players are smokers and that 33 per cent of them will play less often while 21 per cent will stop playing in clubs altogether.
Just 14 per cent of smokers said they will kick the habit so they can continue playing with 63 per cent of smokers saying they will increase the amount they spend playing online as a result of the ban.
Mambha Param, who has been manager at Riva Bingo in Splott for more than a year but involved with the industry for nearly two decades, said it was a depressing time for the bingo industry and takings at his hall were down about a fifth.
“We’ve been struggling really badly.
“There is so much competition now as well and so many things are happening in the industry.
“You’ve got the bookmakers like William Hill, Mecca, Coral and the likes promoting internet gaming online with ?10 and ?5 sweeteners to attract more customers.
“The whole betting industry’s changing.”
Workingmen’s clubs are trying different methods to combat the revenue slide.
John Gould, steward at Cilfynydd Constitutional Club, said: “The smoking ban has certainly had an effect.
“In the last couple of weeks, we have put an outside smoking area in and that’s helped.
“We had a few in for the rugby games recently but after an hour, they bought some cans and went home to watch so they could smoke as well.
“For the next three months, we’ve knocked the price of beer and lager down by 5p and 10p – hopefully, that will bring some people back.”
Pat Grabham, stewardess at the Royal British Legion in Bridgend for 25 years, said the end of the summer season spelled frostier times at the till.
She said: “We’ll definitely be hit harder in the winter. I didn’t think there should’ve been a total ban but it’s here now.
“So many of our customers are old people. We hold three bingo nights here and we’ve already found the weather has a big say in the turnout. Elderly people are not going to go out in the cold for a fag.
“So far we’ve been lucky because the Crown (adjacent pub) has closed – the tenants were smokers and they decided to finish. We’ve picked up some of their custom and we’re putting some money away to cope with what’s going to happen in the winter. It’s not something we’re looking forward to.”
BINGO halls across South Wales are feeling the drag of a major profit slump six months into the smoking ban.
And managers are bracing themselves for more dwindling revenue when the colder weather soon kicks in.
The serious profit slide has been caused by smokers avoiding the big cash-generating games to catch up on a quick puff outside the buildings.
Since April, when the ban came into force in Wales, the whole culture of bingo playing has changed, say staff, players and managers.
The numerous bingo halls the Echo contacted all reported a drop of between 15 to 20 per cent in revenue and workingmen’s clubs and associations where a pint and a fag go hand in hand have also said the same.
A worker at a Castle Bingo hall, who did not want to be named, said: “There have been meetings about the drop in revenue but I’m not sure exactly how much we’re suffering by.
“The paper games which take place early in the evening are fine – the problem relates to the telebingo and 25p, 50p and ?1 games where most of the money is made.
“Players, the majority of which are smokers, use these times as opportunities to nip out for a fag. The fruit machines are also emptier than they’ve ever been because of this.”
Kelly Davies, 23, of Merthyr Tydfil, has been a member of Castle Bingo since the she was old enough to play.
The company set up in the town exactly 11 years ago this month.
Kelly said when interval of the paper games takes place at 8pm, there’s a mass exodus of smokers through the door before an 8.15pm resumption.
“The ban is an absolute nuisance when you want to play,” said Kelly.
“You’ll regularly get about 40 smokers outside where the fag end trays have been put. It’s totally changed the evening and I’ve noticed there’s definitely less people going now.”
There are believed to be three million bingo players in the UK.
Kelly’s friend, Alison Griffiths, 31, of Cherry Grove, Gurnos, is one of the smoking-ban casualties.
She stopped playing three months ago because of the new law.
She said: “Everything is interrupted now and you can’t enjoy it the same because it’s a different experience.
“I think a lot of people feel the same.”
South Wales’ biggest bingo operator Castle Bingo refused to comment in any way on the smoking ban but managers at competing clubs say the issue is very real and worsening.
St Minver, which operates the world’s largest bingo network, carried out a survey of 3,000 UK bingo players to find out their attitudes towards the ban.
The survey found internet gaming services would experience a boom with more and more smokers putting their feet up at home, lighting up and clicking online.
The study revealed 62 per cent of bingo players are smokers and that 33 per cent of them will play less often while 21 per cent will stop playing in clubs altogether.
Just 14 per cent of smokers said they will kick the habit so they can continue playing with 63 per cent of smokers saying they will increase the amount they spend playing online as a result of the ban.
