Bingo Industry Furious Over UK Government Lottery Gambling Ads

The bingo industry in the United Kingdom is already having trouble staying a float after new laws were passed making it harder for them to operate. Now, the industry is furious with the government over ads mocking a closed bingo hall.

The government, which runs the National Lottery, has put out an ad that depicts bingo halls as old and intrepid. The ad shows an elderly lady driving past a closed, padlocked bingo hall on her mobility cart.

Then a transformation occurs, and the same lady is riding with a tropical beach setting in the background. The transformation occurred after a scratch off sound was heard. The implication was that she played the scratch off lottery, won, and is now enjoying life.

The bingo industry, which is having a hard time keeping establishments open since new laws went into affect, were not amused by the ad.

"The National Lottery is a government backed organization. Its decision to poke fun at the condition of the bingo industry is not just disappointing, it trivialises the very real distress caused to players and employees by the closure of their clubs," said Paul Talboys, Chief Executive of The Bingo Association.

Camelot, which runs the National Lottery, had a spokesman claim that in the advertisement that the bingo hall was only "because it's the early morning".

That reasoning is almost as bad as the American government claiming to stop Internet gambling for the good of Americans. The ad in the UK was obviously making fun of a struggling industry. One that is struggling because of laws that were put in place by the same government running the ads.

March 11, 2008
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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