Budget duty rise will hit bingo company

The budget is always a time of year when people up and down the country like to have a moan as the government decide on their annual tax crusade against smokers, drinkers and generally the 'man in the street'. However, this year it's another thing close to our hearts that's been hit pretty hard – yep, good old bingo (it's like taking cash from your granny isn't it!).

Anyway, Bingo halls up and down the UK now face bingo tax rises after Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget. This despite the fact that VAT has just been wiped out for bingo firms – now they have a tax rise from 15-22% that wipes out all the good done! The smoking ban was a nail in the coffin for offline bingo, and this is just another big one!

Groups such as Buckingham Bingo wrote off more than £69 million worth of debt in 2008, showing the scale of the crisis. Bingo experts had hoped the government would go easy on already crumbling industry – but all hopes have been dashed. One bright spark is that online bingo sites look unaffected – and the industry goes from strength to strength.