CLUBS FACING AXE AS SMOKING BAN BITES
CLUBS FACING AXE AS SMOKING BAN BITES
One in three bingo halls are facing closure because of the smoking ban. 20,000 staff to lose their jobs.
About 600,000 customers have stayed away - a 20 per cent drop in attendance figures - since the July 1 ban in England. Industry experts believe around 200 of the country's 634 bingo clubs will have to shut - on top of 60 closures in the last year.
Government tax rules have also been blamed for the crisis.
The £250million-a-year business has also been hit by changes to gambling laws, which meant it was forced to remove hundreds of £500 jackpot machines.
Industry leaders say bingo is the only part of the gambling sector to be taxed twice - paying both VAT and tax on their profits.
They warned the threatened closures would hit hundreds of communities. Bingo Association's Paul Talboys said: "The fabric of whole neighbourhoods will change."
Bingo was invented in 1929 by New York toy salesman Edwin S Lowe
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk
One in three bingo halls are facing closure because of the smoking ban. 20,000 staff to lose their jobs.
About 600,000 customers have stayed away - a 20 per cent drop in attendance figures - since the July 1 ban in England. Industry experts believe around 200 of the country's 634 bingo clubs will have to shut - on top of 60 closures in the last year.
Government tax rules have also been blamed for the crisis.
The £250million-a-year business has also been hit by changes to gambling laws, which meant it was forced to remove hundreds of £500 jackpot machines.
Industry leaders say bingo is the only part of the gambling sector to be taxed twice - paying both VAT and tax on their profits.
They warned the threatened closures would hit hundreds of communities. Bingo Association's Paul Talboys said: "The fabric of whole neighbourhoods will change."
Bingo was invented in 1929 by New York toy salesman Edwin S Lowe
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk
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