Mambha Param, who has been manager at Riva Bingo in Splott for more than a year but involved with the industry for nearly two decades, said it was a depressing time for the bingo industry and takings at his hall were down about a fifth.
“We’ve been struggling really badly.
“There is so much competition now as well and so many things are happening in the industry.
“You’ve got the bookmakers like William Hill, Mecca, Coral and the likes promoting internet gaming online with ?10 and ?5 sweeteners to attract more customers.
“The whole betting industry’s changing.”
Workingmen’s clubs are trying different methods to combat the revenue slide.
John Gould, steward at Cilfynydd Constitutional Club, said: “The smoking ban has certainly had an effect.
“In the last couple of weeks, we have put an outside smoking area in and that’s helped.
“We had a few in for the rugby games recently but after an hour, they bought some cans and went home to watch so they could smoke as well.
“For the next three months, we’ve knocked the price of beer and lager down by 5p and 10p – hopefully, that will bring some people back.”
Pat Grabham, stewardess at the Royal British Legion in Bridgend for 25 years, said the end of the summer season spelled frostier times at the till.
She said: “We’ll definitely be hit harder in the winter. I didn’t think there should’ve been a total ban but it’s here now.
“So many of our customers are old people. We hold three bingo nights here and we’ve already found the weather has a big say in the turnout. Elderly people are not going to go out in the cold for a fag.
“So far we’ve been lucky because the Crown (adjacent pub) has closed – the tenants were smokers and they decided to finish. We’ve picked up some of their custom and we’re putting some money away to cope with what’s going to happen in the winter. It’s not something we’re looking forward to.”
Will smoking ban be death of bingo?
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This week saw the impending smoking ban claim its first victim – a Welsh bingo hall convinced it will see profits dry up. So, asks Robin Turner, are glossy-haired bingo callers looking over their shoulders for further cuts?
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Feb 17 2007
Robin Turner, Western Mail
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BINGO grew in popularity in Wales as part of the country’s working-class club culture.
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This week saw the impending smoking ban claim its first victim – a Welsh bingo hall convinced it will see profits dry up. So, asks Robin Turner, are glossy-haired bingo callers looking over their shoulders for further cuts?
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Feb 17 2007
Robin Turner, Western Mail
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BINGO grew in popularity in Wales as part of the country’s working-class club culture.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, it became known as the game adored by slipper-wearing silver foxes.
Older generation punters with their felt-tipped bingo pens got their “eyes down” everywhere, from Rhyl to Risca.
Then, in 1985, a change in the law allowed multiple games on the same premises leading to glamorous, hangar-sized “bingo palaces” like those in the Mecca chain.
The computer-linked National Game followed a year later, offering life-changing jackpots, and bingo palaces got street cred when the likes of Robbie Williams and Denise Van Outen started flouncing through their neon-lit hallways.
Even traditional bingo lingo, such as “two fat ladies”, was ditched to avoid confusion and suddenly bingo was a thoroughly modern night out providing Wales with thousands of jobs with the prospect of expansion.
But this week, one of Britain’s biggest bingo hall owners, the Rank Group, threw a spanner into the smooth-running works. It announced the closure of nine of its Mecca halls across England and Wales, including its Swansea city centre Craddock Street outlet.
Rank said the closures are in line with the group’s aim of “improving the quality of its clubs’ portfolio in preparation for the introduction this year of smoking bans in England and Wales”.
And Rank said it was “inevitable” other bingo hall owners would follow suit.
The cold wind blowing through Britain’s bingo halls is coming from the north.
A string of previously popular bingo clubs have been forced to close in Scotland since the smoking ban was brought in there last March.
Revenues have been hit by up to 15% as players come in for shorter periods or stop going altogether, with independent bingo hall operators feeling the greatest pressure.
Steve Baldwin, national spokesman for the Bingo Association, said yesterday as many as 200 clubs across Britain could close, with the loss of thousands of jobs, due to unfair taxes and the smoking ban.
Takings in Scottish pubs and bars have risen since the introduction of the smoking ban, confounding fears it would hit the licensed trade.
Publicans across the country said sales of food and drink had risen significantly since the ban came into force two weeks ago.
One bar in Edinburgh reported a 25% boost last weekend as drinkers were attracted by smoke-free rooms.
