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BINGO OPERATORS RENEW TAX BREAK CALL
17/01/2007Bingo operators Rank Group and Gala Bingo argue that when the smoking ban is enforced, up to 25 per cent of Britain's bingo halls could be forced to close, the Times reports.
According to Neil Goulden, Gala Bingo's chief executive, 46 per cent of bingo players smoke, meaning that trade at Britain's 800 bingo halls could be put under serious pressure.
Mr Goulden, along with other company executives and the chairman of the Bingo Association, Sir Peter Fry, will lobby for changes in a meeting with MPs in the next fortnight.
They will call for changes in the way bingo halls are taxed, as well as the legal ability to offer alternative games, such as Keno, during breaks when, it is anticipated, smokers will be outside.
Ian Burke, Rank's chief executive, told the paper it was "time to rectify some of the things that have survived longer than they ought to have done".
The ban on smoking in all public places in England and Wales is due to come into force in July.
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