Government Mocks Bingo
18th March, 2008
The UK bingo operators are overly unhappy about the new advertisement for the National Lottery's new Flamin' Hot Bingo scratchcard, as they feel it is mocking the industry, making fun of it.
In the advertisement, an elderly woman is shown on a mobility scooter driving past a bingo club which appears to be closed with a “closed” sign hanged on the door of it. The lady gets “teleported” to a Florida style beachfront with the sound of the scratchcard. There she is shown speeding around on the souped up scooter.
Chief Executive of The Bingo Association, Paul Talboys, expressed his devastation about the commercial that is so obviously non-appealing to any audiences in the bingo industry and even worse, is making it look pathetic rather than exciting and fun. He said he was completely “outraged” by the ad and the fact that this comes even before the industry managed to recover from the smoking ban that was enforced not so long ago. The reduction in the jackpot machines and the double taxation enforced on the bingo world are another two great strains added to the tension experienced by the operators and owners of the bingo halls all around the UK.
'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,' says Talboys.
Nevertheless, the lottery’s spokesperson, Camelot, has publically denied any attempt in the commercial to make fun of the industry or the idea of bingo in general.
'It's only closed because it's early in the morning,' he explained.
An opposing view was voiced by the spokesperson for the Rank, the biggest bingo operator in the UK, which owns Mecca Bingochain in the UK. He said that the connotation was very different from “the closed club due to early hours of the day”.
'It is particularly distasteful that a State-sponsored gambling monopoly should publicly rejoice in the closure of bingo clubs,' he stated. 'We urge the National Lottery to withdraw this deeply offensive advertisement,' added the spokesperson.
By Elena