Some 14 bingo halls have closed in Scotland since the ban started almost a year ago and last year operators demanded a ?10m tax rebate from Gordon Brown to make up for lost trade. Around 60% of bingo players are thought to be smokers.
Bingo clubs are harder hit than pubs, which have set aside outdoor areas for smokers, because players are not allowed to use electronic terminals outside the venue.
And it is not just the smoking ban which is giving bingo a difficult time.
A Rank spokesman pointed out yesterday that bingo players are charged VAT on stakes, unlike the rest of the betting industry.
To make matters worse for the bingo companies, when the Government’s new Gambling Act comes into force this September, bingo clubs will not be able to use so-called “Section 21” higher jackpot fruit machines.
These have traditionally been “interval games” for bingo club customers in between bingo sessions.
Revenue from fruit machines in bingo clubs has also been cut in Scotland as smoking customers go outside for a cigarette instead of gaming in bingo session intervals.
The Swansea Mecca bingo club has thousands of members.
Rank hopes members will go to the city’s other Mecca club at Carmarthen Road.
A spokesman for the company said that if trade increased at the Carmarthen Road club, staff from Craddock Street would be offered work there. It does not expect the closures will have a material effect on its profits in 2007.
The nine Rank clubs to close are those in Fulham, Islington, Hull, Liverpool, Reading, Sheffield, Swansea, Welling and Wolverhampton.
Rank owns the freeholds of five of the clubs to be closed, while four are operated on a leasehold basis.
A company spokesman said, “A number of the freehold properties will be sold, crystallising value and allowing Rank to redeploy capital into assets with potential for higher growth and stronger returns.”
Rank believes the proximity of other Mecca Bingo clubs will enable it to continue to offer bingo to the majority of members affected.
The closures will take place following a period of consultation with the total of 230 employees who work at the clubs.
Rank said those workers will be offered other positions in the business “where practicable”.
After the closures, Rank will remain Britain’s second-largest bingo club operator with 103 clubs.
At least eight bingo clubs have closed in Scotland since March last year when the country’s smoking ban came in.
Rank spokesman Max Wild said, “Bingo halls are essentially community halls yet for some reason they are taxed more heavily than, say, betting shops.
“It is likely other groups may react like Rank and Wales could see more closures.
“The effect of the smoking ban, the Gambling Act and VAT is hitting a popular night out and a community resource while, at the same time, costing jobs.”
The Bingo Association in Scotland is demanding a ?10m tax rebate and has brought in a number of smoking ban “countermeasures”, such as patio heaters and canopies for hardened smokers, but the Scottish climate is making it a losing battle.
A spokesman for the Bingo Association said yesterday, “Bingo is big business in Wales so any reduction in halls or revenue will hit the country’s economy.
“It’s difficult to predict the effect of the smoking ban before it comes in and we must remember Wales is a lot further south than Scotland so the weather outside is warmer.
“But the problem which we know about is the unfair VAT we have to pay plus the effect of the Gambling Act on fruit machine revenue.
“Bingo has a low incidence of causing gambling problems but, strangely, the Government is seeing fit to attack it from all angles.”
There are signs, however, that in respect of the smoking ban at least, Wales is getting prepared.
The Abertridwr Bingo and Social Club, near Caerphilly, has become one of eight premises in the county to sign up as a no-smoking business weeks ahead of the April 2 smoking ban in Wales.
The ban starts in England on July 1.
Numbers up
Bingo was played by the Romans and was recorded as a children’s game under the name of Lotto in 1778.
Bingo was popular in the early 1900s but was properly established by American toy salesman Edwin S Lowe in 1929.
Commercial bingo first exploded onto the scene in the UK in the 1960s.
More than three million people play bingo regularly in the UK.
The National Bingo Game is the second-largest computer-controlled game in the UK.
Around 500 clubs link together to play the National Game every day, except Christmas Day.
There are 688 licensed bingo clubs in the UK.
8% of the population play bingo – 10% of all women and 5% of all men.
There are approximately 20,000 people employed in the bingo industry.
The UK’s biggest bingo win was ?950,000 on Sunday December 22, 2002.
More than ?725m has been paid out in prize money since 1986 in the UK.
Denise Van Outen is a big bingo fan, as are Catherine Zeta-Jones and Robbie Williams.
The most common reasons for playing bingo are because it’s fun, it offers companionship and the chance to socialise
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