BingoT
Nurses love to give shots
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2004
- Location
- Palm Bay Florida
Online bingo: A very full house
Switch on the television or flick through a newspaper and there's a good chance that you'll come across an advert for online bingo. But who is playing - and why?
A typical evening sees Anita Heffernan, 50, spending two or three hours playing bingo online.
It's not for the money - her biggest ever win was about £400 and, being a game of chance, players typically spend more than they win.
"It is a hobby," says Heffernan. "I would much rather do that than spend a night out in town."
There's been a rapid growth of bingo websites. As recently as 2004 fewer than 20 such sites operated in the UK, now there are thought to be about 350.
Operators include everyone from bingo hall owners Mecca and Gala, to newspapers like The Sun and Daily Mail.
For a game strongly associated with the camaraderie of a night spent at crowded tables with friends any move online could be seen as being at odds with the very reasons for playing.
Many of the vast concrete and neon bingo halls on High Streets across the country may now be showing their age, but millions still visit them every year.
For the uninitiated, bingo is a game of pure chance. There's no skill involved other than the ability to keep up - in the UK version of the game players listen intently for the random numbers between one and 90 printed on their card to be called out.
One by one they are crossed off until someone has none left and there's a winner - then they might shout "bingo" or "house".
By Duncan Walker
BBC News Magazine
Switch on the television or flick through a newspaper and there's a good chance that you'll come across an advert for online bingo. But who is playing - and why?
A typical evening sees Anita Heffernan, 50, spending two or three hours playing bingo online.
It's not for the money - her biggest ever win was about £400 and, being a game of chance, players typically spend more than they win.
"It is a hobby," says Heffernan. "I would much rather do that than spend a night out in town."
There's been a rapid growth of bingo websites. As recently as 2004 fewer than 20 such sites operated in the UK, now there are thought to be about 350.
Operators include everyone from bingo hall owners Mecca and Gala, to newspapers like The Sun and Daily Mail.
For a game strongly associated with the camaraderie of a night spent at crowded tables with friends any move online could be seen as being at odds with the very reasons for playing.
Many of the vast concrete and neon bingo halls on High Streets across the country may now be showing their age, but millions still visit them every year.
For the uninitiated, bingo is a game of pure chance. There's no skill involved other than the ability to keep up - in the UK version of the game players listen intently for the random numbers between one and 90 printed on their card to be called out.
One by one they are crossed off until someone has none left and there's a winner - then they might shout "bingo" or "house".
By Duncan Walker
BBC News Magazine
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