Bingo gets MP Vote
The game of bingo has got a least one vote from conservative MP for Crewe and Nantwich, Edward Timpson. Mr Timpson revealed to the guardian newspaper that he often enjoys playing bingo at his local land based club with his mum and he has also been campaigning to get tax for bingo on a more level pegging gaming field.
In the last pre-budget report we did see the UK government give some tax concessions to the bingo industry by reducing tax from 22% to 20%, but when you consider that other forms of gaming still sit at the 15% tax threshold including the game of online bingo……….land based bingo clubs are still being penalised in this area.
As we know many land based clubs have now closed their doors for the last time over recent years, but things do seem to have stabilised a bit in 2010. There has not been nowhere near as many bingo club closures this year, compared to the same time in 2009 for instance, so we can only hope this will carry on into the future.
Mecca Bingo themselves have been lobbing the government for years with regards to their unfair bingo tax regime. Bingo players themselves even got so fed up with one bingo club after the other closing down that they organised a protest against parliament last year. This saw many players hit the streets of London……..bingo placards in hand.
The game of land based bingo have been going through lots of turbulent times lately and it has to be said that the game of online bingo has also had an impact on (player numbers) in clubs………….the smoking ban in all public places did not go down well with lots of bingo players either.
Land based bingo clubs have been trying to combat the (smoking ban) rule by building outdoor smoking enclosures for their members and at one Gala Bingo club players are even able to smoke and play party bingo again…….but outside the premises.
Speaking about bingo tax, Mr Timpson said, “Everybody I’ve spoken to can see the tax is unfair to the industry and effectively discriminates against women and older people,”
